Kenny Knight, who helped organise the 2002 meeting for David Duke and described as "friendly" with Scalise by Duke, stated that Scalise actually spoke to Knight's "Jefferson Heights Civic Association" in a room booked for the EURO meeting but before the meeting. The existence of the "Jefferson Heights Civic Association" was questioned in the Louisiana newspaper "The Advocate" which said "Multiple people familiar with Jefferson Parish's myriad civic associations, including past presidents of the Civic League of East Jefferson, also have said over the past week that they had never heard of such a group" and that "the organization does not appear on the parish's list of neighborhood groups, an informal but lengthy resource on the parish's website." Duke criticised the attacks on Scalise, stating that the name EURO sounded innocuous, saying also that "It would seem to me that he would have realized that it was our group, because he knew Kenny. I mean, he knew me. But I can't swear to it. When you're running around different places and talking to events you're invited and you just see a name and you've got three or four others to do and you don't have anyone to vet them, that's possible."