Steve Scalise
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Steve Scalise | |
---|---|
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House Majority Whip | |
Assumed office August 1, 2014 | |
Leader | Kevin McCarthy |
Preceded by | Kevin McCarthy |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st district | |
Assumed office May 3, 2008 | |
Preceded by | Bobby Jindal |
Member of the Louisiana Senate from the 9th district | |
In office January 14, 2008 – May 6, 2008 | |
Preceded by | Ken Hollis |
Succeeded by | Conrad Appel |
Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 82nd district | |
In office January 8, 1996 – January 14, 2008 | |
Preceded by | Quentin Dastugue |
Succeeded by | Cameron Henry |
Personal details | |
Born | Stephen Joseph Scalise October 6, 1965 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Jennifer Letulle |
Children | 2 |
Residence | Jefferson, Louisiana[1] |
Education | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (BS) |
Website | House website Party website |
Stephen Joseph Scalise /skəˈliːs/ (October 6, 1965 - June 14, 2017) was the current United States House of Representatives Majority Whip and representative for Louisiana's 1st congressional district, serving since 2008. He is a member of the Republican Party[2][3] and was the chairman of the 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. On June 19, 2014, Scalise was elected by his Republican colleagues to serve as Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives. He assumed office on August 1. He is the first Louisianian in the Majority Whip's position since Democrat Hale Boggs of Louisiana's 2nd congressional district held the position from 1962 to 1971. In 2017, Scalise became the dean of the Louisiana Congressional delegation upon the retirement of former senator David Vitter.
On June 14, 2017, Scalise was shot at a practice session for the congressional baseball team in Virginia, by James T. Hodgkinson. President Trump said Hodgkinson died. Scalise is said to be in stable condition.
Personal life
Scalise was born in New Orleans, one of three children of Alfred Joseph Scalise, a real estate broker who died on October 8, 2015 at the age of seventy-seven, and the former Carol Schilleci. His siblings are Glenn and Tara Scalise.[5]
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.[6] At Louisiana State University, Scalise was a member of the Acacia Fraternity.[7] He is a member of the American Italian Renaissance Foundation. He married Jennifer Ann Scalise (née Letulle) on September 4, 2005.[8] The couple have two children.[9]
Louisiana Legislature
After Republican State Representative Quentin D. Dastugue made an unsuccessful bid for Governor of Louisiana in the 1995 Republican primary, Scalise was recruited by state Republicans to run for his seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives, which he did, winning election to it in 1995.[10] Scalise was re-elected to the seat in 1995 and 1999, serving until 2003.[11] His legislative peers named him to the House Appropriations Committee as the representative of the First Congressional District. Scalise opposed the 2002 Stelly Plan, a proposal by Lake Charles Representative Vic Stelly, since repealed, 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, nonpartisan blanket primary to the District 9 seat in the Louisiana Senate 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, an education professor at the University of New Orleans who subsequently won a special state House election in 2016, polled 8,948 votes (29 percent). A Democrat, David Gereighty, polled 3,154 votes (10 percent) in the heavily Republican-oriented district. Scalise was succeeded in the state House by his aide, Cameron Henry of Metairie.
In the special election on November 4, 2008 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.[12]
U.S. House of Representatives
On being asked by the New Orleans 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").[13]
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 January 23, 2012).[14] As chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Scalise dismissed Derek Khanna, a committee staffer, in December 2012 because of pressure from content industry lobbyists after the study committee published a memo advocating copyright reform.[15]
In 2013, Scalise voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.[16] Also in 2013, 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.[17]
Leadership race
In the aftermath of Rep. Eric Cantor's unexpected defeat by David Brat on June 10, 2014, Scalise launched a campaign to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy in the position of Majority Whip of the House; McCarthy himself would replace Cantor as House Majority Leader. Scalise's ascent to leadership built on his "come-from-behind win in 2012 to become chairman" of the Republican Study Committee.[18] Scalise subsequently won a three-way race for whip, winning on the first ballot despite the efforts of fellow candidates Peter Roskam and Marlin Stutzman.[19][20] He came under fire for using the assistance of a federal lobbyist, John Feehery, when hiring staff for the Majority Leader's Press Office.[21]
Since becoming Majority Whip, Scalise has delivered several public defeats for the GOP on immigration, abortion, and education policy.[22]
Political stances
National security
Scalise supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. He stated that "It’s very prudent to say, ‘Let’s be careful about who comes into our country to make sure that they’re not terrorists.’”[23]
In 2016, Steve Scalise endorsed then Presidential Candidate Trump even after a June 15 conversation with GOP leaders Kevin McCarthy and Paul Ryan in which McCarthy joked he thinks "Putin pays Trump."[24][25] Scalise continues to back and support President Donald Trump on all issues including national security.[26]
Political campaigns
2008 special election
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 U.S. 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."[27]
In the March 8, 2008, 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.[28][28][29]
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.[30]
Scalise was sworn in on May 7, 2008.
