Marguerite McLaughlin

Marguerite McLaughlin has been a resident of Orofino, Idaho, for over fifty years.  She has dedicated many of these years to public service.  Between 1979 and 2000, Marguerite served two terms in the Idaho House of Representatives and nine terms in the Idaho Senate.  She served for five years as a trustee of the Joint School District of Orofino.  Marguerite presently serves on the boards of the Department of Environmental Quality, the Clearwater Valley, and St. Mary’s Hospital.

During her terms in the Idaho Legislature, Marguerite worked diligently not only to promote the interests of her district, but also to serve the needs of Idaho as a whole.  Marguerite served as the Senate Minority Leader and spent sixteen years as a critical member of the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee to set budgets for state agencies.  On behalf of all Idahoans, Marguerite worked on issues as diverse as public education, children’s health programs, care for the elderly and disabled, and economic development issues.  She has been praised throughout for “transcending partisan politics.”

Marguerite holds an honorary degree from Lewis Clark State College.  She is the secretary-treasurer for McLaughlin Logging and has been named Region 11 Business and Professional Women’s “Woman of Progress” and Clearwater County’s “Woman of the Year.”

Marguerite and her husband Bruce McLaughlin have three children and eight grandchildren.  Marguerite is a member of St. Theresa of the Little Flower Parish in Orofino and is a past president of St. Theresa’s Council of Catholic Women as well as a past president of the Northcentral Deanery.