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 is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

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 ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

who fled persecution in the 1600s and first settled in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

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

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, LaTourette studied law at the

Cleveland State University College of Law Cleveland State University College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It traces its origins to Cleveland Law School, founded in 1897, which merged in 1946 with the John Mars ...

. 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. Its county seat is Painesville, and its largest city is Mentor. The county was established on March 6, 1840, from land given by Cuyahoga a ...

, 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.

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

* Committee on Appropriations ** 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 nonprofit organization that was founded to raise funds to support politicians in the moderate wing of the Republican Party. As of 2024, the organization seems to be leaning away from its original cent ...

. 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 taxi 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. Lewinsky became internationally known in the late 1990s after U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an affair with her during her days as a White House intern ...

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. On June 28, 2012, LaTourette was one of only two Republicans (along with Scott Rigell 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 United States attorney general from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Holder was the first African Ameri ...

in criminal contempt of Congress, 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. 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. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

s of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, northeastern Summit County, northern Trumbull County, 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, while its largest city is Ashtabula. The county was created in 1808 and later organ ...

, Lake County, and Geauga County.

2008

2010

LaTourette defeated Democratic nominee and former

Appellate Court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...

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

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

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 Independent expenditure-only political action committees, better known as super PACs, are a type of political action committee (PAC) in the United States. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are legally allowed to fundraise unlimited amounts of m ...

, 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 2007, catapulted into the mainstream by Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign. The movement expanded in resp ...

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 Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, 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 ...

. Consequently, he filed a claim in May 2015 against the Office of the

Attending Physician of the United States Congress The Attending Physician of the United States Congress is the physician responsible for the medical welfare of the members of the United States Congress and the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Attending Physician is tasked ...

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 prog ...

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'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

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