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Ruth: How Putnam's trip to Governor's Mansion veered off course

 
Published Aug. 2, 2018

This wasn't supposed to happen to the fair-haired heir not so apparent.

Adam Putnam, the fresh-faced Opie of Florida politics, who has led a charmed life on the hustings, had to figure all he had to do was announce his intention to become governor and as if by Manifest Destiny the job would be his.

But that was way back then. That was, oh, about 12 percentage points ago in the polls, give or take a Donald Trump tweet. All that predestination has turned into a black spot of hubris.

On his path to the Governor's Mansion, Putnam checked off all the obligatory boxes on his political resume: a stint serving in the Florida House, several terms as a member of Congress and two successful statewide campaigns to be Florida's agriculture commissioner.

Leaving nothing to chance, to boost his Republican conservative bona fides Putnam gleefully boasted he was a proud National Rifle Association "sell-out." He transformed himself into a Kmart blue light special of any lobbying interest looking for a politician on the cheap.

And there was the Adam Putnam bobble-head doll in aisle four, right between the Rick Scott hologram and the Donald Trump best-selling children's book, "Vladimir Hears A Hack."

Putnam has been running so far to the right, it's amazing he hasn't begun to travel the state dressed in pelts, requesting contributions be donated in Confederate currency.

All the stars seemed aligned. And then the Putnam campaign train appears to have pulled into the "What, Me Worry?" station.

Putnam's only real opponent for the GOP gubernatorial nomination is Ron DeSantis, a fairly obscure north Florida congressman. He saw a rapid rise in his fortunes once he became the beefcake boy for Fox News.

It also hasn't hurt that Trump has endorsed DeSantis over Putnam, who apparently incurred the ire of the president of the United States by not suitably groveling before him during the 2016 campaign. Rut-ro.

As he sits alone at night caressing his assault rifle, do you suspect Putnam wonders, "Where did I go wrong?" After all, the commissioner comes from a prominent Polk County family. He's been an omnipresent political figure since he was in his Dr. Dentons.

Yet, with the Governor's Mansion within his grasp, Putnam now finds himself trailing a guy no one ever heard of six months ago thanks to homesteading on Fox News and obsequiously rubbing Trump's tummy on Air Force One.

Sure, some of Putnam's woes are self-inflicted. On Putnam's watch, his office handed out concealed weapon permits as if they were free corn dogs at the Florida State Fair.

Oh sure, there were a few glitches like tasking the Agriculture Department's under-trained and over-worked mailroom employees to handle the permits. So a few folks, a mere 291 of them, who shouldn't have gotten a concealed weapon permit slipped through the cracks.

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Wasn't Putnam simply fulfilling his self-described role as a "proud NRA sell-out?" After all, at least one Agriculture Department employee handling concealed weapon permit applications told the Tampa Bay Times she had been reminded she was working "for the NRA." She needed reminding?

In Tallahassee, kowtowing to the NRA is part of the job description for public service. But Putnam rose to the occasion, blaming the whole concealed carry debacle on the ever-popular disgruntled, inept underling.

You could argue Putnam has mastered the fine art of throwing employees under the bus when things go south.

Asked during a Miami television interview if he was the author of the "proud NRA sell-out" line, which was first uttered over a year ago, Putnam bobbed and weaved before insisting that, tut-tut, the quote was actually the creative handiwork of someone on his staff. It took him over a year to come up with an alibi?

Like most hustling candidates, Putnam loves to talk about how he is a fighter for this and a fighter for that.

But when he comes to taking ownership for what has become a dead carp hanging around his neck by joyously claiming he is a proud NRA hot walker, Putnam runs away.

Now there's a profile in courage for you.