One reporter asked Putnam if he would ever take a position against the sugar companies. His answer: “I was opposed to it (buying U.S. Sugar land) the first iteration of the buyout, which is not the position they held, so I would say I already have a track record.”
When he was reminded that, back then, Florida Crystals shared his opposition to the buyout (unlike U.S. Sugar, which had contracted to sell all their holdings), Putnam gave what might have been the most telling response of his career.
“You didn’t qualify that. When there’s division amongst them, I gotta pick.”
Kimberly Mitchell is executive director of the Everglades Trust and a former West Palm Beach city commissioner.
