Mitch Perry
A day after Rick Baker‘s political committee aired a new ad criticizing Rick Kriseman‘s character and judgment for hiring Kevin King as his chief of staff, the mayor weighed in, calling it “sad” that his opponent is choosing to focus on his top aide.
“It’s always sad when you see ads that are personal,” Kriseman told reporters covering his appearance Wednesday afternoon in front of a government class at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
In 2001, as a 22-year-old substitute teacher for the Pinellas County School District, King was arrested for allegedly propositioning a teenage age girl for sex. At the time, police charged him with three felonies: one count of computer solicitation to commit a lewd and lascivious act, and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
King pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and the court withheld adjudication. The records were sealed.
Baker’s people are calling on Kriseman to release the records regarding King’s arrest.
“Running the city has everything to do with judgment and competency,” said Brigitta Shouppe, a Baker spokeswoman. “If Rick Kriseman is going to stand by his decision to put this controversial hire in charge of the mayor’s education programs which are designed to actually put people into our children’s schools then he should tell his chief of staff to release the records.”
The mayor and King are extremely close, with King serving as an important adviser as far back as Kriseman’s tenure on the City Council in the early aughts, and again during six years he served in the state Legislature.
“We have tried to be forward thinking in our ads and talk about the future about what kind of city St. Petersburg is going to be. That’s what the voters want to know,” Kriseman said. “What kind of city are we going to live in? What is the mayor doing to improve the city? What are his idea and his plans?”
“And so that’s what I’ve tried to focus on.”
On Wednesday, the Baker camp doubled down, issuing another statement about King. This time, they went after Kriseman campaign manager Jacob’s Smith‘s comments to Florida Politics saying King’s case “didn’t go anywhere” and “had zero to do with Rick Kriseman.”
“Zero? Are you serious?” a statement read. “Kriseman hired him as his Chief of Staff. Kriseman put him in charge of education policy and the staff responsible for recruiting volunteers to mentor students in our schools.”
It is not the first time King’s alliance with Kriseman became a campaign issue. While unmentioned before the 2013 mayoral election, a GOP strategist did point it out during Kriseman’s first run for the state House in 2006.
One comment
Ray Tampa
October 29, 2017 at 4:26 am
Mayor Rick Kriseman’s campaign is holding fast to the philosophy of – When they go low we go high. With that said, it is clear to see why the wealth of filthy information relative to individuals associated with Baker and Baker himself has not been exposed during the campaign.
There are so many well documented examples of Mayor Kriseman exercising great judgment that has proved quite beneficial for our city. Baker’s camp should be ashamed of themselves for trying to raise this as an issue. Well, desperate people do desperate things probably explains it best.
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