Heritage Mourns Loss of James Gattuso

James Gattuso handled regulatory and telecommunications issues for The Heritage Foundation as a Senior Research Fellow in its Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies.

Prior to joining Heritage in 2002, he was Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. In that position, he oversaw the institute's policy work, and supervised the overall management of the organization. Before that, Gattuso served as Vice President for Policy Development with Citizens for a Sound Economy from 1993 to 1997, where he directed the research activities for that organization.

Gattuso also served in the federal government. From 1990 to 1993, he was the Deputy Chief at the Federal Communications Commission's Office of Plans and Policy. From May 1991 to June 1992, the FCC detailed him to the office Vice President Dan Quayle, where Gattuso served as Associate Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness.

Gattuso served two tours of duty at Heritage. From 1985 to 1990, he was a Heritage policy analyst with a responsibility for a broad range of issues, including telecommunications, transportation and antitrust policy. Before coming to Heritage the first time, he was an associate with the Washington law office of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey, where he handled matters before a number of regulatory agencies.

In 2009, Gattuso's work on government bailouts and free markets earned him the prestigious Drs. W. Glenn and Rita Ricardo Campbell Award. It is given to the Heritage employee who has delivered “an outstanding contribution to the analysis and promotion of a Free Society."

Gattuso was a member of the California and District of Columbia bars and is the author of a number of articles written for newspapers, magazines and journals. His commentaries have appeared in outlets including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Bloomberg.

Gattuso graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1979. He received his law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1983, where he was a member of the UCLA Law Review.