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Would-be mayors' styles fill spectrum
By LEONORA LaPETER and BRYAN GILMER © St. Petersburg Times, published February 21, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- The nine candidates for mayor have spent most of the campaign trying to define for voters the still-new concept of a strong mayor and how they would shape that role. It's a job that only Mayor David Fischer has held since it was created in 1993, and there are people with his low-key style in the current crop of candidates. But city voters looking for a different leadership style have other options. From the low- or no-budget, off-the-cuff campaigns of Louis Miceli and Patrick Bailey to the consultant-spun messages of Karl Nurse and Rick Baker, this mayoral election offers a broad spectrum: • Rick Baker has shaped his campaign around the perception that voters are ready for a strong leader as mayor, printing "Rick Baker, Leadership for Mayor," on his campaign signs. Throughout his four-point "Baker Plan" in his campaign brochure, Baker promises he would be vigorous and visible as mayor. He says he would "focus and expand the use of city resources -- and city leadership -- in neighborhoods," "be a strong advocate for St. Petersburg schools at every level to expand funding and resources," "increase mayoral involvement in our local police" and "continue to attract and retain high quality, "clean' businesses." He has talked a few specifics, such as speeding up Mayor David Fischer's Dome Industrial Park redevelopment plan, but some ideas remain vague, including "support for community policing." Baker's campaign trail oratory has been conversational and measured, and not as impassioned as some of his opponents'. When they have shot barbs his way, calling him the establishment candidate or hinting that he is beholden to the people who bankrolled his campaign, he has refrained from responding angrily even when the attacks have stung. Instead, he has talked of the broad support he says the contributions indicate, and he has kept going over the Baker Plan points, hinting that he likes to set goals and drive steadily toward them without getting sidetracked. • Ronnie Beck wants to improve the management structure at City Hall, making it more efficient, raising morale and reducing the number of personnel lawsuits. Beck said he will approach personnel problems from an analytical view rather than one bogged down by personalities. He suggests replacing the human relations office with a more professional "human resource office" and hiring a top executive to enforce employment laws throughout the city. Beck has also talked during his campaign about "redevelopment," saying he wants to create a publicly funded private corporation that can buy troubled properties for rehabilitation, demolition or rezoning. • Kathleen Ford, known to be abrasive, dismissive, even downright accusatory to staff as a City Council member, said it's all necessary to bring accountability to city government. She prides herself on being a diligent researcher and fact-checker known to question the spending of dollars documented deep within thick reports, but said she didn't realize she could pay a $1,000 campaign qualifying fee from her campaign account. Her blunt words have sometimes gotten her into trouble. During her bid for the District 4 City Council seat in 1997, Ford, criticized by her opponents as an elitist, talked of buffering poor neighborhoods from rich ones. Later, she complained about the city's tendency to "cater to lower socioeconomic groups." In this campaign, too, Ford's words have at times been jarring. Even after the controversy over her "buffer zone" comment from four years ago, she doesn't mince words. In a meeting with the Times editorial board, Ford was asked about her passion for running, a sport in which she participated in high school and college. When asked if she was accomplished in the sport, Ford replied, "I did all right for a white girl." Ford has repeatedly blamed the Times for missing her points. She says she has worked for the whole city and pushed tirelessly for more black businesses to win city contracts. During her campaign for mayor, Ford has toned down her in-your-face demeanor, offering a kinder, gentler persona. She argues that St. Petersburg needs her style of leadership, someone who can make "tough decisions despite criticism." One of her top concerns has been the area's water supply, an issue she says she has tried to get the Council to address for some time. She advocates an expansion of the city's reclaimed water system and the creation of more storage capacity, but hasn't said how she would pay for it, other than pledging to borrow the money. She also said she would study a possible building moratorium. • Karl Nurse has worked to build wider name recognition across the city in this campaign, introducing himself for the first time, to many voters, in direct mail pieces. The brochures stress his experience in two areas that he views as key to the future of St. Petersburg, which he says he would focus on if elected: turning neighborhoods around and creating jobs. Nurse notes that he has renovated six houses in his Old Southeast neighborhood and hasworked in the neighborhood association to handle