Steve Scalise

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Steve Scalise
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Louisiana's 1st district
Assumed office
May 3, 2008
Preceded byBobby Jindal
Member of the Louisiana Senate
from the 9th district
In office
January 14, 2008 – May 6, 2008[1]
Preceded byJesse Kendrick "Ken" Hollis
Succeeded byConrad Appel
Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
from the 82nd district
In office
1996 – January 14, 2008
Preceded byQuentin Dastugue
Succeeded byCameron Henry
Personal details
Born
Stephen Joseph Scalise

(1965-10-06) October 6, 1965 (age 58)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJennifer Letulle Scalise (born 1975)
ChildrenMadison Carol Scalise Harrison Joseph Scalise
Residence(s)Jefferson, Louisiana
Alma materLouisiana State University in Baton Rouge
OccupationSystems analyst
WebsiteCongressman Steve Scalise

Stephen Joseph "Steve" Scalise (born October 6, 1965) is the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 1st congressional district, serving since 2008. He is a member of the Republican Party[2][3] and the chairman of the 170-member conservative House Republican Study Committee.[4]

Prior to his congressional tenure, Scalise served for four months in the Louisiana State Senate and twelve years in the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Early life and education

Scalise graduated from Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie in Jefferson Parish and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, with a major in computer programming and a minor in political science. While at Louisiana State University, Scalise was initiated as a member of the Acacia fraternity. [citation needed]

Louisiana Legislature

Scalise was elected three times to the Louisiana House of Representatives: 1995, 1999, and 2003. His legislative peers named him to the House Appropriations Committee as the representative of the First Congressional District. Scalise initially succeeded fellow Republican Representative Quentin D. Dastugue, who made an ill-fated bid for governor in the 1995 primary. Scalise opposed the 2002 Stelly Plan, a proposal by Lake Charles Representative Vic Stelly to reduce certain state sales taxes on food for home consumption and utilities in exchange for higher state income taxes.

Scalise was elected in the October 20, 2007, combined primary to the District 9 seat in the Louisiana Senate. That position was vacated by the term-limited Ken Hollis of Metairie. Scalise received 19,154 votes (61 percent) in a three-way contest. Fellow Republican Polly Thomas polled 8,948 votes (29 percent). A Democrat, David Gereighty, polled 3,154 votes (10 percent) in the heavily Republican-oriented district. In the special election on November 4 to fill the remaining three and one-half years in Scalise's state Senate term, Conrad Appel defeated Polly Thomas, 21,853 (52.1 percent) to 20,065 (47.9 percent). Thomas had also lost the race for the seat in 2007 to Scalise.[5] Scalise was succeeded in his state legislative post by his aide, Cameron Henry of Metairie.

U.S. House of Representatives

On being asked by the Times-Picayune to assign Democrat Barack Obama a letter grade for Obama's first 100 days as President, Scalise awarded the new president an L (for "liberal").[6]

Scalise encouraged residents throughout Southeast Louisiana to provide feedback about the Corps of Engineers' Category 5 proposal, titled Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration (LACPR) report.[2][7] In a June 5, 2009 Times-Picayune Letter to the Editor, Anne Milling, founder of the Women of the Storm wrote, "Kudos to Rep. Steve Scalise, who led his congressional colleagues here last week for a first-hand glimpse of Louisiana's offshore oil and gas production and its critical importance to the nation."[8]

Committee assignments

Legislative history

In 2011, Scalise became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261 otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (withdrawn Jan 23, 2012).[9] As chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Scalise in December 2012, dismissed, Derek Khanna, a committee staffer because of pressure from content industry lobbyists after the study committee published a memo advocating copyright reform.[10]

In 2013, Scalise voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.[11]

Political campaigns

2008 special election

Main article: Louisiana's 1st congressional district special election, 2008

In 2004, Scalise announced that he would run for the U.S. House but thereafter deferred to the preference of party leaders and supported Jindal, who won the position vacated by the successful senatorial candidate, David Vitter.

In 2007, when Jindal was elected to the governorship of Louisiana, Scalise announced his intentions to seek the seat yet again. This time he received Republican party backing.

