LEADERSHIP XVI'S TRIP TO TALLY

By Jeff Roslow, Class Historian

     On the Florida Chamber's website, it showed in 2014 it endorsed Rick Scott for Governor, Pam Bondi for Attorney General, Jeff Atwater for Chief Financial Officer and Adam Putnam for Commissioner of Agriculture. All are Republicans. In the Florida Senate, the Florida Chamber endorsed seven candidates, six Republicans and one Democrat. In the Florida House the Florida Chamber endorsed 57 Republicans and eight Democrats.
     Blose said generally speaking the Florida Chamber backs Republicans principles and it backs Democrats that are more in the middle to conservative. To my view the Florida Chamber has always been for business development.
     Though he wasn't on our schedule, we got a chance to see the Governor. In the courtyard between the old Courthouse and the new one there were many tables with items from the National Guard. At the end of the courtyard, Gov. Rick Scott handed out ribbon necklaces to soldiers. When he was done it was picture time. Our class was certainly among those who wanted pictures. While that was a fun bit, probably the best photos I got had nothing to do with the governor. It was with classmate J.C. Martin who manned the blown up lifeboat in his best Valley Forge pose.


    
That evening we dressed and went to the Polk County Reception at the top of the courthouse - on the 22nd floor. We were greeted by Polk County delegates shaking hands, talking policies and politics. A short ceremony introduced the Polk County delegates and Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam gave a short speech welcoming us to the event.
     The second day we spent in Tallahassee was mostly in the Legislature. There were visits from Cabinet members - Ben Albritton, Pam Bondi, Denise Grimsley, Neal Combee and more; a tour of the House of the Representatives; and for me a little fun game of trivia. On one of the walls in the lobby there were some Florida facts on display.
     Florida is 447 miles long from Key West to St. Mary's River. It is 361 miles wide from the Atlantic Ocean to the Perdido River. It was the 27^th state of the United States, the state motto is In God We Trust (which I thought was already taken), the state pie is Key Lime, the Cracker Horse is the state horse, the loggerhead turtle is the saltwater reptile and April 2 is state day.
     Perhaps the highlight of the second day was a visit with Adam Putnam. That visit started our day. We waited for him as he was in a staff meeting and when he walked in the door he was immediately greeted by an apparent lookalike in our class in David Sandow.
David, is not a politician. He is the branch manager at Spherion Staffing. When he moved to Polk County in 2004 he said he was frequently mistaken for Adam Putnam and he was not shy in letting the Commissioner of Agriculture know that. Actually I doubt David's been shy about anything in his life.
     Anyway, he said people would greet him, look at him at gas pumps, in restaurants and welcome him back into town. Some knew he wasn't Adam Putnam but even those people assumed he was in the family.
      “I didn't even know who you were,” he told the Commissioner of Agriculture.
      When you see them side by side they don't really look alike, but I suppose if you don't have them side by side it can be easy to think David is Adam. I doubt that happens the other way.
     David told me later, the comparisons have not ceased. In fact it even happened while we were in Tallahassee. Good thing he was wearing his name tag.
     And with Putnam being thought of as a governor candidate it is giving David an easy set up for the obvious question, “Are you going to take a shot at governor?”
     “I just tell them when the time feels right.”