Back in 2002, Steve Scalise was a Louisiana state senator and conducted a marathon of speaking engagements. Arrangements were handled by his staff. However, one such engagement has proven to be a thorn in the side of this Roman Catholic after it emerged that a conference he spoke at was for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), a white supremacist group founded by former KKK grand wizard David Duke.
The trouble is that Scalise has been picked to be the House GOP’s majority whip when the new congress takes over on January 6. The political left has been making a controversy about the incident in the hopes that Scalise would step down from his post or possibly resign from congress.
That isn’t likely to happen as a chorus of people have come to his aid. The state’s lone Democrat congressman Cedric Richmond, an African-American, expressed his strong belief that Scalise is no racist. Richmond explained that the two of them have worked together on issues that have been important and beneficial to African-Americans and other minorities.
In addition, former Louisiana Democrat Governor Edwin Edwards came to Scalise’s aid. Edwards explained that it is entirely possible for a person to end up in speaking engagement not knowing the true nature of the audience. Edwards lost his bid to win a House seat in the recent midterm election. Former Democrat Senator Bennett Johnston, who like Edwards defeated David Duke in statewide races, explained that neither did he realize that EURO was a front group for David Duke.