Scalise's strongest Republican primary opponent, State Representative Timothy G. "Tim" Burns from Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish, accused Scalise of push polling, a practice in which a campaign contacts voters by telephone and asks probing questions which leave a negative impression of his opponent. Scalise defended his poll from criticism by Burns: "We were running a public opinion survey this week conducted by the largest Republican polling firm in the country, Public Opinion Strategies. . . . conducted with a sample of 300 people, and it shows Scalise at 57 percent, Burns at 26 percent and undecided at 17 percent The margin of error is 5.6 percent. We ran a fact-based public opinion survey, not a push poll."[12]

In the March 8 Republican primary, Scalise polled 16,799 votes (48 percent). He went on to win the runoff election on April 5 against Burns, who received 9,631 votes (28 percent) in the initial primary.[13][13][14]

In the May 3 general election, Scalise received 33,867 votes (75.13 percent) to Democrat Gilda Reed's 10,142 ballots (22.5 percent). Two minor candidates polled the remaining 2.36 percent of the vote. Reed was a favorite of organized labor and the Democratic constituency groups. The First District has been Republican since 1977, when Bob Livingston won a special election.[15]

Scalise was sworn in on May 7, 2008.

2008

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana, 2008 § District 1

In the regularly scheduled election, Scalise was reelected over Democrat Jim Harlan, 66 percent to 34 percent.

2010

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana, 2010 § District 1

Scalise defeated the Democratic nominee, Myron Katz, and an Independent, Arden Wells, in his 2010 bid for reelection.

2012

In June 2009, Scalise joined Dan Kyle, the former legislative auditor and the treasurer of the Louisiana GOP, as directors of a national presidential fund-raising effort promoting Governor Jindal. According to Kyle, the group hoped to raise $60 million to persuade Jindal to seek the 2012 party nomination.[16] Others on the committee include former State Representative Woody Jenkins. Former Republican State Senator Tom Schedler of Slidell had his name removed from the group, not because he opposes Jindal but because such fund-raising activity could conflict with Schedler's role as first assistant to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne.[16] In 2010, Schedler succeeded Dardenne as secretary of state.

In his own 2012 congressional race, Scalise prevailed with 193,490 votes (66.6 percent) over four opponents, the strongest of which was the Democrat M. V. "Vinny" Mendoza, who finished with 61,979 votes (21.3 percent). A second Republican, Gary King, received 24,838 votes (8.6 percent). Independent Arden Wells ran again and received 4,285 votes (1.5 percent) in his second race against Scalise.[17]

Legislation

Scalise sponsored a bill called the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act. The bill makes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) consolidate several of their reports into one report. The bill is expected to help streamline the FCC's work and make the agency more efficient.[18]

Personal life

He is a member of the Seventh Ward Senior Center and the American Italian Renaissance Foundation. He is married to the former Jennifer Letulle (born 1975). The couple has two children, Madison Carol Scalise (born March 17, 2007), and Harrison Joseph Scalise (born May 8, 2009).

References

  1. ^ Times-Picayune: BRIEFING BOOK Tuesday, News and views from the Louisiana Capitol, May 06, 2008
  2. ^ CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS LEGISLATIVE DAY OF MAY 7, 2008 110TH CONGRESS - SECOND SESSION
  3. ^ Office of the clerk, U.S. House of Representative: New To the Web site 5/7/2008
  4. ^ "Deborah Barfield Berry, With Alexander departing, delegation's clout in question? Will Alexander loss, Senate battle hurt Louisiana in the nation's capital?". Shreveport Times. Retrieved August 19, 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Louisiana Secretary of State, November 4, 2008, election results: http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms3&rqsdta=110408
  6. ^ Jonathan Tilove, "Obama's first 100 days are graded on a curve" in Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 2009 April 29, Saint Tammany Edition, pp. A1, A6 (web version = Louisiana's congressional delegation grades President Obama's first 100 days from A to L.)
  7. ^ [1][dead link]
  8. ^ Annette Sisco (2009-07-05). "A visit to Louisiana opens eyes | NOLA.com". Blog.nola.com. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  9. ^ Bill H.R.3261; GovTrack.us;
  10. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (December 6, 2012). "Staffer axed by Republican group over retracted copyright-reform memo". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  11. ^ Trotter, J.K. (February 28, 2013). "Here's Who Voted Against the Violence Against Women Act". The Atlantic.
  12. ^ Scalise defends integrity of GOP runoff survey- NOLA.com
  13. ^ a b Louisiana Secretary of State Unofficial Election Results Inquiry Results for Election Date: 4/05/08
  14. ^ nola.com ELECTIONS section
  15. ^ Louisiana Secretary of State-Multi-Parish Elections Inquiry
  16. ^ a b "Michelle Millhollon, "Official pulls out of Jindal group", June 16, 2009". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Retrieved November 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "Louisiana election returns, November 6, 2012". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  18. ^ Julie Harrison, "Scalise’s FCC consolidation bill sails through House", The Ripon Advance, 9-12-13. (Retrieved 9-12-13).

External links

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Louisiana's 1st congressional district
May 3, 2008 – present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Chairman of the Republican Study Committee
2013–present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States Representatives by seniority
232nd 		Succeeded by

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