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Adam Putnam
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 12th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Charles Canady
Born	July 31, 1974 (1974-07-31) (age 34) Bartow, Florida
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Melissa Putnam
Residence	Bartow, Florida
Alma mater	University of Florida
Occupation	farmer
Religion	Episcopalian

Adam F. Putnam (born July 31, 1974) is an American politician who has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001, representing Florida's 12th congressional district.

Early life and education

Putnam was born in Bartow, Florida. He graduated from Bartow High School and attended the University of Florida, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in food and resource economics.

U.S. Congress

In February 2006, Putnam became a member of the House leadership, assuming the role of chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, the fifth-ranking Republican leaderhip position in the House. In November 2006, Putnam was elected by his colleagues as House Republican Conference Chairman, the third-highest ranking position.¹ Following House Republican losses in the 2008 general election, Putnam resigned his post as Conference Chairman.²

Putnam describes himself as one of Congress's leading supporters of developmental education for children from low-income families and is the author of the Head Start Accountability Bill. Putnam is also the co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus.

Putnam is currently the third-youngest member of Congress. He was the youngest member of Congress when he took office in 2001 at age 26, just one year after becoming constitutionally eligible. In 2005, Patrick McHenry, a year younger than Putnam and Southern Republican, was elected to Congress.

Committee Assignments

• Financial Services Committee
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises - This is the main committee of the U.S House which is supposed to oversee the economic systems that have failed over the past months.

Controversy

Adam Putnam accused Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of arrogance in requesting an Air Force Three for flights back to her district.³

"Just a month into the new Democratic majority, we are talking about the costs of an arrogance of office," said Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam of Florida at a briefing for reporters Tuesday. "The same week she is talking about fiscal responsibility, she is requesting a jumbo jet to taxi her back and forth from her district, something that is a major deviation from the previous speaker. Certainly, it is the interest of someone who is in the presidential succession to have access to a secure aircraft, but this is not a routine military charter flight. This is Air Force Three."

However, the House of Representatives' Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Livingood had requested the plane for House Speaker Pelosi's security.⁴

"I regret that an issue that is exclusively considered and decided in a security context has evolved into a political issue," Bill Livingood said in a news release.

The White House issued a press release supporting Livingood and Pelosi.⁵

"This is a silly story and I think it's been unfair to the speaker," White House spokesman Tony Snow said at a morning briefing with reporters. "We think it's important that the speaker of the House enjoy the same kind of security that we arranged for Speaker Hastert in the wake of September 11th. And like I said, I think that there's been a lot of over-hyped reporting on this," Snow said.

The Tampa Tribune described him as "unapologetic" about making comments on what turned out to be a false story about Pelosi. ⁶

Putnam now acknowledges he had no personal knowledge of any Pelosi request. He said he was commenting on an anonymously sourced story in The Washington Times and additional coverage from CNN. "This was a classic case where the media got out in front of us," Putnam said. "Did we jump on it? Yes." And he is unapologetic about that. He calls the Pelosi plane story, whatever its legitimacy, "the first break [Republicans] have had from the media in driving our message since before the Mark Foley story broke."

Putnam also garnered attention when he stated “white rednecks” who “didn’t show up to vote for us” cost Republicans their Congressional majority in the 2006 elections. The report noted that...

"Three Republicans in the room independently confirmed to the Hotline the substance and context of Putnam’s remarks. But Putnam’s chief of staff insists that the remarks were taken out of context...Putnam’s chief of staff, John Hambel, said his boss has used the word “redneck” only in the context of sharing polling data from last week’s elections. Hambel said Putnam was listing off different constituencies and ended with saying: “Heck, we even had rednecks who go to church who didn't come out to vote.⁷

Elder Statesman

Adam Putnam has endured a number of nicknames throughout his short career, including President George W. Bush's constant reference to him as "Red" due to his red hair. His colleagues in the House have also made reference to his hair, including Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas who addressed him as "this Howdy Doody-looking Nimrod" during a floor debate over the Republicans' plan to cut funding for Medicare and other senior services. He is also derided as "The Elder Statesman" due to his fast rise in the House Republican leadership, despite his relative youth.

Gonzales' ouster

After the numerous calls by Democrats, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Putnam became the top Republican in either House to call for the ouster of former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. "For the good of the nation, I think it is time for fresh leadership at the Department of Justice," Putnam said.

This move was met with surprise by many Republicans, who were remaining silent on the Gonzales issue. However, Putnam mentioned that there remained severe discontent within the GOP circle over Gonzales and as the Chairman of the House Republican Conference, he thought it was important to send this message out.

Position on 2008 "Bailout"

On September 29, 2008, Putnam voted for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.⁸ He was one of only three Florida Republicans to do so. The bill failed. On October 3, 2008, he again voted for the updated Emergency Economic Stablization Act of 2008.

References

External links

• Congressman Adam Putnam official U.S. House site
• Adam Putnam for US Congress official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Opie's All Grown Up Now USNews.com, December 3, 2006
• Opie? National Review, July 30, 2007

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 8 January 2009, at 23:38.

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