St. Petersburg needs a leader with the skills to build on the neighborhood programs and economic development efforts already begun. Rick Baker has those skills.

In politics, as in life, one of the best ways to judge how a person might perform in the future is to examine what he or she has done in the past. That's what makes the election for St. Petersburg mayor such a contrast this year.

Rick Baker, 44, is an attorney with an easygoing manner. He feels equally at home in Chamber of Commerce boardrooms or in neighborhood association meetings or lobbying state lawmakers for road funds or handing out Christmas tidings to underprivileged children.

In much of what he does, he takes the lead. When civic leaders said neighborhood groups weren't being taken seriously, he formed the CONA Neighborhood Leadership Program and built for the first time a working relationship between neighborhood and business groups.

He founded the YMCA Neighbor-to-Neighbor program. He became president of the Suncoast Children's Dream Fund, chairman of the Florida International Museum, chairman of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, chairman of Leadership St. Pete and president of his law firm, Fisher & Sauls.

With Baker, the people who have known him best are surrounding him with support, including Mayor David Fischer and former Mayors Bob Ulrich and Corinne Freeman. They say he's a collaborator and that he gets things done. Certainly, that's been his record. Said Fischer: "He's very mayoral. That's important."

Kathleen Ford, 43, is also an attorney. She worked aggressively in her neighborhood association and told voters four years ago that, "I'm very much interested in maintaining the momentum we've got." Within a month of taking a seat on the City Council, though, she was attacking Mayor Fischer and insisting the council hire its own staff. She called for an independent planner, independent attorney, independent departmental reviews, even challenged whether Fischer was violating the Charter by not attending all council meetings.

A City Hall reporter at the time wrote: "With sarcastic barbs, eye-rolling and occasional screaming, this City Council rookie is making life miserable for St. Petersburg officials and so antagonizing fellow council members that she often struggles even to win a second to her motions."

She was so given to personal pique that she once demanded her council colleagues hold up a $15,000 contract for dance instruction at a recreation center because her own dance instructor missed getting the contract. She once cast the lone vote against a routine rezoning request because she claimed the applicant, a carwash owner, had scratched her Chevrolet Suburban seven years before. Said Ford: "I unfortunately had a personal experience with you. I can't set that aside."

With Ford, many of the people who have known her best are actively opposing her candidacy for mayor. Her own council district voted overwhelming for Baker in the mayoral primary, including the three precincts that constitute her neighborhood association. All four former council members who served with her -- Connie Kone, Frank Peterman, Ernest Fillyau and Bob Kersteen -- are supporting Baker.

What voters face in the March 27 mayoral contest is not so much a question of political philosophy as of general competence and managerial demeanor.

Both candidates, for example, support BayWalk, a vibrant downtown entertainment complex that opened months ago. But as chamber chairman, Baker helped to promote the business climate that made the construction of BayWalk possible. Ford, on the other hand, was the lone council vote against BayWalk on at least four occasions, often because she was perturbed at the manner in which information was presented.

Both candidates have talked about the need to assure that St. Petersburg's public schools maintain their high quality as the Pinellas school district removes court-ordered desegregation. Baker has held private discussions with school officials, sharing his concern. Ford said she will sue if the school system doesn't meet her classroom size goals, and she went to a public meeting with the School Board and remarked: "I feel like I am looking at the slow death of the city of St. Petersburg. We're wasting our time here."

Both candidates put public safety as one of their highest priorities. Baker has publicly supported police Chief Goliath Davis, noting that crime and complaints against officers have steadily dropped, and he has noted that Davis is helping to build trust in the city's black neighborhoods. Ford has attacked Davis at virtually every chance, publicly accusing him of "lying," calling for the council to consider abolishing the Police Department and outlandishly questioning whether Davis was tipping off drug suspects.

To listen to the tenor of this campaign, one would think that Ford is running against an entrenched incumbent who has destroyed city government and ruined the quality of life for St. Petersburg. But that's hardly the case. First, there is no incumbent in this race. Mayor Fischer, who has helped build strong neighborhoods and bring Major League Baseball and other entertainment and business opportunities to this city, is leaving after 10 years. Second, the city and its people, with some exceptions, have seldom enjoyed such civic success.

What St. Petersburg needs is someone who will follow in the careful steps of Fischer, who will build on the neighborhood programs and economic development efforts he began. It needs someone with the demonstrated skills to build the personal and political relationships that help any mayor and city government succeed.

Baker has been a leader in almost every endeavor, and the contrast with Ford could not be more striking. On Friday, during a televised debate, Baker spoke of his vision for St. Petersburg and the need to work closely and respectfully with all residents. Ford, later asked by neighborhood activist and former council member Connie Kone to answer for her rudeness to city employees, leaned over the microphone and barked: "You know, Ms. Kone, our council meetings have gotten a lot nicer since you left."

This is a contest about leadership. Rick Baker has it, Kathleen Ford does not. We strongly recommend Baker.

Help for voters

St. Petersburg voters face a lengthy municipal ballot on March 27. Besides the office of mayor, all voters will be asked to choose five City Council members and to decide 10 City Charter amendments and two parks referendums.

On Saturday, we published recommendations in the parks referendums.

Today, we publish our mayor's recommendation on this page and invite St. Petersburg readers to consult our recommendations on the 10 Charter amendments in the Neighborhood Times. On Monday, we will publish our recommendations for the five council races.

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