Marc Caputo and me; how a bromance turned into a blood feud

“This is the day I begin to say ‘Yes’ to working with you.”

Those were the magical words of reporter Marc Caputo.

By late 2014, Caputo was so fed up with his bosses at the Miami Herald that he was willing to entertain the idea of working for me, the publisher of a controversial, Tampa Bay-centric blog (SaintPetersBlog.com) and a fledgling, statewide political news website (FloridaPolitics.com).

Caputo had previously said rejected working for me on multiple occasions, but I was persistent. I first proposed the idea to him at a South Florida hotel bar, which we had enlisted to cover better the unsurprising result of the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial primary (Charlie Crist beat Nan Rich … shocking).

During the several discussions I had with Caputo, it was never an issue for him about this incredibly talented reporter coming to work for a pirate ship of a news organization. No, it was about the money and, explicitly, how he would remain financially protected even if something happened to me.

So I went to my investor pool, explaining Caputo was on the line; if we wanted to reel him in, not only would I need money for his outsized salary (he was seeking approximately $120,000 annually), but to make Caputo comfortable, I would also need a chunk of that immediately.

Caputo wanted six months of salary placed in a sort of escrow account, available in the event my company folded (or something happened to me politically) that would disrupt my ability to pay him.

It was a lot to ask, but the chance to get a reporter of Caputo’s stature, we would have paid Alex Rodriguez money.

That’s why I was a little nervous that day when he called and said he’d work for me. I was about to be responsible for a big monthly nut.

Caputo was also talking about wanting to bring along rising star reporter Patricia Mazzei — for another sizable chunk of change.

My courtship of Caputo was becoming very expensive. But here he was, telling me I had the inside track on landing, arguably, the best political reporter in the state.

He told me both Huffington Post and POLITICO was also in the mix, but if I could meet his salary needs and make him feel secure about that salary, he was ready to pull the trigger.

I was so excited; I began sharing the news with some advertising and strategic partners. Some already knew because Caputo had reached out to them to gauge their reaction to him working for me.

I took that as a positive sign.

“Caputo’s coming to work for me!” I kept saying to myself.

Imagine my surprise the morning the first edition of Florida Playbook landed in my email inbox — with Caputo’s name emblazoned across the top.

Not only was he NOT going to work for me, but he was to produce a product which directly challenged my Sunburn email program.

Thanks for the heads-up, Marc.

However,  I am a devout Catholic (like Marc, I believe), and — somehow — what he did falls under the heading of “turning-the-other-cheek.”

And, as much as I was heartbroken that Marc would not be joining my enterprises, I was genuinely happy for him — he had escaped a horrible situation at the Herald.

And that’s how we started to become genuine friends.

Instead of making Caputo a rival or an enemy — I have enough of them already — I did my best befriend him. I would offer advice on how to survive the life-changing rigor of producing a morning email (there’s a reason why Andrew Sullivan quit blogging), while he would rewrite my pedestrian ledes. We would exchange news tips and hyperlinks for each other’s newsletters, while still competing on breaking news (one of my favorite memories of Marc was the groan he made when I called him to tell him I was about to beat him on the Ritch Workman working for Uber story).

When one of us would get into a Twitter fight (something that happened almost daily), we backed each other up. We’d appear at panels together. We’d drink together whenever we were both in Tallahassee.

On a couple of occasions, I even brought Caputo, clad in his trademark dirty white T-shirt, into the members-only Governors Club. (Trust me when I say that did not go over well with some members.)

Everything was going along swimmingly. That is until Jeb and Marco.

During the second-half of 2015, both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio were running to be president of the United States. In Florida politics, it divided many loyalties, including, as it turns out, Caputo and me.

It was no secret I was a bannerman to House Bush, and loyal and protective of those who worked for him. Caputo, meanwhile, was primarily a house organ for the Rubio campaign.

As the bad blood between Bush and Rubio made civil hands unclean, the tension between Caputo and I increased, if for no other reason than we were competing for some of the same stories about the presidential campaign.

I’m not exactly sure what happened, but at some point in late 2015 Caputo got cross-wired with the Bush campaign. So Caputo did what Caputo does: He bit the hands which previously fed him.

Of course, the Bush campaign did itself no favors, making mistake after mistake on the campaign trail, while getting beat at the polls by a former reality television star who would eventually win the White House.