2008
In the regularly scheduled election, Scalise was reelected over Democrat Jim Harlan, 66 percent to 34 percent.
2010
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.[31] 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 at the time as first assistant to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne.[31] 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.[32]
European-American Unity and Rights Organization convention speaker
In 2002, Scalise was a speaker at a convention for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), a group which was founded by David Duke. This was revealed in 2014, after political blogger[33][34] Lamar White, Jr. uncovered anonymous comments from 2002 on Stormfront, a white supremacist website, which made reference to Scalise as a 2002 speaker at the convention.[33][35][36][37][38][39] Scalise confirmed that he had spoken at the EURO conference in 2002 and stated at the time he did not know of the "racist nature of the group". Scalise said he spoke about state tax legislation and that EURO was “one of the many groups that I spoke to regarding this critical legislation" furthering this is a group "whose views I wholeheartedly condemn". Scalise apologized for speaking to the group saying, "It was a mistake I regret, and I emphatically oppose the divisive racial and religious views groups like these hold."[34]
Various Louisiana politicians, including Republican Governor Bobby Jindal and Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond defended Scalise's character.[40] Speaker of the House John Boehner voiced his continued confidence in Scalise as Majority Whip.[35][41] Several Democratic members of Congress, as well as Mo Elleithee, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, criticized Scalise, and challenged his statement that he was not aware of the group's affiliation with racism and anti-Semitism.[42] Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center called upon Scalise to step down from his leadership position as Majority Whip.[43][44] According to John Hayward at Human Events, the story of Scalise's speaking engagement in 2002 was "either dubiously sourced, a mistake, or an outright hoax".[45][46]
Congressional baseball shooting
On June 14, 2017, Scalise was shot in the hip along with some of his aides by James T. Hodgkinson, using a rifle during a congressional baseball practice at the Eugene Simpson Baseball Fields in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia. Representative Mo Brooks, who was also at the practice, witnessed the attack and said he saw someone with a rifle behind the third base dugout. Brooks then heard Scalise scream from second base. Scalise crawled into right field, bleeding. Senator Jeff Flake and Representative Brad Wenstrup, a former combat surgeon, ran to assist Scalise after the shooter was neutralized.[47][48] According to Brooks, "at least five" people were shot. Senator Rand Paul, also a witness, said he heard "as many as 50 shots" and saw a staffer climb a fence to flee the area. Around 8 AM ET the same day it was reported that Scalise was in stable condition.[49] As of 9:45 AM ET, he was undergoing surgery for his injuries.[48]
References
- ^ Biography | Congressman Steve Scalise Retrieved March 28, 2017.
- ^ "Current House Floor Proceedings Legislative Day of May 7, 2008 110th Congress – Second Session". Clerk.house.gov. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ^ "Office of the clerk, U.S. House of Representative". Clerk.house.gov. May 7, 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ^ "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}}
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(help) - ^ "Alfred Joseph Scalise". New Orleans Times-Picayune. October 9, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ Pierce, Charles (July 8, 2013). "Home / Blogs / The Politics Blog The Politics Blog The Republicans' New Debt Ceiling "Menu"". Esquire. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ^ "Tell Us About Your Fraternity's Racist History and/or Present". Gawker. March 16, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ "Marriage Annacouments". Times Picayune. 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
- ^ Alpert, Bruce, "You can call him 'Mr. Majority Whip' – Rep. Steve Scalise wins House leadership race", Times-Picayune, June 19, 2014. "... [W]ife, Jennifer, and children Madison and Harrison"; caption. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ Bridges, Tyler (May 7, 2015). "Steve Scalise, Take Two". Politico. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ Scalise, Steve J. Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- ^ Louisiana Secretary of State, November 4, 2008, election results: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 28, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Tilove, Jonathan, "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.)
- ^ Bill H.R.3261 Archived March 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine; GovTrack.us;
- ^ 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.
- ^ Trotter, J.K. (February 28, 2013). "Here's Who Voted Against the Violence Against Women Act". The Atlantic.
