Steve LaTourette

Steven Clare "Steve" LaTourette (July 22, 1954 – August 3, 2016) was an American politician who served as the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 19th congressional district and then Ohio's 14th congressional district 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.

LaTourette was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Patricia Munn and Eugene LaTourette, an accountant. A graduate of Cleveland Heights High School (1972) and the University of Michigan, LaTourette studied law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University.

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

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 is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership. 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

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 in 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 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.

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 suburbs of Cleveland, northeastern Summit County, northern Trumbull County, northern Portage County, Ashtabula County, Lake County, and Geauga County.

2008

2010

LaTourette defeated Democratic nominee and former Appellate Court judge Bill O'Neill in the general election, along with Libertarian 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.

LaTourette established a Super PAC, Defending Main Street. The PAC was created to curb the influence of the Tea Party movement in the Republican Party.

Despite his previous opposition to same-sex marriage, in 2015, LaTourette signed a Supreme Court brief to overturn state bans on the practice.

In mid-2014 LaTourette discovered that he had pancreatic cancer. 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 pancreatic cancer, aged 62.