'A city united:' Baker cruises to re-election
Turnout is low, but the mayor takes 70 percent of the vote. The challenger says he held the mayor accountable.
By CARRIE JOHNSON and JON WILSON
Published November 9, 2005
ST. PETERSBURG - Mayor Rick Baker won an overwhelming victory over challenger Ed Helm Tuesday, a blowout signifying broad support for the incumbent's first term in office.
Baker, 49, won 70 percent of the vote, besting Helm by a margin of 13,203 votes. It was the best showing in the history of the strong mayor system, which was instituted in 1993.
"We've been a divided community in the past," Baker told supporters at a party at the St. Petersburg Clay Company. "There's an old preacher's saying: That was then, this is now. The voters proclaimed St. Petersburg is a city united today."
Helm, a former U.S. Department of Labor lawyer, said he was pleased with his campaign and succeeded in his goal of holding Baker accountable to voters.
"I think it is good when candidates have to come forward and reveal their positions and engage in debate," said Helm, who spent almost $50,000 of his own money on his campaign.
Two of Baker's allies on the City Council also won second terms: John Bryan, who beat lawyer Eve Joy, and Earnest Williams, who eked out a win over Darden Rice, a Sierra Club organizer.
Council newcomer Jeff Danner was selected for the seat vacated by Jay Lasita, who was forced out by term limits, and incumbent Virginia Littrell was defeated by former council member Leslie Curran.
With no national or state races to draw people to the polls and a generally contented populace, turnout was a dismal 17 percent.
Baker had unprecedented support going into the campaign. An internal poll showed his approval rating at 70 percent, with the favorable reviews crossing all lines: age, race and geographic location. Even the notoriously anti-City Hall west side of St. Petersburg gave Baker high marks for his performance.
Some thought Baker might cruise to re-election without an opponent. But Helm, an outspoken advocate for curbside recycling, jumped into the race on the day of the filing deadline.
Helm's campaign hit an early stumbling block after a lawsuit came to light in which his relatives described him as "erratic" and said he "cannot be trusted" with running his mother's $400,000 estate.
Helm maintained he was a good son to his mother and accused the city's power structure with trying to smear him.
He countered by running an aggressive campaign, calling repeatedly for a televised debate and accusing Baker of ducking him when he did not respond. Baker appeared with Helm at two candidate forums, one organized by the Council of Neighborhood Associations and a brief appearance at a St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce gathering.
Baker campaigned by holding a series of coffee talks in neighborhoods around the city. He ran on the same platform as 2001, a four-pronged strategy called the Baker Plan: improving schools, neighborhoods, public safety and economic development.
Baker made improving Midtown a top priority in his first term and was buoyed by a recent string of successes. With the city's assistance, a new post office opened in the economically struggling area in October, and a new Sweetbay grocery store opened Saturday.
Baker also raised more than twice as much money as Helm, with $189,370 in his war chest.
Helm tried using a partisan strategy in the nonpartisan race. A Democrat and the chairman of the First Progressive Club of St. Petersburg, he asked for help from the Pinellas Democratic Party. And when Pinellas County Commissioners Ken Welch and Calvin Harris publicly said they supported Baker, Helm threatened to have them removed from the party's executive committee and possibly censured or fined.
Even the national party weighed in, with Democratic National Committee executive director Tom McMahon sending an e-mail to city Democrats, urging them to vote for Helm.
While Baker is a Republican and served as the local campaign chairman for Gov. Jeb Bush and President Bush, he did not discuss political affiliation, saying it had no role in the race.
"I will never respond to my opponent's campaign," Baker said. "But I don't support the mayor's race being a partisan race."
Helm, clearly exhausted after three long months of campaigning, held a party for supporters at Saffron's restaurant. He said the first thing on his postelection agenda was a long rest.
"We might have been able to work smarter," Helm said, "but we could not have worked harder."
Helm, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 1993, said it was too early to decide what his political future might hold.
Surrounded by more than 250 supporters at his victory party, Baker donned a red baseball cap that read: "Rick Baker Mayor, Back by Popular Demand."
Amid the revelry, Baker had already started planning for his next term, calling for a meeting of his top managers at 7:30 a.m. today. They have two weeks to give him a summary of where they want the city to go in the next four years.
"We're going to press forward and not slow down," he said. "We don't rebuild, we reload."
Carrie Johnson can be reached at cjohnson@sptimes.com or 727 892-2273.