- ^ Harrison, Julie, "Scalise’s FCC consolidation bill sails through House" Archived January 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, The Ripon Advance, 9-12-13. (Retrieved 9-12-13).
- ^ Joachim, David S., "Louisianan Seeks to Extend Rapid Rise in House G.O.P." Archived November 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, June 19, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ Parker, Ashley, and Jeremy W. Peters, "House Republicans Name McCarthy as Cantor’s Replacement" Archived October 1, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, June 19, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ Sherman, Jake; Bresnahan, John; Palmer, Anna (June 19, 2014). "Inside the House GOP leadership shake-up". Politico. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
- ^ Palmer, Anna; Sherman, Jake. "To pick staff, Scalise turns to lobbyist". www.politico.com. Politico. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ Newhauser, Daniel (March 3, 2015). "The GOP's Lost Agenda". nationaljournal.com. National Journal Group Inc. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
- ^ Blake, Aaron. "Coffman, Gardner join Republicans against President Trump's travel ban; here's where the rest stand". Denver Post. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
- ^ Entous, Adam. "House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: 'I think Putin pays' Trump". Washington Post.
- ^ Pasha-Robinson, Laura. "Republican leader who said Putin pays Trump insists it was 'a joke'". Independent.
- ^ "Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump". FiveThrityEight. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
- ^ "Scalise defends integrity of GOP runoff survey". NOLA.com. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ^ a b Louisiana Secretary of State Unofficial Election Results Inquiry Results for Election Date: 4/05/08[permanent dead link]
- ^ "nola.com ELECTIONS section". Nola.com. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ^ Louisiana Secretary of State-Multi-Parish Elections Inquiry Archived September 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 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) - ^ "Louisiana election returns, November 6, 2012". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
- ^ a b Costa, Robert. "House Majority Whip Scalise confirms he spoke to white nationalists in 2002". Washington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
- ^ a b Martin, jonathan; Calmes, Jackie (December 31, 2014). "Republicans Try to Fix Damage Scalise's 2002 Speech Could Do in 2016". New York Times. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b Jaffe, Alexandra; Walsh, Deirdra (December 31, 2014). "GOP leadership stands by Scalise after white supremacist speech". CNN. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Sarlin, Benjy (December 29, 2014). "GOP leader Steve Scalise may have addressed supremacist conference". MSNBC. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
- ^ Reilly, Mollie; Grim, Ryan (December 29, 2014). "House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Spoke At White Supremacist Conference In 2002". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Was Reportedly an Honored Guest at 2002 International White Supremacist Convention". Retrieved December 29, 2014.
- ^ Calderone, Michael (December 30, 2014). "How Louisiana Blogger Lamar White, Jr. Landed The Steve Scalise White Supremacist Scoop". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
- ^ O'Donoghue, Julia (December 29, 2014). "Steve Scalise attended white nationalist event, but says he wasn't aware of group's views". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
- ^ Bendery, Jennifer (December 30, 2014). "John Boehner Backs Steve Scalise Amid Controversy Over White Supremacist Meeting". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
- ^ Benjy Sarlin (March 19, 2015). "Steve Scalise: Speaking at supremacist event 'a mistake I regret'". MSNBC.
- ^ "Southern Poverty Law Center". Southern Poverty Law Center.
- ^ Berman, Mark (December 30, 2014). "SPLC calls for congressman who spoke to white supremacist group to step down from leadership". Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
- ^ Hayward, John (December 31, 2014). "Media: Um, that big Steve Scalise story probably didn't happen, but he's still 'embattled' anyway". Human Events. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
- ^ "Media: Um, That Big Steve Scalise Story Probably Didn't Happen, But He's Still 'Embattled' Anyway". FoxNation.com.
- ^ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/14/virginia-gop-baseball-practice-shooting-multiple-people-shot.html
- ^ a b CNN, Karl de Vries and Eugene Scott. "Rep. Scalise shot in Virginia". CNN. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
{{cite web}}
:|last=
has generic name (help) - ^ Savransky, Rebecca (June 14, 2017). "Scalise among wounded in shooting at congressional baseball game practice field". TheHill. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
External links
- Congressman Steve Scalise official U.S. House site
- Steve Scalise for Congress
- Steve Scalise at Curlie
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Current events
- 1965 births
- 21st-century American politicians
- American people of Italian descent
- American Roman Catholics
- Archbishop Rummel High School alumni
- Italian-American culture in Louisiana
- Living people
- Louisiana Republicans
- Louisiana State Senators
- Louisiana State University alumni
- Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana
- People from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
- Politicians from New Orleans
- Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives