Introduction
Laurence Francis Rooney III (born December 4, 1953) is an American politician and diplomat who is the U.S. Representative for Florida's 19th congressional district. A Republican, he served as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See from 2005 until 2008. He had served as the CEO of Rooney Holdings (formerly known as Rooney Brothers Company), an investment and holding company based in Naples, Florida.
Biography
He is a graduate of the Georgetown Preparatory School, Georgetown University (A.B. 1975) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D. 1978). Rooney is the oldest of Laurence Francis and Lucy Turner Rooney's six children. His younger siblings are Patrick T. Rooney, Timothy P. Rooney, Lucy Rooney Kapples, James H. Rooney, and Rebecca Rooney.
Rooney is the majority owner of Manhattan Construction Company; he is the fourth generation of his family to own that company. Manhattan Construction built the new Cowboys Stadium in Texas, the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center at the United States Capitol, the Oklahoma State Capitol, the George Bush Presidential Library, the Cato Institute headquarters, New Orleans Sports Arena, and Reliant Stadium. The company is working on the George W. Bush Presidential Library earning it the distinction to be the only construction company to work on two presidential libraries. They have also done extensive projects for Morehouse College, George Washington University, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Georgia. The subsidiary won an estimated $100 million in Pentagon contracts in 2003, nearly four times the amount the company won in 2002, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
Activities in Central America
Rooney is a member of the Advisory Board of the Panama Canal Authority. He was among the U.S. delegation led by Colin Powell to the inauguration of Panamanian president Martín Torrijos.
Political activities
Rooney is a major Republican donor, having contributed to the campaign of George W. Bush. Rooney served on the fundraising team of Connie Mack IV. Rooney donated $1 million to Restore Our Future, Mitt Romney's Super PAC, and Rooney hosted a fundraiser for Romney in Rooney's Naples, Florida home. In 2015, Rooney gave over $2 million to Jeb Bush's Super PAC.
Elected Office
In May 2016, incumbent Republican congressman Curt Clawson announced he would not run for a third full term. Soon afterward, Rooney entered the Republican primary to succeed him--the real contest in this heavily Republican district. Rooney spent $4 million of his own money and far outspent his opponents in an election that was shortened due to the timing of Clawson's late announcement. In the August 30 primary, he defeated Sanibel Councilman Chauncey Goss and radio personality Dan Bongino. Rooney received an unprecedented endorsement from Rick Scott, who is his neighbor in the Naples, Florida Port Royal community. As expected, he won handily in the November general election to become only the fifth person to represent this district since its creation in 1983 (it had been the 13th District from 1983 to 1993, the 14th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 19th since 2013).