Ex-Colleagues Laud Latta for Service to Constituents
May 13, 2016
By: Tom Troy, Toledo Blade
May 13, 2016
The late U.S. Rep. Delbert L. Latta (R., Bowling Green) was remembered Thursday for a 30-year stint in Congress, where he set the standard for constituent service.
Two of Ohio’s top elected officials who served in Congress during Mr. Latta’s final three terms, Gov. John Kasich and Attorney General Mike DeWine, both Republicans, issued statements.
Mr. Kasich said on Twitter, “I was proud to have served with Rep. Del Latta and I extend my heartfelt sorrow and condolences to [U.S. Rep. Bob] Latta and his family.”
Mr. DeWine recalled driving to Bowling Green to confer with Mr. Latta, the Ohio delegation’s senior member, when he first ran for Congress.
“He was a great mentor and went out of his way to be helpful to me,” Mr. DeWine said in a follow-up interview. “He was a man of great principle. You knew exactly where he stood. He had the ability to get stuff done.”
He said Mr. Latta was fiscally conservative, but no one put a liberal or conservative label on him.
“In those days nobody was doing that,” Mr. DeWine said.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) served three terms with Mr. Latta and said it was with “a heavy heart and fond memories” that she learned of his death.
“Congressman Latta served honorably always maintaining his fierce loyalty to Ohio and his constituents. His dry sense of humor could carry the day and he held a fine work ethic,” she said.
“May his good works carry forward and may his dear family draw strength during this difficult time from the persevering example he set,” Miss Kaptur said.
State Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green) said Mr. Latta was “a tremendous public servant and iconic defender of liberty.”
“No one fought harder for the people he was privileged to represent than Del Latta. So much can be said about his wonderful legacy. For now, thank you congressman for your life of service, and thank you to the Latta family for sharing this patriot with us,” he said.
Betty Montgomery, a former Wood County prosecutor from 1981 to 1988 and former state auditor and attorney general, said Mr. Latta was “an icon in northwest Ohio, a steady hand.”
She said he fit the conservative outlook of his district, which she thinks is the most conservative in the state.
“He was a wonderful constituent legislator. He paid attention to the needs of the district remarkably well,” said Ms. Montgomery.
Ohio Senate President Keith Faber (R., Celina) said, “Ohio has lost one of its finest public servants with the passing of former congressman Del Latta.” He said Mr. Latta “continued to be a leading voice in the community long after his retirement.”
Speaker of the Ohio House Cliff Rosenberger (R., Clarksville) said Mr. Latta was “a loyal public servant and advocate for his community. He will be greatly missed for his decades of public service, steadfast morals and values, and tireless work on behalf of his constituents.”
Blade Publisher and Editor-in-Chief John Robinson Block was the paper’s correspondent in Washington in the early 1980s and recalled Mr. Latta as exceptionally accessible and dedicated to his district.
“He had a small staff. He did not spend money on a press secretary. He used to say, ‘I am the press secretary,’ ” Mr. Block said.
He said he would be invited into Mr. Latta’s office while important work was taking place.
“There were days when crucial budget negotiations were going on, he’d be on the phone with [Democratic Speaker] Tip O’Neill, and I’d be in the middle of it. What a guy,” Mr. Block said.
He said Mr. Latta thought of his district as God’s country.
“When he retired, I’m sure there was not any consideration of living in Washington,” Mr. Block said.
His son, U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green), said his father was a “very, very staunch conservative.”
“My dad had a great fear of the national debt, and that’s what spurred him. He was ranking minority member of the budget committee from the time it was created. He firmly knew the people knew better where to spend their money than the government,” Mr. Latta said. He was a “big Second Amendment guy and very pro-life.”
According to the nonpartisan organization govtrack.us, the younger Mr. Latta is more to the right in Congress than was the elder Mr. Latta, at least based on the legislation they introduced in their most recent years. Based on the number of Democratic and Republican co-sponsors, according to govtrack, Del Latta was to the left in the Republican delegation, whereas his son is shown as closer to the right.
The younger Mr. Latta said that was more a function of the fact that his father had to get legislation passed in a Democrat-controlled chamber.
Del Latta’s interests in fiscal frugality are shown in the bills he introduced during his last year in Congress, 1988. They included the Truth in Federal Spending Act of 1988 and the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act.
He was pivotal in one of the most important pieces of legislation of his time, the Gramm-Latta budget bill of 1981 and the 1982 Latta-Michel bill, which implemented President Ronald Reagan’s economic program. The 1981 law mandated what was called the Kemp-Roth Tax Cut. Both bills were passed through the House with bipartisan support, with the Democratic Party in control of the chamber. In all his years in Congress, Mr. Latta never served in the majority.
As he announced he would not seek re-election in 1988, Mr. Latta expressed disappointment at serving on Budget and Rules committees as its ranking Republican member and never getting to be chairman because Democrats were the majority.
“Sure, it’s frustrating to see your ideas go down the drain,” he told The Blade in 1988. Mr. Latta was succeeded by Paul Gillmor, who died while in office in 2007. Bob Latta, a lawyer, former Wood County commissioner, and state senator, was a state representative when he won a special election to succeed Mr. Gillmor, and continues in office today.
Bob Latta has been in the majority since 2012. According to govtrack.us, Mr. Latta introduced 24 bills and resolutions in the most recent Congress, second most of Ohio’s 16-member congressional delegation.
“I’m a legislator. I want to do my job, not only for the folks back home but also for the country,” Mr. Latta said. “That’s one of the things my Dad believed, ‘You work for good legislation.’ ”
He said he learned about constituent service from his father, whom he sometimes helped as driver.
“It was nothing to get 10-12 phone calls at home. I’d answer and write it on a while-you-were-out pad. When he came home he’d sit there and return all the phone calls,” Mr. Latta said.
He said it was a more collegial era, in part because the news coverage was not as intense. He said all the representatives would go to the speaker’s office to read the wire service teletype machines and read the newspapers.
“You had Republicans and Democrats all standing together. You got to know people all working together. You just don’t have that opportunity. The two worlds are just totally different,” he said.
“My Dad and Tip O’Neill were very good friends. Even though they were 180 degrees diverse in their politics,” he said.