Northpinellas: The Latvala legacy: funding

PALM HARBOR -- Jack Latvala was in a rotten mood three years ago when Gov. Jeb Bush cut the funding to renovate the historic, cast-iron Anclote Key lighthouse in Tarpon Springs.

Although the governor had made a public vow to veto such "turkeys," the term for purely local projects inserted into state budgets, the Republican senator had made an equally bold promise to get the funding.

The next year, Latvala managed to get $500,000 in state funds to restore the battered lighthouse.

Looking back at his eight years in the Senate, the bearded Palm Harbor lawmaker points proudly to his ability to deliver state dollars. His fingerprints are all over most of the significant projects and grants awarded in the past eight years to his district, which covers North Pinellas and western Pasco County.

"I think my constituents liked having somebody who was going to shake things up and charge ahead and not take "no' for an answer," Latvala said during a recent interview at his office on U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor. "That's why I've gotten so much done. Occasionally, I may have ruffled a few feathers along the way, but I have gotten the things done that are good for the people in my district." A moderate Republican, Latvala is leaving office this year because of term limits. Elected to the Senate in 1994, he quickly gained a high-profile role in state politics, serving as Senate majority leader from 1998 to 2000.

Not one to back down from a political fight, he could be a bulldog. Yet that temperament often endeared him to constituents who saw his approach as ultimately benefitting them. Now, they say, they will miss his political muscle.

"It's always been nice to be able to pick up the phone and say, "Jack, can you help me?' " said Tarpon Springs Commissioner Beverley Billiris. "He came to the plate many times."

When East Lake needed a library, Latvala helped find $350,000 in state dollars. When money was needed to stem beach erosion at Honeymoon Island park, Latvala delivered $918,000.

He also lobbied for $596,000 for Pasco's first state park. To address another Pasco need, he helped make available some USF classes at Pasco-Hernando Community College.

Oldsmar received $3.2-million in state grants during Latvala's tenure. But his influence reached beyond the budget, Oldsmar officials said.

Last year, the Department of Transportation raised the speed limit on Curlew Road from 45 to 50 mph, drawing the ire of many residents living nearby. City officials complained, but the DOT cited traffic studies and said the roadway needed a higher speed limit.

Then Latvala got involved. The result: Four months after the speed limit was increased, state workers were reinstalling the 45 mph signs.

"He had the connections in DOT to make things happen," said Oldsmar City Council member Brian Michaels. "He never failed to answer the call when we asked for help."

He also played key roles in several major statewide issues, from pollution cleanups and conservation land-buying to election reform, public schools and telephone rates.

Asked to name his crowning achievement, Latvala answers before the question is completed: playing a key role in the creation of Tampa Bay Water, the regional utility that helped end the bay area's water wars.

"Taxpayers were spending millions of dollars in lawsuits, and there weren't any new sources of water being developed," Latvala said. "If that's the only thing I'm remembered for, I'm fine with that."

Mobile home owners considered him an ally.

Last year, Latvala was one of the sponsors of the first significant reform in 15 years to laws balancing the rights of mobile home park owners with the rights of residents. The new law helps residents with relocation when a park owner sells the park for redevelopment.

"He will be sorely missed," said Don Hazelton, president of the Federation of Manufactured Home Owners of Florida. "It was extremely important to be able to have someone who you could talk to about your issues, who was willing to be the forerunner in those issues. That is what Sen. Latvala was very good about doing."

Even lawmakers who have faced the brunt of Latvala's temper say he was an effective legislator.

"We can argue about style, but the substance of what he has always tried to do is stay true to his beliefs," said Rep. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, whom Latvala called an "a--h---" earlier this year during a dispute over how banking and insurance should be regulated.

"I told him it took one to know one," Alexander said. "I frankly never took much of that personally. I was honored to be in the same ring with him. He was the heavyweight in the Senate in a lot of respects."

Before being elected to the Senate, Latvala was a longtime Republican political operative. After graduating from Stetson University in 1973 with a political science degree, he managed political campaigns and worked his way up to acting executive director of the Florida GOP. In 1979, drugstore magnate Jack Eckerd picked Latvala to lead a drive to put more Republicans in the Legislature.

As part of the job, Latvala moved to Pinellas. There, Latvala built a direct-mail business from the ground up.

Though the business had meager beginnings -- he started by renting a desk in an office because he could not afford to rent an office of his own -- it grew to become one of the biggest political direct mail operations in the country.

From that hub, he sent millions of letters to help Republicans. He helped elect Bob Martinez governor, helped make Connie Mack a U.S. senator and helped put George Bush in the White House.

But Latvala always kept his eye on running for office.

"He has aspired to be in public office since he was a child and for the right reasons: to serve his community," said his wife, Susan Latvala, a Pinellas County commissioner. "This was the culmination of his lifelong dream."

In 1994, Latvala won 59 percent of the vote and defeated Democrat Chuck Lehr for the seat that had been held by Curt Kiser. In the three-way primary for that election, Latvala had come in third in Pinellas but had done well enough in Pasco to finish second overall and advance to the runoff.

He says he has never forgotten that.

"I keep up with what's going on in Pasco County," Latvala said. "If it wasn't for Pasco, I wouldn't be here."

Latvala sold his direct mail business in 1997 and works at a smaller direct mail company called Direct Response Marketing of Orlando. Although he is helping with a handful of campaigns locally and statewide, he said this would probably be the last year he was involved with direct mail and active political consulting.

"Fishing and watching baseball games will be mainly what I do in 2003," Latvala said. "I plan on taking life very easy at least for eight months. I really have never had a chance to slow down and take some time off."

Latvala, 50, does not rule out another run for office. His seat, District 19, was changed into the newly drawn District 11. The district runs from northern Pinellas as far south as Dunedin up through western Pasco and Hernando counties and part of Citrus County. Of those in the district, 46 percent live in Pasco, 37 percent in Pinellas, 15 percent in Hernando and 2 percent in Citrus. In the Nov. 5 election, Democrat Lee Cannon, formerly a two-term sheriff in Pasco County, faces state Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey.

"If someone takes my place who I think does a good job and represents the interest of the people in the district, then there's no reason to run," Latvala said. "I wouldn't run against a friend of mine. But if someone gets elected who I don't think represents the district as well as it could be represented, then I might run again."

In 1993, when Latvala was considering his first run for office, he told a reporter he wasn't going to change his act.

"I'm going to be me," he said in 1993. "If I lose being me, so be it."

His critics and friends agree that he has stayed true to that.

"He reminds me of the Frank Sinatra song, "I did it my way,' and he did," said Guy Spearman, a veteran lobbyist who has known Latvala more than 20 years. "He did it his way. Jack was his own man."

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