Steven Clare LaTourette (July 22, 1954 – August 3, 2016) was an American politician who served as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for and then from 1995 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party. On July 30, 2012, it was reported that he would retire at the end of his term and not seek re-election. He subsequently co-founded a lobbying firm.

Early life, education and career

LaTourette was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Patricia Munn and Eugene LaTourette, an accountant. The LaTourette family were French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss politica ...

who fled persecution in the 1600s and first settled in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

. A graduate of Cleveland Heights High School (1972) and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, LaTourette studied law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

. After a stint as a public defender, LaTourette was elected the County Prosecutor of

Lake County, Ohio Lake County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 232,603. The county seat is Painesville. The county was established on March 6, 1840, from land given by Cuyahoga and Geauga Counties. Its name is der ...

, and served from 1989 to 1995. There, he made his name prosecuting the Kirtland mass murders that were organized by mass-murderer and self-proclaimed prophet,

Jeffrey Lundgren Jeffrey Don Lundgren (May 3, 1950 – October 24, 2006) was an American self-proclaimed prophet, cult leader, and mass murderer who, on April 17, 1989, killed a family of five in Kirtland, Ohio. Lundgren led a Latter Day Saint movement-based c ...

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

Committee on Appropriations The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Commi ...

** Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies ** Subcommittee on Legislative Branch ** Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (vice chair) LaTourette was a member of the

Republican Main Street Partnership The Republican Main Street Partnership is a 501(c)(4) organization that was allied with the congressional Republican Main Street Caucus. The Partnership continues to exist, while the Caucus was dissolved by its members in February 2019. Hist ...

. In 2006, LaTourette co-authored the Financial Data Protection Act of 2006, which sought to unify state and federal laws on banking and privacy and ease the burden of patchwork legislation.

Positions

In 1997, LaTourette sponsored H.R. 1151, a law that among other things exempted credit unions chartered for the purpose of making, or had a history of primarily making, member business loans, from certain regulatory restrictions. The effect of the deregulatory change was to increase risky lending to taxi companies, helping temporarily drive up the price of tax licenses before eventually resulting in large credit union losses and hundreds of bankruptcies. LaTourette had voted to impeach Bill Clinton for the

Lewinsky scandal Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. President Bill Clinton admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. The affair, and its repercus ...

while he himself was having a long-term affair with his chief of staff, Jennifer Laptook. On Thursday, March 17, 2011, LaTourette became one of only seven Republicans who voted "NO" on a measure introduced in the US House of Representatives to strip all government funding from NPR. In a meeting with transit advocates, LaTourette disparaged fellow legislators, referring to them as "knuckledraggers that came in during the last election that hate taxes" and are reluctant even to consider raising revenues as part of a compromise to extend the

debt ceiling A debt limit or debt ceiling is a legislative mechanism restricting the total amount that a country can borrow or how much debt it can be permitted to take on. Several countries have debt limitation restrictions. Description A debt limit is a l ...

. On June 28, 2012, LaTourette was one of only two Republicans (along with

Scott Rigell Edward Scott Rigell (born May 28, 1960) is an American businessman and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2017. He declined to run for re-election in 2016, and he left office in January 2017. A Republican, Rigel ...

of Virginia) who voted against a motion to hold Attorney General

Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African America ...

in criminal

contempt of Congress Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically, the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times, contempt of Co ...

, though he did vote to bring civil charges against Holder for his handling of the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal.

Political campaigns

1994

LaTourette was elected to the House in 1994 in the wave of Republican successes in that year, defeating incumbent

Eric Fingerhut Eric David Fingerhut (born May 6, 1959) is an American politician, attorney, and academic administrator, serving as the President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Prior to his appointment at JFNA, he served as president ...

. LaTourette served the 19th district of Ohio from 1995 to 2003. After another district was eliminated in the round of redistricting following the 2000 Census, LaTourette's district was renumbered to the 14th district of Ohio, where he represented the eastern

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

s of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, northeastern Summit County, northern

Trumbull County Trumbull County is a County (United States), county in the far northeast portion of U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 201,977. Its county seat is Warren, Ohio, Warren, which developed indust ...

, northern Portage County,

Ashtabula County Ashtabula County ( ) is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,574. The county seat is Jefferson. The county was created in 1808 and later organized in 1811. The name Ashtabula deriv ...

, Lake County, and

Geauga County Geauga County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,397. The county seat is Chardon. The county is named for an Onondaga or Seneca language word meaning 'raccoon', originally the name of the ...

2008

2010

LaTourette defeated Democratic nominee and former

Appellate Court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

judge Bill O'Neill in the general election, along with

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

nominee and accountant John Jelenic.

2012

On July 30, 2012, it was reported that LaTourette would retire at the end of his term and not seek re-election.

Electoral history

Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2002, Sid Stone received 113 votes.

Post-congressional career

LaTourette established a Super PAC, Defending Main Street. The PAC was created to curb the influence of the

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...

in the Republican Party. Despite his previous opposition to

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

, in 2015, LaTourette signed a Supreme Court brief to support the overturn of state bans on the practice.

Illness and death

In mid-2014 LaTourette discovered that he had

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. Consequently, he filed a claim in May 2015 against the Office of the Attending Physician of the United States Congress citing a lack of information in that regard when he was observed earlier. LaTourette died on August 3, 2016, from

, aged 62.

References

External links

President Steven C. LaTourette
at McDonald Hopkins Government Strategies * *
Profile
at

SourceWatch The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by progr ...

Retiring Rep. Steve LaTourette: You have to ‘hand over your wallet and your voting card’ to extremes
Rosalind S. Helderman, ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', July 31, 2012 , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Latourette, Steve 1954 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians Methodists from Ohio American prosecutors Cleveland Heights High School alumni Cleveland–Marshall College of Law alumni Deaths from cancer in Virginia Deaths from pancreatic cancer Ohio lawyers Politicians from Cleveland Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio University of Michigan alumni Public defenders