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At his big kick off, Adam Putnam announced that it was time to put Florida First. Really – forty years in the making and that is Adam Putnam’s bold new plan and inspiring new slogan - Putting Florida First. In essence, this is the Publix Deli equivalent of an Air Sandwich. To be fair, Putnam has further boldly proclaimed that his priorities would focus on education, public safety and making Florida friendly to veterans and the military. Of course, even our tourists know that Florida has a long history of being very pro-veteran and pro-military while and it is lost on no one that every Governor in modern time has made education and public safety a priority in Florida. So much for the bold vision thing.

Putnam makes a good point and speaks eloquently about making Florida “more than a prize for a life well-lived someplace else,” even if he has no clue how to actually do it, at least he recognizes and talks about it. Putnam states that he wants Florida to be the launch pad for the American dream, that “it can be that if we put Florida First.” Yet, as Senate President Joe Negron battled to make Florida’s biggest economic engines world class places by bringing Universities to the level of quality to rival UNC and UVA, Adam Putnam was MIA. Does putting Florida First mean we spend money to do so, make policies that get us there or just pledge to do so on a bus tour of Florida? One can almost hear Putnam humming about his beloved Florida, “we are first in war and first in peace, and first in everyone’s hearts…" but for the fact that that song is already taken.

With 40 plus years of preparation, onlookers must be left to wonder how it is that Rip Van Putnam emerges as a candidate and all he can tell us is that we should “put Florida First.” In fairness, that was not all Putnam said as he embarked on a 22-stop bus tour of Florida. He also has stated that the future “is boundless if we focus on letting American innovation unleash itself, instead of falling down the trap of big government and bloated bureaucracy.” Adding “That won’t happen on my watch.” The only problem with this point is that years and years of former Governors and legislatures have already created the low tax, low regulatory promised-land Putnam envisions. Putnam is like Columbus, thinking he “discovered” America and the rest of us are like the Native American’s thinking: “No, sir, we knew it was here all along.”

Ah, Adam Putnam, the Courageous Crusader! Forty years to prep and all we get is platitudes. All this talk of conservatism would make you wonder how this guy voted the way he did for all those big Government programs in Washington. Meanwhile, as Agriculture Commissioner, Putnam was listless and nearly lifeless, especially during the most recent legislative session where Visit Florida budgets and job recruitment programs were almost purged. But fear not, Adam Putnam has now emerged to lead us to the promised land, just as he has led Florida’s agriculture industry into... stop. That won’t work, Florida Agriculture is in a terrible decline and has gotten worse on Putnam’s watch.