Bill LaFortune

William LaFortune (born August 23, 1957) is an American politician who served as the 37th Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma from 2002 to 2006 and is currently a district judge in Tulsa County.

LaFortune's grandfather, Joseph LaFortune, was an oil executive and a noted philanthropist in Tulsa.

His uncle, Robert J. LaFortune, was mayor of Tulsa from 1970 to 1978.

He attended Cascia Hall Preparatory School, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Bill LaFortune served as district attorney of Tulsa County, as a special judge for Tulsa County, and as Assistant Attorney General for the state of Oklahoma.

Bill LaFortune served as a licensed legal intern for the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office in the spring of 1983 during his third year of law school.

Immediately after his graduation from the University of Tulsa College of Law, LaFortune was hired as a contracts administrator for Telex Computer Products, Inc. He was later promoted to Senior Contracts Administrator, acting as second in command of the contracts administration department that tripled in size during his tenure.

After a brief stint working with his father in the oil and gas business, LaFortune was appointed as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma by newly elected Attorney General Robert H. Henry in 1987.

Initially assigned to the office's civil division, he represented various state agencies, including the State Auditor and Inspector's office, the Department of Transportation, the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement Board, the Oklahoma Military Department, and the Merit Protection Commission.

He also represented the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners and the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners, prosecuting licensees of these Boards against whom formal complaints had been filed.

LaFortune also handled all civil litigation and appellate work for these state agencies before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

As an Assistant Attorney General, LaFortune also authored numerous, formal Attorney General Opinions, was the chief in-house consultant on all county and municipal matters, represented the Attorney General as legal advisor to numerous state grand juries and was the in-house “expert” on the Administrative Procedures Act, while also serving as a member of the Oklahoma Legislature's “Task Force on Administrative Rules”, charged with the compilation and codification of all state agency rules and regulations.

During this time LaFortune was honored for his service by the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma for “Service to County Government”.

The Oklahoma Attorney General later tapped LaFortune to organize and impanel Oklahoma's first multi-county grand jury.

While a partner at the prestigious Tulsa law firm of Norman Wohlgemuth Chandler and Dowdell, Tulsa's longtime Mayor Susan Savage announced she would be retiring at the end of her current term, thereby creating a vacancy in the Mayor's office in 2002.

LaFortune, with a long career of public service and community involvement, ran for the office against several other contenders.

Running as a Republican, he won decisively in both the primary and general elections.

Despite the economic downturn, LaFortune was able to put together a county-wide coalition of elected officials, business leaders and everyday citizens to prepare a long overdue capital improvements plan.

The result of this unprecedented effort was “Vision 2025”, a four-part $885 million ballot initiative which was passed overwhelmingly by Tulsa County voters in September 2003.

LaFortune was the point person for the successful campaign.

Over 34 job incentives and capital improvement projects were funded through Vision 2025, including significant new medical clinics at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa and in Tulsa's under-served communities, a new engineering facility at Oklahoma State University's Tulsa Campus, a new administration building at Langston University's Tulsa Campus, books and updated technology for Tulsa's school children, and capital improvements at many Tulsa County smaller municipalities.

The flagship project of Vision 2025, however was an 18,000 seat multi-purpose event center/arena, later named as the BOK Center.

Running as a Republican, he was elected mayor in 2002, but he was unsuccessful in his bid for re-election on April 5, 2006 when he lost to his Democratic opponent, former Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism, Kathy Taylor.

Since its completion in 2008, the BOK Center has consistently ranked in the nation's top arenas for tickets sales, hosting the biggest names in the entertainment world.

LaFortune personally selected world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli as the architect for the venue and his outstanding achievement that is now the BOK Center.

Bill LaFortune was elected to a four-year term as District Judge for the 14th Judicial District of the State of Oklahoma in 2014.

He ran unopposed in the non-partisan race.

Judge LaFortune brought his legacy of public service to the bench in 2015.

He has presided over a full-time criminal felony docket since that time.

He has handled approximately 15,000 felony case docket settings over that period.

He has also presided over approximately 60 felony jury trials, including trials of multiple defendants.

Most of these trials involved either first degree murder, rape, armed robbery or child abuse charges.

Even more importantly, in cases resulting in conviction and were subsequently appealed, Judge LaFortune has been consistently affirmed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

He was also affirmed, and new law was made, as to the application of the Uniform Interstate Detainers Act.

His decisions in post-conviction relief cases have also been consistently affirmed.

Administratively, Judge LaFortune was elected by his fellow criminal division judges as Chief of the Criminal Division within just his first year of taking office.

During his tenure, he has developed a reputation for a strong work ethic, dedication, fairness and integrity.

He has also championed alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenses, specifically Tulsa's Women in Recovery Program.

LaFortune's nephew, G. T. Bynum, ran for mayor of Tulsa in 2016 and was elected to begin the role that December.

In addition to being showered with numerous honors, the arena was recognized as the top venue in the country by the International Entertainment Buyers Association in October 2016.