WASHINGTON — Republican leaders moved forcefully Tuesday to control the damage from two scandals that have disrupted the party as it prepares to take full control of Capitol Hill.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, pushed out Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., who pleaded guilty last week to federal tax evasion charges, while backing Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., after his admission that he once addressed a white supremacist group as a state legislator.
Scalise acknowledged speaking at a 2002 Louisiana convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, which called itself EURO. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke founded the group.
In a flurry of phone calls late Monday into Tuesday, Scalise reassured his colleagues that he had been oblivious to the group’s racist and anti-Semitic associations. In a statement, he called his appearance “a mistake I regret,” emphasizing that it was to promote his tax-cutting agenda as a Louisiana state representative.
Scalise told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he didn’t recognize the group’s tie to Duke, who Louisiana Republicans say did not attend.
Boehner said Scalise has his “full confidence.” He added that Scalise “made an error in judgment, and he was right to acknowledge it was wrong and inappropriate.”
Boehner took the opposite approach with Grimm, personally suggesting that he step down and tersely thanking him for his service, calling his resignation “the honorable decision.”
It will be up to Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to decide whether to hold a special election to replace Grimm. Democrats could win the seat, a possibility in a district where Obama captured 52 percent of the votes in 2012.
Conservatives were more worried about Scalise, fretting about implications for the party’s image.
