By MARGIE MENZEL
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA:
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, January 20, 2015……….Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam easily won a second term in November and is widely believed to be considering a run for governor in 2018. Meanwhile, he is helping lead efforts to fight diseases damaging the citrus industry and could play a key role in a legislative debate this year about water policy.
Before running for his current post, Putnam served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Florida’s 12th Congressional District. During that time, he was tapped as the Republican policy chairman from 2005 to 2007 and chairman of the House Republican Conference from 2007 to 2009.
Before his election to Congress, Putnam served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1996 to 2000. A fifth-generation Floridian from a family with deep ties to the citrus and cattle industries, he graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’ degree in food and resource economics. Putnam and his wife, Melissa, have four children.
The News Service of Florida has five questions for Adam Putnam:
Q: How much trouble lies ahead for Florida’s citrus industry, and what could be the impact on the state’s economy?
PUTNAM: Unfortunately, it’s as bad as you’ve heard, and worse. The Florida citrus industry represents a roughly $10 billion-plus contribution to our state’s economy. So we all benefit from the citrus industry’s economic impact, whether we’re in a citrus-producing county or not.
Of course, it’s part of the iconic images of Florida. You know, it’s on the license plate, it’s part of our post cards, it’s part of the lore of coming to Florida and smelling the orange blossoms. And (citrus) greening is devastating. I was riding groves this weekend, and it looks like we’ve just come through a freeze, there’s so much fruit falling on the ground prematurely. So that’s hurting growers’ bottom line. It’s creating one of the lowest supplies of oranges in modern history, and we just don’t have any answers yet.
It’s really a race against time more than it is a matter of money, because growers are spending a fortune, the state’s contributing money, the feds are contributing money. We just need answers to come out of all that research.
Q: Water policy is one of your top priorities. Bearing in mind that you don’t have a vote on the Legislature’s implementation of Amendment 1, what would you like to see happen?
PUTNAM: Well, I hope that the Legislature is bold when it comes to implementing water policy. We have an opportunity to write water policy in a non-reactive mode. We’re not coming off of a busy hurricane season. We’re not coming off of a record drought. So we can have this debate in a dispassionate way, and, really, in a thoughtful way.
Amendment 1 ties into that because water infrastructure, water restoration, springs restoration, Everglades restoration — it’s not cheap. And so learning from what the last 30 years of environmental programs have taught us, applying that to the entire state, not just to one part of the state. … I think that the Suwannee valley, the Northwest district, areas that were once considered water rich — even they are in some form of water conflict now. So we need a policy that’s flexible enough to recognize that some years we have droughts and some years we have 90 inches of rain in 80 days, comprehensive — in other words, making it statewide, recognizing this isn’t just an Everglades issue or a Tampa Bay water shortage issue, this is statewide — and long-term. It’s going to take more than just one session of doing something about it to really have a long-term, sustainable method of bringing our water supply back to where we need it to support the economy and the environment.
Q: You and the other Cabinet members are being criticized for not acting as more of a check on Gov. Rick Scott’s ouster of former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey. Today Sen. Arthenia Joyner and Rep. Mark Pafford called for an investigation — what are you going to do?
PUTNAM: Well, I’ve made it clear publicly that I’m not happy at how his departure was handled at all. And we’re in the process of reviewing options. You know, the Cabinet confirmed Rick Swearingen last week to be the new head of FDLE, the new commissioner of FDLE. And so we’re evaluating what options are out there, whether it’s legislative or Cabinet-based options.
(Is one of the options to revisit what happened to Commissioner Bailey?) We’re gathering up all the options that are available to us under the statutes and under the constitution.
(If Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty’s job comes up as an issue before the Cabinet, how would you approach that differently?) I’ve had no conversations about Kevin McCarty’s future. He has certainly served multiple governors well, and served our state well. And I believe that a strong Cabinet system is important. Florida’s constitution has a very interesting approach to the different Cabinet officials. For example, the (chief financial officer) has a role in (overseeing) the Office of Financial Regulation and Office of Insurance Regulation where he and the governor have to be in agreement. Department of Environmental Protection — the entire Cabinet has to be in agreement. There is a very clear path laid out for more than just one person to be involved in the hiring and firing of Cabinet agency heads. We need to make sure that that strong Cabinet system is protected and maintained as we go into this second term.
Q: Will you run for governor in 2018?
PUTNAM: (Laughs.) It’s only January! We just got sworn in three weeks ago. I love the opportunity to serve as commissioner of agriculture, and I know that we’re going to make the most of this opportunity in my second term to build on the first four years. And the future will sort itself out.
Q: As you watch Congress these days, what are your thoughts about having chosen to leave when you did? Do you say to yourself, “I’m sure glad I’m not there?”
PUTNAM: It was a privilege to serve in the Congress and to represent my district. But I’m glad that I chose to come back home to serve as commissioner of agriculture. I’ve been able to accomplish more in a variety of areas as a statewide elected official in Florida than I did in 10 years in Washington. I hope that Washington gets better. I hope that the dysfunction subsides. The world needs America to have a well-functioning Congress and a well-run federal government, and we’re a long way from that. But in terms of my ability to serve the public and my ability to serve my family, I made the right decision.
I have loved being in the executive branch. It is nice to have a department of this size and the breadth and diversity of our responsibilities, to be able to move things forward. I’ve said that in Congress, you’ve got to round up a couple of hundred votes to pass a Mother’s Day resolution, and that’s not guaranteed. And here, we certainly have a strong working relationship with the Legislature, and they’ve empowered us to move forward on some of our priorities. But there’s an awful lot that goes on year-round that we’ve been able to accomplish in a much more efficient and quick way than anything we tried to do in Washington.