That's part of the reason, ostensibly, St. Petersburg City Councilman Karl Nurse sought to call former St. Pete mayor and current mayoral candidate Rick Baker out on potential ethics issues that could spring directly from his assertion that he will deal directly with matters pertaining to his current employer, Edwards Group, if elected, rather than recuse recuse himself. Earlier this week, the Tampa Bay Times reported on Baker's assertion that he would not recuse himself from matters pertaining to current employer and generous campaign benefactor Bill Edwards, the billionaire real estate developer behind such properties as Al Lang Field, the Mahaffey Theater and Sundial. Edwards also owns the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
On Friday afternoon — four days before the initial St. Pete mayoral election, which will likely result in a runoff — Nurse, who terms out this fall, said he would ask the Florida Commission on Ethics to review the potential ethical pitfalls that could come from Baker sitting at the negotiating table with the company for whom he was a six-figure-salary employee; one named for the billionaire who donated at least $50,000 to Baker's PAC, Seamless Florida.
“It seems to me to be such a glaring conflict of interest that I have to act," Nurse said. "So what my intent is, is to contact the Florida Commission on Ethics. They are the enforcement arm. They deal with public officials and potential conflicts of interest. So if he intends to go ahead and go forward and negotiate, essentially, with himself…I'll ask the ethics commission as to whether this is a conflict of interest.”
What typically happens, Nurse said, is that Baker would recuse himself when it came to negotiations with his former employer.
Nurse cited his own company, Bay Tech Label, as an example.
“As an illustration, I have a business in the far north of the city," he said. "When the city is doing things that impact my business, I publicly announce it and ask the attorney, should I recuse myself? And I'm talking about even more general things like we're going to rezone this portion of town.”
Baker's ties to his current employer and its high-profile projects should be more clear cut, he said.
“When it's as tight and connected as I'm going to negotiate with my immediate past employer who's also my biggest campaign donor, it seems to me so glaring that I'm amazed that we're even having this conversation,” Nurse said.
In an emailed statement, Baker campaign manager Nick Hansen defended Baker's assertion decision:
"Rick Baker has made clear since day one that once elected, he will leave his job and sever all ties to the Edwards Group," Hansen said in a statement issued through spokeswoman Brigitta Shouppe.
Hansen called Nurse's comments a "desperate attempt" to divert from other issues, like infrastructure and economic development on the south side.
Nurse said while he's an avid Kriseman supporter, politics aren't at center here; perceptions of impropriety are.
“Well, I like Rick Baker. I served on the city council when he was mayor. We worked together on lots of things. I just don't really understand why he's tone deaf on this. I'm hoping that he'll take a step back and say you know, it's not worth it,” Nurse said. “We have 20 lawyers. We have senior officials who have been here 25 years. It would be a very simple thing to say to the city attorney you handle it…I'm trying to appeal to his better angels.”
This article appears in Aug 24-31, 2017.
