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Baker buries his rivals in dollars
By BRYAN GILMER © St. Petersburg Times, published February 10, 2001
With $105,201 raised by the end of January, Baker has raised more than his next four opponents combined and beaten the previous St. Petersburg full-campaign record. Opponent Larry Williams, for one, is hoping voters look at something besides all the campaign advertising Baker will be able to buy; namely, his six years of experience on the City Council. "Wow," Williams responded, upon hearing Baker's total from campaign finance reports due at City Hall on Friday. He was silent for several seconds. "When you don't have experience and you don't have the qualifications, all you can do is buy it," Williams finally said of Baker. Williams is in third place financially, having raised just more than $33,000. Competitor Kathleen Ford -- financially fourth with just shy of $20,000 -- also is relying on something besides cash to boost her campaign: Her efforts to work the town's sidewalks to meet people personally, campaign manager Terri Griner said Friday. "We knew that was going to happen," Griner said of Baker's total. "If you bring the governor to the city and you control $500 checks that way, it's going to happen. But I have not seen him, except maybe this week, out meeting the people." Five hundred dollars is the maximum legal donation one person or corporation can give. Perhaps most striking about Baker's total is the fact that he has not spent even a third of the money so far. He has paid $5,000 to The Victory Group, a Tampa campaign consultant, and he has spent another $5,000 on full-color brochures and some $11,000 for signs. "Rick Baker is like the guy with the hydrogen bomb -- you're just waiting for him to unload the money," candidate Karl Nurse said earlier this week. "But the way he's raised the money has really hurt him, especially in the black community." Indeed, some African-Americans were upset that Baker invited Republican Gov. Jeb Bush to a January fundraiser soon after his brother won the presidency in a bitterly disputed election where black voters favored Al Gore. Nurse is second in fundraising and has a full-color brochure of his own that he's been furiously mailing to city households. The printing company owner has given his campaign more than half the $40,114.84 it has raised. It has spent about half of that, including $5,538.47 for postage and $4,000 on campaign consultant Mary Repper. Baker's list of his 283 latest contributors reads like a, well, like a Chamber of Commerce directory, which makes sense, since Baker, a corporate attorney, is its former chairman. Vern Farnsworth, who moderated this week's chamber candidate forum, kicked in $200. Betty Sembler, wife of Mel Sembler, owner of The Sembler Co., which developed BayWalk downtown, gave $500. Sembler Co. CEO Craig Sher kicked in $200. James MacDougald, the founder of ABR, which was acquired by Ceridian Corp. for $750-million, donated $500, and so did his wife, Suzanne. And political and civic circles were well-represented: University of South Florida St. Petersburg dean William Heller donated $500. So did St. Petersburg Junior College President Carl M. Kuttler. Mayor David Fischer's chief of staff, Don McRae, donated $200, but Fischer has not given to Baker. Fischer's wife, Margo Fischer, kicked in $250 for Nurse. Baker could not be reached after the filing deadline Friday evening to comment. To put the latest round of spending reports into perspective, in 1997, Mayor David Fischer spent $20,000 of his own money in the final stretch of his re-election campaign to total $101,287. He won. Challenger Bill Klein raised $81,540. More than two weeks remain before the Feb. 27 primary. The general election is March 27. The office of mayor pays a $100,000 annual salary. How much they've raisedRICK BAKER: Has raised $105,201. KARL NURSE: Has raised $40,114.84. KATHLEEN FORD: Has raised about $20,000. LARRY WILLIAMS: Has raised more than $33,000
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