Jack Latvala’s Florida Leadership Committee raises $113,357

JackLatvala

State Sen. Jack Latvala‘s political action committee Florida Leadership Committee raised $113,357 during the month of March, far more than any other lawmaker’s or candidate’s leadership PAC.

Florida Leadership Committee trailed only Gov. Rick Scott‘s Let’s Get To Work, which raised $248,000, and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam‘s Florida Grown, which raised $126,250, during the month, according to a FloridaPolitics.com review of PAC campaign finance.

Latvala, a Clearwater Republican, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development, attracted March contributions to the committee that included $30,000 from the Florida Optometric Association’s OD-EYEPAC; $25,000 from the Nature Coast Conservation Coalition; $25,000 from a company called Rb-3 Associates of Buffalo, N.Y.; and $10,000 from TECO Energy.

The new donations, combined with spending almost $50,000, left Florida Leadership Committee with about $1.9 million, according to the Florida Division of Elections.

“I work hard,” Latvala said. “I’ve got a number of friends running for the Legislature that I want to see elected, and people that I think will be good for the state, so I want to be prepared to help them.”

The next two most active leadership PACs during the month appear to be those of two Democratic candidates. Andrew Korge of Miami, a candidate in Senate District 39, raised $34,000 for his Friends of Andrew Korge PAC. Edward Elliott James III of Sarasota, who is running in House District 72, raised $27,000 for his New Direction Florida PAC.

Among others, state Sen. Bill Galvano‘s Innovate Florida PAC raised $25,000; former state Rep. Mike Clelland, who is running for the Florida Senate in Senate District 13, raised $15,000 for his Common Sense For Central Florida PAC; and Tampa Republican Sen. Dana Young raised $10,000 for Friends of Dana Young.

Scott Powers

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years’ experience, mostly at newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Columbus Dispatch. He covers local, state and federal politics and space news across much of Central Florida. His career earned numerous journalism awards for stories ranging from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to presidential elections to misplaced nuclear waste. He and his wife Connie have three grown children. Besides them, he’s into mystery and suspense books and movies, rock, blues, basketball, baseball, writing unpublished novels, and being amused. Email him at [email protected].



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