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March 23, 2003
Family, staff keep home fires burning
By MARK HARPER | News-Journal Staff Writer
EUSTIS — Carey Baker´s leather chair in the Florida House of Representatives is empty, except for symbols of his absence, including a yellow ribbon.
He won´t vote, debate or glad-hand at town hall meetings. Instead, the 41-year-old father, husband and lawmaker is leading troops in the Persian Gulf region as a first sergeant in the Florida National Guard.
Meanwhile, life in the 25th District – centered in Lake County but including a large part of Southwest Volusia – goes forward. Constituents call his office seeking help wading through child-support, unemployment and Medicaid bureaucracies. Baker has filed five bills, some of which are moving through House committees. And his family carries on.
In the nearly three months since he was called to active duty, Baker has kept in touch with his office staff and wife mainly by phone.
Gale Bass, Baker´s chief legislative assistant in Tallahassee, runs things in the office. She is in close contact with the representative´s wife, Lori Baker, who passes on messages when he doesn´t have time for two phone calls.
Constituents who have contacted Baker´s office during his absence have barely realized he´s gone. One woman, who called for assistance in getting her ex-boyfriend to pay child support, said she was unaware of Baker´s Guard service.
“I got a great response,” said Shannon Jenssen of DeBary. “I can´t complain.”
Kimberly Parker, a 33-year-old Deltona woman who lives on her $637 disability check each month, called Baker´s office when she was having problems getting Medicaid to cover her diabetes medicine.
Renee Strong, Baker´s assistant in Eustis, got right on the case and soon after, Parker got her medicine.
“The lady was very friendly and helpful,” Parker said. “I thought Carey Baker was a woman legislator, but the lady told me about him. I think it´s wonderful he´s over there.”
Although constituents are satisfied with Baker´s staff and no one interviewed objected to his military service, some are unhappy he is out of the country.
Dale Sutthoff, owner of Child´s World of Learning, an Orange City child-care operation, has been urging Baker and other lawmakers to reform the state´s workers´ compensation laws.
“Carey Baker is a small businessman,” he said. “Part of his platform is worker´s comp. That´s why I want Carey Baker there, so he can fight for me.”
Baker isn´t allowed to vote in absentia, but his five bills have not been forgotten.
Dozens of lawmakers have offered their assistance to Bass.
“They keep telling me we have 119 representatives for the 25th District,” she said.
Politically, Baker doesn´t seem to have suffered. If anything, the publicity of being gone seems to have helped raise his profile.
Deltona resident John Drennon, a veteran of the Korean War, said he doesn´t mind the Republican lawmaker´s absence.
“I kind of admire him for it,” Drennon said. “He´s fulfilling his obligation. I have no objection to that.”
Even Phil Giorno, chairman of the Volusia County Democratic Executive Committee, said Baker isn´t ditching his district by fulfilling his obligation.
“I think people admire people who serve their country, especially during a time of war,” Giorno said.
One of the bills nearest to Baker´s heart would create a new revenue-generating license plate honoring Hospice. That organization cared for Baker´s father shortly before his death in 1995.
Leighton Baker, an Illinois native, moved his gun shop business from Denver to its current location near Mount Dora in 1957. Three years later, he became the first Republican elected to the state House from Central Florida in nearly a century. He served as a state representative for four years.
His sons took over the business, A.W. Peterson Gun Shop, and continue to run it in a 1957 wooden structure that smells of cypress. Carey Baker is office manager.
Steuart Baker, one of Carey´s three older brothers, is picking up much of the slack.
At home, wife Lori cares for their 6-month-old son, named for Baker´s father. Missing events on the home front is more painful to Baker than any vote in Tallahassee, Lori Baker said.
Last week, Baker was absent the first time his son drank from a cup by himself.
“The hardest thing is not being able to be here with Leighton and not see the changes in his son,” Lori Baker said. “It´s been very difficult, more difficult than either of us anticipated.”