Daniel Tilson: Ag Commissioner race is more important than most voters realize

It may be the most undervalued, overlooked race on the Election 2014 Florida ballot. But mysuncoast.com has reported that none other than former Gov. Jeb Bush will appear with Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Adam Putnam on the final day of his re-election campaign.

The high-profile appearance in a low-profile race makes sense, given that Bush and other Florida political movers and shakers see Putnam as a rising star for the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF), including a run for governor in 2018.

His 2014 opponent is Thaddeus “Thad” Hamilton. If elected, Hamilton would become the fourth African American Cabinet member in Florida history.

Florida has a three-person Cabinet consisting of the Agricultural Commissioner (Putnam), Chief Financial Officer (Jeff Atwater), and Attorney General (Pam Bondi). All three incumbents are seeking re-election today, and all three are conservative Republicans, just like Gov. Rick Scott.

Cabinet members meet with the governor biweekly and together they determine and oversee the policies and practices of the critically important, high-impact Financial Services Commission, Department of Revenue and Department of Law Enforcement, for starters.

Other agencies governed by the Cabinet include the Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, State Board of Executive Clemency, Electrical Power Plant & Transmission Line Siting Board and the Florida Land & Water Adjudicatory Commission.

To get an idea of the impact the Cabinet has on our lives, consider a law passed last year by the Republican majority in the Florida Legislature. It eliminated the ability of the state insurance commissioner to regulate health insurance premium increases from 2014 – 2016 — exactly when the new Democratic-driven national health reform law required everyone to buy health insurance.

State government stood by and did nothing — except blame “Obamacare” — when private insurance companies hit Floridians with major rate hikes. The “deregulation” hit millions of working poor and middle-class families hard. But it achieved its widely seen partisan political purpose of making the rollout of the Affordable Care Act more difficult.

And, it had the unanimous blessing of Scott and the Cabinet, who could have derailed the move if they had wanted to.

Another example of the Cabinet’s power came a few years ago when it voted unanimously to stop automatically restoring voting rights to nonviolent felons after they’d done their time.

Hundreds of thousands of Florida felons now have to submit special requests and paperwork and then wait years to get their voting rights restored, thanks to Putnam, Atwater, Bondi and Scott.

Many have noted that it was four white conservative Republicans who took voting rights away from mostly black and Hispanic citizens likely to vote Democratic…if they could.

In fact, this current Cabinet’s uniformity in party affiliation and political ideology has left Floridians with a long trail of no-dissent decision-making and unanimous votes, on everything from the “Stand Your Ground” law to electric utility rates and business practices that raise eyebrows far and wide.

In addition to the importance and value of adding black Democrat Thad Hamilton’s voice and vote to the Cabinet moving forward, his grassroots supporters believe he’s better equipped for the day-to-day job of being Agricultural & Consumer Services Commissioner.

The 64-year-old is a retired Army lieutenant colonel who worked as a natural resources conservationist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 36 years. He stands for environmental protection, promoting the agricultural industry while protecting and preserving natural resources, soil and water cleanup and conservation, and ushering in a new era of solar power and other clean energy initiatives.

And, he has a history of being a constructive, collaborative professional who avoids partisan politics.

In contrast, Putnam is a career politician who served 10 years as part of the conservative Republican bloc in the U.S. House of Representatives, before being elected Agricultural Commissioner in 2010.

In office, he’s overseen the collapse of Florida’s efforts to develop an effective program for developing clean, renewable energy alternatives. He won elimination of solar power system rebates for homeowners, turned control of solar development over to electric utility monopolies, and approved their charging customers in advance for prospective costs of building nuclear reactors that might never be built.

And, he’s been the repeated subject of press scrutiny this year for taking secret hunting trips sponsored by Florida’s biggest sugar manufacturer, a company known for spending millions on campaign contributions then getting off easy for polluting the Everglades.

All in all, the choice between Adam Putnam and Thad Hamilton would seem to be clear for a majority of Florida voters.

Some have suggested this is exactly why the powers that be in the Sunshine State never let news and information about the race see the light of day.

But voters can still have the final say — today.

Daniel Tilson has a Boca Raton-based communications firm called Full Cup Media, specializing in online video and written content for non-profits, political candidates and organizations, and small businesses. Column courtesy of Context Florida.