The Political Whore

Aaron Sharockman of the Times is doing a good job on digging out new angles on the Rays waterfront stadium plan, and today he nails down Mayor Rick Baker’s stance on the matter: one of public fence-sitting. Sharockman writes:

Baker’s silence on the Rays stands in stark contrast to his penchant for supporting city economic development projects during his six years in office.

On Tuesday, in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Baker said not to anticipate his decision on the project anytime soon.

“Ultimately the Rays really need to convince the community,” Baker said. “They can convince me and the City Council, and maybe we’ll all love it. But if they don’t convince the community, it’s not going anywhere.”

As I wrote previously, there is now way a plan this large gets this far down the road without early and frequent nods of approval from the mayor, who has a large reserve of political capital to spend if he so chooses. He doesn’t often choose to spend it on tough items (like addressing and fixing the St Pete Police Dept and the city’s crime problems).

But Baker is a smart politician; he knows that if he comes out right away pimping for the Rays, he risks polarizing the situation further. This way, he appears neutral and needing to be convinced, an advocate for his citizenry. I’m sure, to some degree, he does still need to be convinced. But does anybody really believe that Mayor Rick doesn’t really want a brand, new shiny sailboat waterfront ballpark and the chance to dish off, errrr, bid out some prime real estate underneath the Trop to powerful patrons such as, say, the Semblers?

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