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Willie Logan walked out of the conference room. The reporters were right behind him, wondering how he and other members of the Florida House of Representatives managed to pull off the equivalent of a political upset.

Thanks in part to the legislator from Opa-locka, campaign finance reform is still alive, something many pundits didn’t expect, given the hostility of many House Republicans to changing the rules just four months after their party took complete control of the state capital.

But there was Logan, a black Democrat turned mover and shaker in Republican circles and one of two House sponsors of campaign finance reform legislation, answering each reporter’s question in measured tone.

“Yes I’m happy with the progress.” he said at one point. “A month and a half ago, you all were saying it was dead on arrival.”

What a difference a year makes.

Not that long ago, Logan seemed more dead man walking than a pol with influence. House Democrats had elected Logan speaker-designate, only to become disenchanted with his work and vote him out of the coveted leadership post. The decision, led by white Democrats from Broward County and in parts of the Panhandle, produced a racial firestorm that crippled the party as it faced an uphill fight in the November elections to retain the governor’s seat.

Logan urged blacks to become political “free agents.” He supported Republican Jeb Bush for governor. He won. So did Logan, who now has crossover appeal with the party in power.

“I couldn’t have written the story better myself,” he says.

Even if I had become speaker, I would have had to sell my soul to give up things that really interested me. Now I can effectively advocate for black colleges, expanded voting rights, issues important to my own community. I was in a box before.”

As speaker-designate, Logan was bound by the party line.

No more.

He now has the ear of influential Republicans and Democrats.

He has also regained a leadership post. As chairman of the Miami-Dade County legislative delegation, Logan can influence the outcome of several measures important to South Florida.

Since returning to Tallahassee, Logan hasn’t been bashful about using his newfound status to win political concessions for favorite causes.

He asked for $200 million in budgetary requests. The requests run the gamut; there’s money for a performing arts center in Miami-Dade County, repairs to storm drainage and sewage systems in Opa-locka and for constructing a new multipurpose building at Bethune Cookman College in Daytona.

In addition to being a sponsor of campaign finance reform, Logan also co-sponsored a bill that would raise fees from cellular telephone users to help telephone companies develop technology to immediately locate cell-phone users who place 911 emergency calls.

He has pushed a bill in the House to restore voting rights to ex-felons, a move that would return the franchise to roughly one of three black men in Florida who can’t vote because of previous felony convictions.

None of the three measures is popular in the House, where many Republicans oppose new taxes, loathe limits on campaign contributions to political parties, and don’t want to be called soft on crime.

That hasn’t stopped Logan.

“These aren’t issues that Republicans would embrace,”  Logan says. “However, I’m free to embrace these issues and I’m getting consideration. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Logan can say he helped eliminate “three-packs,” those political ads that promote one candidate only to end by mentioning two others. Now, any new three-pack commercials must give each candidate an equal amount of time under the bill approved on Monday by the House Election Reform Committee.

He also helped win another reform when the panel adopted a measure forcing groups that run advertisements in support of a candidate to file as political committees and disclose who is paying for the commercials.

He suffered a setback when he failed to get enough votes from the committee to pass his bill to reinstate voting rights to ex-felons. Still, Logan remains upbeat, assured that something will be worked out with the Republican leadership before the session’s end.

The Opa-locka Democrat doesn’t expect to get all of his $200 million either. He is confident, however, he’ll garner more money for the next state budget for projects in his district and South Florida than he and other black Democrats ever received under previous administrations.

The final tally for Logan and his budding relationship with the GOP won’t be counted until the end of the session. That’s when both supporters and cynics can best measure the effectiveness of a free wheeling Logan.

If, however, politics is the art of the possible, then there may be no better player than the black Democrat from Miami-Dade. At the moment, free agency fits just fine.

“It makes it much easier to work with all the members and not get caught up in the politics,” Logan says. “Im not sure how long it will last, but I’m going to ride it as long as I can.”