Heller served as the Dean of the College of Education and Director of the Wally and Louise Bishop Center for Ethical Leadership and Civic Engagement at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

Heller has a long history of community service, having served on or chairing several non-profit agencies and organizations boards of directors.

His role was to develop the campus' business, liberal arts, and journalism departments, as well as to complete the library and marine center building projects.

[3] His successor was Karen White, former dean of fine arts at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a concert violinist, originally from Joplin, Missouri.

[4] Though party officials usually remain neutral in primaries, several Pinellas Democrats endorsed Heller over Liz McCallum in the contest to determine the candidate who would succeed Frank Farkas.

Despite McCallum's strong showing in 2004, Heller was encouraged to run by colleague Betty Castor, a former president of USF and former Florida Secretary of Education.

[6] His community connections allowed Heller to quickly overcome his late start in fundraising, and swamp McCallum's campaign efforts.

While she was taking a traditional door-to-door approach, he was able to raise money by making phone calls to acquaintances he had made over the previous 14 years.

[9] Heller narrowly defeated McCallum in the primary, to face Republican Angelo Cappelli, the chair of the St. Anthony Hospital Foundation in November.

Cappelli favored encouraging insurance companies to return to the Florida market by implementing a state catastrophe fund.

While praising him for an "impressive" resume, they described Cappelli as having "regressive views on gay rights, sex education, gun control and .

His long term ties to the area included a friendship with Republican Governor Charlie Crist, who endorsed neither candidate.

In June 2006, a Pinellas Park man had claimed to have been thrown out of a bar for not drinking, despite his assertions that he was acting as the designated driver for his group.

Sen. Mike Fasano, who claims to be a non-drinker, took umbrage with this and introduced in the Senate a bill to illegalize requiring bar patrons to drink.

Heller had originally been opposed, but says he was persuaded that it was an issue of quality education after meeting with the parents who were using vouchers to send their children to a private school.

[18] Heller was among three Pinellas legislative candidates endorsed by the Suncoast Group for the Sierra Club, with Carl Zimmerman and Janet C.

They credited him with legislation that reduced the influence of the FCAT, working to ensure that autistic children would be able to receive health care coverage, and with the designated driver law.