About Steve
Steve
LaTourette has represented NE Ohio in the House of Representatives
since 1995 and has earned a reputation as a solutions-oriented,
common-sense legislator who does what's best for his district and
the region. He has also proven time and again that doesn't shy away
from a challenge. He has been the go-to person for
transportation-related issues in the district and has brought tens
of millions of federal dollars back to the district and region. He
was an early and ferocious critic of TARP
and the bank bailouts, his interest fueled by outrage that the
Treasury denied TARP funds to help
National City Bank and orchestrated its demise at a fire-sale
price.
He fought to undo bank bonuses, to strip pork projects from the
first stimulus bill (including tax breaks for toy wooden arrows and
rum), and pressed for common-sense fixes, like making banks that
received TARP funds document new lending.
He encountered strong opposition from both the Bush and Obama
Administrations. He led the charge to force GM and Chrysler, who
had received more than $60 billion in bailouts, to help ousted
dealers. His legislation led to an arbitration process so dealers
can get their businesses back. With almost 1,600 dealers filing for
arbitration, including about 1,100 from GM alone, GM voluntarily
agreed to reinstate 661 dealerships, which translates to more than
6,000 jobs saved.
The Congressman's scrappy nature and willingness to roll up his
sleeves to fight for NE Ohio also led him to go full-throttle
against the Pentagon when it tried to close the Defense Finance and
Accounting Service (DFAS) in Cleveland as
part of its base-closing process. Using the same meticulous
research skills and tenacity that had made him Ohio's Prosecuting
Attorney of the Year, he and his staff amassed irrefutable evidence
that Cleveland DFAS landed on the closure
list based on bogus data. His odds of overturning the Pentagon's
wishes were just 10 percent, but he was relentless in his pursuit
to expose flaws and save the jobs. His effort not saved 1,100
existing jobs, but he got a promise that jobs would grow to 1,500.
Current estimates now show DFAS Cleveland
will have 2,011 jobs by 2011.
To learn more about Congressman LaTourette, see the
following:
Congressman LaTourette's
Biography
Congressman LaTourette's
Committee Assignments
Legislation Sponsored By
Congressman LaTourette
Facts and a map of
the 14th Congressional District
Congressman LaTourette's
Voting Record