He served in the borough government of Rochester, Pennsylvania, as councilman from 1973 to 1976 and mayor from 1976 to 1988.[2] He then served as County Commissioner of Beaver County.[2][3] He was elected to represent the 47th senatorial district in the Pennsylvania Senate in a 1990 special election.[1] Within the Democratic caucus, he was elected Minority Caucus Secretary in 2005 and Minority Appropriations Committee Chairman on February 6, 2007.[1]
In 2007 and 2008, LaValle was investigated by the Pennsylvania Attorney General for his connections to two separate Beaver County non-profit organizations.[4] The Beaver Initiative for Growth, an $11 million community development nonprofit founded by LaValle and State Representative Mike Veon, was implicated for loose financial management.[5] The second, the Voluntary Action Center, was a small nonprofit call center partially funded by the Beaver Initiative for Growth and operated by LaValle's wife, Darla LaValle.[4][6]
Investigations into the Voluntary Action Center began when Darla LaValle repaid the organization about $50,000 in "unauthorized compensation."[4] On August 18, 2008, Pennsylvania Attorney GeneralTom Corbett charged LaValle's wife, Darla LaValle, with stealing thousands of dollars, inflating her salary, and denying employees pension benefits while serving as executive director of the Voluntary Action Center.[7][8][9]
United States