A.G. Gancarski
Governor Rick Scott and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam are in the twilight of their current tenures.
Putnam wants to replace Scott and has been vocal in criticisms of Scott policy.
Putnam vowed to bring back the drug czar position that Scott eliminated after he took office in 2011, although the commissioner was quick to point out that Scott didn’t “drop the ball” on the drug war in the Sunshine State, opioid crisis notwithstanding.
Putnam said he couldn’t have signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act as it was, though he added that if he were to be elected Governor, the self-proclaimed “NRA sellout” would enforce the law that has led to a lawsuit from the gun group, and a ritual defenestration of House Speaker Richard Corcoran for pushing the gun control bill through.
Florida Politics asked Scott about Putnam’s deviations from administration policy, including whether he regretted cutting the drug czar position (a question he sidestepped).
“With regard to the opioid crisis,” Scott said, “it’s horrible what happened. We have so many people who have lost their lives over it. I have a family member who has struggled with addiction.”
“I want to thank Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron because they stepped up. They made sure we had $65 million in the budget this year to deal with the opioid crisis. We passed a good bill that I was proud to sign, that’s hopefully going to stop as many people from being addicted and provide services,” Scott said.
“Last year we passed legislation that increased the penalties for those that are trafficking in these drugs,” Scott added.
Despite Putnam’s critiques of the “school safety bill,” Scott said (as he did last week when we asked him) that he was “proud of what [he] signed.”
“I told the Legislature to give me a bill that will provide for law enforcement officers. They did. I said give me a bill that will provide more mental health counselors in schools. They did. I said give me a bill that’s going to harden our schools. They did,” Scott said.
“I said give me a bill that will say that if you’re struggling with mental illness or you’re threatening yourself or others, that you don’t have access to a gun. They did,” Scott added.
“I’m proud to have signed that bill and I’m going to continue to fight to make sure it’s implemented,” Scott said.
Of course, the school safety bill has led to one potential candidate for Governor — House Speaker Richard Corcoran — being pilloried by the NRA.
FP asked Scott if the NRA should lay off of Corcoran, and whether he was worried that the gun lobby would come after him in potential future political endeavors.
“Well, I want to thank the Speaker, because the school safety bill wouldn’t have passed without the Speaker’s hard work. The money for the opioid crisis wouldn’t have been in there without the Speaker’s hard work,” Scott said.
“The bill that I got to sign to restrict the number of days that a doctor could prescribe opioids wouldn’t be there without Speaker Corcoran,” Scott continued. “I think that we had a great Session, and the Speaker and Senate President did a good job.”
Scott more or less sidestepped the question about the NRA targeting Corcoran, perhaps deliberately conflating NRA members with the NRA political operation.
“With regard to the NRA, I’m an NRA member. I was an NRA member before I became Governor, and will be an NRA member when I’m out of this job,” Scott said.
“Some NRA members like the bill. Maybe some don’t like the bill. I think it’s a good bill for our state, and responsive to what happened in our state,” Scott said.