problems. He thinks he could transfer those skills to other neighborhoods as mayor. He and his wife turned their startup business into a profitable, 32-employee operation in two states that grosses $5-million per year. He says he knows what new businesses need to succeed and can make sure the city provides it. Nurse speaks softly, although his tone often rises with excitement about his ideas. He addresses his gentle demeanor and says it helps make him a better leader. "I'm not a screamer," he says, adding rhetorically: "I don't know if you've ever worked for a screamer . . . " In a brochure, he calls himself "the right leader for St. Petersburg," and he takes an outsider's stance by promising to "make government work for the rest of us." • Maria Scruggs-Weston, a newcomer to politics with a 22-year background in public service, said she is committed to working on quality of life issues that affect residents. She has some novel ideas. She has talked of creating a community-based health facility that would address health disparities among blacks. She proposes creating partnerships to develop jobs for the working poor. She would like to build achievement centers in business corridors to serve as anchors for development in economically depressed neighborhoods. She would like to expand the city's Business Development Center. But she doesn't dwell on details, such as the costs of those projects. She is not afraid to reveal that she doesn't fully understand an issue or that she doesn't have all the answers. "Even on issues I am well-versed on, I function as a team member," Scruggs-Weston told the Times editorial board. "My management style is to try to benefit from the individuals around me." Scruggs-Weston said her diverse experience makes her an ideal candidate for mayor. But she has not always had smooth relations with her previous employers. She was fired from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 1987 and the St. Petersburg Housing Authority last year. Scruggs-Weston said she suffered gender and racial discrimination at both jobs. She has a discrimination lawsuit pending against the Housing Authority. • Larry Williams points out that he has the most government experience of any of the candidates running for mayor. He has served on the City Council for the past six years, including as its chairman for the past year. "If (you) were going to hire somebody for a job that pays $100,000 a year, and that person would be responsible for 3,000 employees and a $450-million budget, you wouldn't want that person to be someone with no experience," Williams said. "That's the question in this mayor's race." Williams says his non-confrontational style has helped focus the council in the past year. Meetings are shorter. He encourages his colleagues on the council to speak briefly and stay on the subject. Williams said he is the type who accomplishes tasks, pointing out that he has brought people together to build the 31st Street Sports Complex, to renovate the Bay Vista Adult Center rather than tear it down, to revitalize the Bay Village Shopping Center with a charter school and nearby library. He said he would carry this skill to the mayor's office, and pledged to improve economic conditions in less-fortunate areas of town within 18 or 24 months. In 1999, City Council member Bea Griswold accused Williams of "using tax dollars" for "personal goals." Griswold said Williams, who was attempting to start a charter school, had "brought the pressures of the neighborhoods he represents to select a site for the South Branch Library at the defunct Bay Village Shopping Center, where he can use its presence to enhance his charter school." Williams said he worked for seven years trying to refurbish an abandoned shopping center and he got it done. The project is now under way. "If I'm being accused as an elected official of trying to refurbish a shopping center, then I plead guilty," Williams said. • Omali Yeshitela has charisma and oratorical skills that the other candidates in the race must envy. Yeshitela centers his campaign trail comments around his theme of "St. Petersburg united in shared prosperity," or bringing the prosperity he sees downtown and in north-side neighborhoods to those that have been left behind, particularly those on the near south side. Yeshitela, known to many for espousing extreme ideas such as releasing all black people from prison and exempting all black people from taxation, has sounded such moderately liberal themes in this campaign that Al Gore could campaign on them. Yeshitela says that being allowed to vote and run for office -- he could not until last year because of a civil-rights-protest criminal conviction -- lets him moderate the extreme rhetoric he once used to get attention. As long as black people have their fair chance to shape and benefit from the systems that may tax and imprison them, the need to abolish those systems ceases, Yeshitela says. The leader of the African People's Socialist Party says that "humanity thrives best in communities that are truly democratic," and professes a "passion for democracy and justice." He says he would be an egalitarian leader who would work to expand self-sufficiency, business and tourism in the city.
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