Larocco Settles Into ‘Normal Life’ Emerges As Chief Of Group Working To Change Banking Laws

Child support. Birds of Prey. Framed copies of the bills Larry LaRocco got through Congress hang on the walls of his Washington, D.C., office.

Six months after his bruising election loss to Helen Chenoweth, the former Democratic congressman is settling into his job as chief of a banking securities association.

“After the campaign was over, (wife) Chris and I decided, listen, nobody died,” LaRocco said. “There are a lot worse things that can happen than losing an election.”

In his first interview since the election, LaRocco remained proud of his record in Congress and passionate about the state that sent him there. Speaking by phone from his Washington office, he said he’s enjoying “a more normal existence” these days, while still staying involved in politics.

LaRocco now does a weekly commentary on Northwest Public Radio with former Rep. Ron Chandler, R-Wash. His securities association job involves building an organization “from scratch,” just as he did in his campaign work. And the association he heads is helping influence banking law changes that he pushed for when he served on the House Banking Committee.

LaRocco had envisioned serving eight or 10 years in the House before moving on. “Things don’t always turn out the way you want,” he said.

Last year’s tough campaign included the last-minute revelation of a sexdiscrimination claim filed against his former employer by a woman with whom LaRocco once was involved. He had previously denied rumors about the relationship.

The election also was a Republican rout that left only one Democrat in statewide elected office in Idaho.

“When the tidal wave swept over us, we just moved on,” he said. “Chris and I have been able to do that very successfully in our lives.”

He recalled leaving the Army in 1972 with two kids; and losing his job as field representative for U.S. Sen. Frank Church when Church lost to Steve Symms in 1980.

After a career in banking, securities and politics, LaRocco said his current job sounded just right. An Idaho friend sent him a clipping about the post from a newsletter, and he applied.

The LaRoccos have kept their McCall, Idaho, home, but last week bought a twobedroom bungalow in Arlington, Va. One bedroom will be Chris’s office. It’s handy to the Metro subway, which LaRocco rides to work.

The decision to stay in Washington was as much for Chris’ career as for his own. She left an 18-year teaching career to join her husband in Washington. She has built a second career there that includes consulting work for school districts around the country and serving as executive director of a scholarship foundation. She is finishing her second book, a tech-prep textbook.

“We decided that having one livelihood interrupted was enough for one family,” LaRocco said.

LaRocco bristled a little at early reports that he’d stayed in Washington to become a lobbyist. Congressmen can’t lobby for one year after leaving office.

He says at the end of that year, he’ll probably register as a lobbyist. But that won’t be the primary focus of his job.

The American Bankers Association formed its Securities Association in part because more banks are in the stock business these days. LaRocco says a Depression-era law that prohibited banks from dealing in securities was misguided, and has left the country with hopelessly outdated banking rules that are unique in the world.

He is building an association board of 20 banks that are involved in securities. Already, the association has helped shape a banking-law bill that’s pending in Congress.

“Three members of my board testified up on the Hill.”

LaRocco said his job was to bring the bankers together, inform them about the bill, draw out their opinions, prioritize those, and turn them over to the ABA’s lobbying staff.

Although he’s settling into a more permanent Washington life, as compared to his typical 30 trips to Idaho a year when he was in Congress, LaRocco stays in close touch with Idaho friends.

“I’m very concerned about the state of Idaho being portrayed as a haven for right-wing kooks,” he said. “I’m very dismayed that the people in office now are not speaking up for Idaho. … I want someone pounding the table to say that Idaho is mainstream.”

LaRocco is a moderate Democrat who sometimes alienated both industry and environmental interests with his compromise proposals. He thinks his plan for resolving Idaho’s long wilderness debate will resurface someday, “and it’ll look very reasonable and modern.”

“I don’t regret one of my 2,024 votes, not one,” he said. “I loved every minute that I was a member of the House of Representatives. … It was a real honor.”

He says he’s still proud that he never bashed Congress, even when he was put in the uncomfortable position of defending it against such embarrassing news as the check- bouncing scandal.

“It may have been part of my undoing, because I was not serving up the rhetoric that I guess was so popular in ‘94, but I’ve got to look at myself in the mirror every morning, too.”

LaRocco bought the mahogany desk he used in Congress for $350, and it now sits in his sixth-floor office. He said he did that mainly for the benefit of his future grandchildren, “so they know their grandfather used it when he was a member of the House of Representatives.”

He has no plans to run for office again, though “you never say never in politics.”

“When something like what happened to me happens, you just get back to the basic values,” LaRocco said. “I am blessed with so many friends. … I have a great support system, a wonderful family.”

His son, Matt, works for the Interior Department in Washington, so he is able to see him often. And LaRocco’s daughter, Anna, is returning from work in Indonesia for a six-week visit.

He recalled learning after the Nov. 8 election that he had only until Dec. 15 to shut down his five offices and make way for the new representative. “We all just sort of pulled ourselves up and started moving on,” he said. “That’s what you’ve got to do.”