Leftovers again? Mayor Iorio not Tom Cruise's only dinner partner
By Times Staff Writers
Published June 27, 2003
Pinellas County Commissioner Susan Latvala had to laugh when she read about Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio meeting Tom Cruise at a dinner party May 29. Latvala had thought she was special.
Turns out a handful of political players besides Iorio went through the same rigamarole at political consultant Mary Repper's house.
"We even had the same coconut cake," Latvala said with a laugh.
The guest list on that Thursday night included Iorio and her husband, Pinellas County budget director Mark Woodard; state Sen. Tom Lee; and lawyer Stephen Mitchell, who sits on the board that runs Tampa International Airport.
For dinner the following Friday: Latvala, her husband, former state Sen. Jack Latvala; Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger and his wife, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Linda Allan; and a Manatee County commissioner.
On both nights, Cruise talked about his upcoming movie, The Last Samurai, and briefly mentioned how the Church of Scientology had changed his life.
Cruise is one of the church's most famous believers, and has lately been hanging out at the Reppers' Clearwater home. Repper, who has helped the church make government contacts, met Cruise at a church political event.
Latvala, who has attended church events, said she's not naive about why she got the invite. If this dinner was a "thank you" for her support of the church, Latvala said she couldn't pass it up.
Iorio, who got support during her campaign from Scientologists, still sees the dinner as simply a meal among friends.
"It's not that big of a deal to me," Iorio said.
"What would Tom Cruise be lobbying me about?"
THE MOM BEHIND THE MAN: During his campaign for City Council, John Dingfelder could count on an early morning knock on his door.
It was Mom.
His 73-year-old mother, Adele, would tell her son that it was time to get up, wave some signs and knock on doors.
"I was like, "Oh, God, Mom,"' said Dingfelder, 46, who is married with children. "She was tireless."
With the campaign over, Dingfelder has put his mother to work again. She now works for free in Dingfelder's City Council office on Friday afternoons.
NO MORE CHAMBER OF HORRORS: Since first being elected to the City Council in 1987, Linda Saul-Sena has wanted to redecorate the drab chambers. Now that she's chairwoman, she has.
The oil paintings of former Tampa mayors that hung on the walls are gone. The curtains that made the chamber feel like a funeral parlor are history. New miniblinds let sunlight pour in. The walls have a fresh coat of paint, a light green called "fern." Pictures by Tampa photographer Bud Lee will soon adorn the walls.
Outside in the lobby, citizens can also buy snacks from new vending machines.
ACTIVIST TARGETS USUAL SUSPECTS: The only spice in the normally raucous Tampa Bay Tiger Bay Club meeting last Friday was on the chicken and rice served at the Wyndham Harbour Island Hotel.
Fiscally conservative political activist Ralph Hughes tried to enliven the small crowd, normally stocked with liberals, with a rant on the leftist media, big government and the "downtown, silk-stocking crowd." But he met a largely toothless audience.
Only five tables were booked for the event and many had empty seats.
Club President David Hurley said Hughes was a last-minute stand-in after two speakers had to cancel.
Hughes spoke for about 25 minutes - or only a little longer than it takes him to set up his questions when he is in the audience and another speaker is the guest. Still, Hurley had to push Hughes to wrap up.
Hughes gave them plenty of "fresh meat," as he described it - though it was largely the standard fare from his many open letters to the community.
He said, for instance, that the county needs to jettison its indigent health care tax "because it's a bottomless pit." He described Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, the county's bus system, thusly: "Did you know that HART is one of the worst-run government agencies in the world?"
He blasted a proposed 14 percent pay raise for county employees over the next two years and praised Gov. Jeb Bush and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd Jr., whose many accomplishments he said are ignored by the media.
Next month's session promises to be a little more sexy. On July 18, family values advocate David Caton squares off against strip club owner Joe Redner for a debate.
Yum-yum.
- Times staff writer Robert Farley contributed to this report. Times staff writer David Karp can be reached at 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com Staff writer Bill Varian can be reached at 226-3387 or varian@sptimes.com
