In response to the news of the homicide of Black Power gang leader Craig Rippon, Mrs Baker-Hogan determined that a threat of gang violence required her to state that a Community Action Group was needed and that she was personally "prepared to take a strong leadership role".
It turns out that was entirely unnecessary as further danger from gang violence was completely unlikely.
Mr Rippon was allegedly a victim of his own gang members and the notion that his death would provoke retribution was a figment of Mrs Baker-Hogan's over-heated imagination. As was her offer of a heroic rescue of the city.
This newspaper's John Maslin quite rightly called out her grandstanding for what it is, an opportunistic self-aggrandisement as Mrs Baker-Hogan continues what is the worst-kept political secret in this city: her campaign to become mayor.
As appalling as the fear-mongering was by itself, worse was her response to being criticised, particularly for a lack of tact and concern for the family and friends of Mr Rippon.
In her defensive letter of response (Chronicle, November 11), the irony of her identification as community portfolio holder underscores the inadvertent self-destructiveness of a confession rarely seen in these parts.
As both heroine and victim of her own created myth, Mrs Baker-Hogan acknowledges that her behaviour on council has earned her the enmity of her colleagues. Her obstructionist tactics resemble those of her mentor, the former mayor, a man also given to fear-mongering in the service of his own electoral fortunes.
By her own admission, Mrs Baker-Hogan does not play well with others. Her own words convict her as to the esteem, or lack thereof, in which she is held by fellow councillors. "Pathetic", "worse than Laws" and "disgusted" are quoted as words her colleagues use - and that's what is said to her face.
In her response to John Maslin, she offers not one word denying her ambition for the mayoral chain, a central point of his editorial. Meantime, her actions in this and other matters - for example, refusing the right of citizens to petition council - give good reason to question her qualifications for her present position.
Most telling for me is her inability to recognise that this terrible event, this murder of a brave man in this city, is not about her.
Craig Rippon was just 57. He was a father and a grandfather. Yes, he was also the leader of the Black Power gang, but he was also a man recently honoured for his sincere attempt to change the gang culture in which he had been imbedded.
At the time of his death he had been working toward building a better and responsible life for his grandchildren.
-Jay Kuten is an American-trained forensic psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand for the fly fishing. He spent 40 years comforting the afflicted and intends to spend the rest afflicting the comfortable.