Unfortunately for all involved, there seemed to be some direct relationship between how poorly the Bush campaign was faring with how aggressive Caputo would be with his coverage. There was no doubt Caputo was acting the bully.

In January of 2016, I decided to wrap my fist around a rolled-up sleeve of quarters and punch the bully in the nose. So I took Caputo to task after he attacked Bush staffers David Kochel, who was battling cancer, and Paul Lindsay, whom Caputo called a “catamite.”

All I did in that post — which I gave Marc a heads-up — was simply to ask him to take it down a notch.

Little did I know that, by hitting the publish button, I would be starting a blood feud.

At first, Caputo was only mildly upset with me calling him out. Over the next 24 hours after publication, we spoke several times. But then the post began to go semi-viral, making its way out of Florida and into the D.C. echo chamber.

It’s been hell ever since.

Caputo has attacked my staff and me viciously via Twitter, labeling me a “pay-to-play” liar, as well as many other choice descriptors. We have screamed at each other offline. We’ve exchanged nasty emails and texts. We’ve fought proxy wars through various news stories. All the while we’ve made several mutual friends — from POLITICO Florida bureau chief Matt Dixon to the public relations professionals who have to work with us — very uncomfortable.

I expected Caputo to be upset with me for writing the post, but I thought his anger would last a week, maybe two.

I did not expect him to become a lifelong enemy.

Unfortunately, Caputo’s demons have sat on his shoulders long enough that they have convinced him that my entire befriending of him was part of some Rube Goldbergesque plot to trap him in a controversy — as some way to help the Bush campaign.

I kid you not; this is what he tells people, only with more detail and many more curse words.

In my reaction to Caputo’s attacks, I’ve been no angel. When he hits me on Twitter, I fire back on my blog. If we saw each other on the street, it’s likely one of us would be on the ground by the time the other reached the end of the block.

But what’s really making this rivalry toxic is our coverage of the scandal surrounding state Sen. Jack Latvala.

Even though I was the person who first wrote “the Harvey Weinsteins of Florida politics are hiding in plain sight,” Caputo has portrayed me as the “villain in your history.” He accused me of “soliciting” women to come forward with stories of sexual harassment by lawmakers only to launch a “counteroffensive” on Latvala’s behalf.

I’ve rarely been as proud of something I’ve written as I am that “hiding in plain sight” column, yet Caputo has turned my stance on the issue into yet another weapon of attack.

Throughout the last month, Caputo has, again and again, called me a liar. He’s blocked me on Twitter, so I only learn about his attacks secondhand. However, Caputo made a fateful mistake last month when he decided to unblock me and respond directly to one of my tweets.

Caputo said directly I was lying when I wrote about how he had accepted an under-the-table payment from me to write a story for INFLUENCE Magazine about the South Florida lobbying industry.

Because I can prove this to be the truth, I’ve instructed my lawyers to pursue a retraction from POLITICO and, possibly, a defamation suit against Caputo.

Because Marc very much took $1,000 from me to write the story on page 82 of the Spring edition of INFLUENCE Magazine.

Well, I shouldn’t say Marc took the $1,000 to write the story; bravely, Marc actually had me send the money to his wife just to avoid the exact situation we are currently in.

Here’s a screen grab where Caputo acknowledges the overnight shipment of the payment:

In addition to ghostwriting that story, Caputo also wrote this attack on Tampa Bay Times editor Adam Smith. Read that piece about Smith and any longtime reader of Caputo will recognize his craftsmanship.

Does it make me look good to admit that Caputo ghostwrote for me? No, of course. But the point here is that Caputo swims in the same end of the pool as I do.

Caputo can lie just as well I can. He can also be paid-to-play just as easily as I can.

In fact, some may wonder: If Caputo took a $1,000 from me to write about lobbyists, did he take money from anyone else to write about something else? After all, what can Caputo say, “I only took money from Schorsch that one time?”

Well … he’s consistently lied about taking the money from me, why believe him now?

A better question may be this: What would Caputo’s bosses at POLITICO think about his previous moonlighting. Would The Associated Press tolerate it? Would the Times/Herald?

It’s doubtful.

I take no pleasure in outing Marc like this, but as long as he continues to call my ethics into question, this is a matter of the pot calling the kettle scumbag.