For more than two decades, few politicians wielded as much influence over Pinellas County in Tallahassee as State Senator Jack Latvala.<\/p>\n
Latvala, who died Wednesday at age 74, represented Pinellas County in the Florida Senate from 1994 to 2002 and again from 2010 until 2018, rising to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and becoming known for his ability to bring state funding home to local projects.<\/p>\n
Even political opponents acknowledged his command of the legislative process, and his willingness to work across party lines when it benefited Pinellas County. But to his son, Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala, the public often missed what drove him: \u201cHis love of Pinellas and its citizens,\u201d Chris Latvala said. \u201cHe talked about Pinellas when he was in Tallahassee and serving. He was very defensive and proud of us here.\u201d<\/p>\n
That pride, he said, wasn\u2019t measured by the relationships his father built over decades of public service. Chris pointed to the late Willa Carson, the longtime Clearwater community leader who advocated for expanded healthcare access, as someone his father never forgot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are projects like Willa Carson, which he is very proud of,\u201d Latvala said. \u201cCarson would go to Tallahassee to advocate for health services. My father helped her get the money for that clinic. He talked about her until he died. It\u2019s people like that he had friendships with and it crossed political spectrums.\u201d<\/p>\n
As news of Latvala\u2019s death spread, tributes poured in from throughout Florida\u2019s political world. Republicans praised him as a fierce advocate for Pinellas County. Democrats remembered his willingness to stretch his hand across the aisle. Former colleagues, lobbyists and political consultants described a mentor who helped launch careers while remaining intensely loyal to the people around him, an approach Chris Latvala said informed his own philosophy as an official.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy attitude, the way I go about things, is because I\u2019ve been watching my father,\u201d he said. \u201cHe taught me that public service is not given to you, and it\u2019s not something to take for granted. But there\u2019s no need to be bashful about it and sit on the sidelines. If you stand up for the people you represent \u2026 if the worst thing that happens is you lose an election, it\u2019s not that big of a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
He remembers reminding his father of that influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, I\u2019ve watched you for 30 years. Who do you think I learned from?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack Latvala developed a reputation in Tallahassee for being blunt, independent and often unpredictable. Although a lifelong Republican, he frequently broke with members of his own party when he believed legislation wasn\u2019t right for his district or the state. That independence, Chris said, was rooted in his father\u2019s early political career.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got his professional start working for the Republican Party of Florida when Republicans were the minority,\u201d Chris said. \u201cHe stuck to his principles. He was always a proud Republican. He tried to do what he thought was right and never worried about the consequences. He never threw a friend under the bus, and that\u2019s something I try to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Away from politics, however, Chris remembers a different man: fishing with Jack as a kid and going to Tampa Bay Rays games.<\/p>\n
Baseball remained one of Jack Latvala\u2019s passions throughout his life. During his legislative career, he also supported efforts that helped strengthen spring training baseball in the Tampa Bay region.<\/p>\n
Like many public officials with decades in office, Latvala leaves behind a complicated political legacy.When asked how his father would have wanted to be remembered, Chris didn\u2019t mention appropriations, elections or political victories.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis final paragraph would be through his family: his kids and grandkids,\u201d he said. \u201cHe would be proud of what his friends said about him in death, and also his political rivals.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a politician who spent much of his career navigating partisan battles, that may be one of the clearest measures of his impact: in the hours after his death, tributes came not only from political allies, but from people who had spent years on the opposite side of him \u2014 many recalling the same qualities Chris Latvala knew best: loyalty, conviction and an unwavering commitment to Pinellas County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For more than two decades, few politicians wielded as much influence over Pinellas County in Tallahassee as State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-336228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}