They've written multiple editorials praising Baker or condemning Kriseman, while their news coverage has been hyper-critical of Kriseman while paying little to no attention to controversies associated with Baker. As we wrote ahead of the primary, that he received their endorsement — despite his staunch conservatism and the Times' purported liberal leanings — wasn't really all that much of a surprise.
Kriseman supporters like blogger/activist Jim Bleyer see Times editorial page editor Tim Nickens' penning of a short blurb promoting Baker's forthcoming book, Beyond the Sunshine: A Timeline of Florida's Past, as further evidence of deep (and questionable) ties between the paper and the former mayor, and are wondering aloud about the ethics it all — not to mention the odd timing. (Find a description of the book, complete with the Nickens blurb, here.)
After all, if a paper is supposed to treat candidates fairly, why would one of its key figures be promoting one candidate's work?
The book, which explores the history of the state (up till 2010, when Baker left office) was originally slated to come out in September of this year, but the publishing date was moved back to April of 2018. Pineapple Press, the book's publisher, said in an email the book is slated to come out on January 1 of next year.
In a phone interview last week, Nickens told CL Baker had asked him to read the newly penned book and, if he liked it, write a positive blurb about it. He said he didn't know Baker was going to run for mayor at the time, though he said he didn't remember when it was Baker had asked.
“Baker invited me to write it, and that was well before he decided to run for mayor,” Nickens said. “So as far as I was concerned, when I wrote the blurb, he was a former mayor and a private citizen and a prominent member of the community."
He said had Baker been an announced candidate, he would have had to think about a potential conflict of interest. Yet even two years ago, Baker running against Kriseman in 2017 seemed like a likelihood, if not a foregone conclusion to some political observers.
If the timing of the book's release is suspect, its publishing company suggests it's only coincidence.
Here's what Pineapple Press editor Jane Cussen said about the publishing timeline in an email.
We are still working hard on this book. There are hundreds of photos and getting files and permissions and credits has been daunting. This is a well-researched and interesting timeline of history and will be a unique contribution for readers of Florida history—which is why we took on this project last year. It has been quite a long time in the making. We did not know the author was going to run for mayor of St. Pete. Mr. Nickens submitted the blurb months ago. The pub date is now Jan 1, 2018. The delay has been in editorial and production—really nothing to do with the mayoral issue.
Nickens said his penning of a positive review of a politician's book isn't a total anomaly; that his predecessor, Phil Gailey, also penned a blurb for a Baker book, this one being his 2000 tome Mangroves to Major League: A Timeline of St. Petersburg, which came out the year prior to Baker's first run for mayor (the Times seemed allied with the former mayor even then). He dismissed the question of a potential ethics breach as "ridiculous," adding that he would have considered doing the same for Kriseman had the mayor asked.
"It's a book and it's a book about Florida history," Nickens said. "It's not even a book like his last book about, necessarily about St. Petersburg. And if Mayor Rick Kriseman wrote a book and asked me as a person from the journalism community to read it and see if I'd like to write a blurb, I'd be glad to do the same thing.”
An email to the Baker campaign containing questions pertaining to this matter has not yet been returned.
This article appears in Nov 2-9, 2017.