Steve LaTourette

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Steven LaTourette

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 14th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 4, 1995–
Preceded by	Tom Sawyer
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	July 22, 1954 (age 52) Cleveland, Ohio
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Jennifer LaTourette
Religion	Methodist

hi Steven C. LaTourette (born July 22, 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American politician from Ohio. A Republican, he is currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, currently representing Ohio's 14th Congressional district.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, LaTourette studied law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and had the dubious distinction there of disrupting a school assembly honoring Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. LaTourette was roughly removed by the Secret Service.

After a stint as a public defender, LaTourette was elected the County Prosecutor of Lake County, Ohio and served from 1989 to 1995. His employment policies did not endear to him staff at first, cutting pay of assistants severely and paying assistants he brought on higher than existing prosecutors. There, he made his name prosecuting the Kirtland serial murders that were organized by mass-murderer and outlaw Mormon, Jeffrey Lundgren. Despite being criticized by Judge Paul Mitrovich of the Lake County Court of Common Pleas for offering lenient pleas to underlings in the murder conspiracy in order to get at Lundgren, LaTourette received excellent publicity that gave him momentum to run for Congress.

Promising to only serve two terms, and claiming the job "sucked", he 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 1995–2003. After the district was eliminated in the round of redistricting following the 2000 Census, LaTourette shifted to the 14th district of Ohio, where he currently serves the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, northeastern Summit County, and Ashtabula County. He is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and is chairman of that committee's Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management. Following his divorce and the outing of his affiar with his former chief of Staff, Jennifer Laptook, Latourette was replaced as a member of the House Ethics Committee.

LaTourette is a social conservative known particularly for his support by the National Rifle Association. He voted for Bill Clinton's impeachment. His overall voting record reflects a moderate conservatism, although he is a member of the moderate/liberal Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem cell research, despite an overall opposition to abortion. However, his voting record at the committee level shows that he votes the Republican party line more than 85% of the time.

LaTourette became a controversial figure in the months following October 2003, when he telephoned his wife, Susan, that he was having an affair with a lobbyist and was filing for divorce. The affair was publicized in 2003 by The Hill newspaper, and the online news magazine Salon.com reported in October 2004 that LaTourette's mistress was Jennifer Laptook, a former aide now working as a lobbyist for Van Scoyoc Associates, which lobbies LaTourette's committee on a number of issues.

In October 2004, Washingtonian published the results of a survey of congressional staffers that awarded LaTourette the title of "No Altar Boy."

During the 2004 election campaign season, LaTourette's wife posted signs supporting the election of Capri S. Cafaro, LaTourette's opponent for re-election in 2004, at her home in Madison, Ohio.

In 2006 LaTourette co-authored the Financial Data Protection Act of 2006 which seeks to unify state and federal laws on banking and privacy and ease the burden of patchwork legislation. Opponents of the bill argue that it will limit consumers access to a personal credit freeze and blunt state laws requiring corporations to notify victims of information security breaches.

[edit] Involvement in The Jack Abramoff Scandal

Papers filed in the Jack Abramoff case show that LaTourette wrote a letter to The General Services Administration on behalf of an Abramoff associate, and networked on Abramoff's behalf with indicted Congressman Bob Ney, (who was the best man at Steve LaTourette's wedding to Jennifer Laptook).

LaTourette was asked to work with indicted Abramoff co-conspirator David Safavian to pass a regulation change that might secure minority-owned small-business contracts for Native American tribes Abramoff represented.

According to an FBI document, Abramoff "sent an e-mail to Safavian's home e-mail address containing a draft letter purportedly to be sent by at least two members of Congress to the Administrator of GSA."[1]

Despite doing possible favors for Abramoff, LaTourette may not have taken any money from the lobbyist or his clients. Opensecrets.org, a non-partisan campaign finance watchdog, does not show LaTourette on its comprehensive list of Abramoff donation recipients. LaTourette's own profile on the site shows his PAC as having taken only $500 from lobbyists in the 2006 election cycle, and $1000 in the 2004 election cycle. None of the $1500 was from Abramoff; $500 was from the Wexler & Walker Public Policy Association. Former Congressman Robert Smith Walker (R-PA) (the Walker in "Wexler and Walker") is a fierce critic of Abramoff.

LaTourette, while in the majority, always developed a reputation of working for Cleveland issues despite the city not being in his district. He reasoned that issues affecting Cleveland would also have a ripple affect on the counties surrounding the city. To that effect, LaTourette was instrumental in saving the DFAS Finance office in Cleveland from being removed to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.

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Preceded by Eric Fingerhut	U.S. Representative from Ohio's 19th Congressional District 1995-2003	Succeeded by District eliminated after 2000 Census
Preceded by Thomas C. Sawyer	U.S. Representative from Ohio's 14th Congressional District 2003-	Succeeded by Incumbent