What happened at the DeSantis vs. Putnam Republican gubernatorial debate
Common Core and Cookie-cutter education
I love the fact that Ron DeSantis said he was against common core in his opening statement. I do think the Adam Putnam left Ron DeSantis an opportunity to hit a home run when Putnam said he was against "cookie cutter" education. That was a slow hanging curve-ball that DeSantis could have knocked out of the park with Putnam having supported common core in the past. Common core is the very definition of cookie-cutter education.
However, as a constituent of Congressman DeSantis, I often found he has valid reasons for what he does even if I first disagree with him when I calling his office with my opinion. By the way, the Congressional Staff DeSantis has assembled is the most professional, courteous, patient, informed and friendly, I have yet encountered.
The Negative ad saying Ron DeSantis wants a 23% sales tax
A commenter named Dancer commented on the News4Jax website "I was looking at Adam Putnam pretty hard until his ad condemning Rep. Ron DeSantis vote on the 23% sales tax. He misleadingly claimed that it ADDED a 23% sales tax. The ad failed to mention that was a vote for the fair tax and it also eliminated the income tax and some other taxes. The fair tax replaces the income tax and does not raise taxes.
The income tax that everyone and every producer pays at each level of production is built into the price of everything we buy. These prices would decrease before the sales tax would be added. The 23% is estimated to be revenue neutral."
Maybe there are issues with the "Fair Tax" without first repealing the sixteenth Amendment. However, the pro-Putnam ad is dishonest, to say the least. Adam Putnam defended the ad so we know he is OK with the deception. For that reason, alone I do not want him as our Governor
Algae Bloom
It is surprising that Adam Putnam used the, seemly, planned quip that "what Ron DeSantis knows about water would fit on a post-it note" immediately after DeSantis talked about a water issue for 90 seconds. Maybe it was one of the extra large post-it notes.
DeSantis said the real water problem was agriculture runoff into Lake Okeechobee and proposed a common sense solution to that which would not unduly burden farmers.
Adam Putnam pointed to a study, which blames individual septic tanks as the major source of algae bloom. If you look at the photos of the residences along the Indian River Lagoon, you can see why it is a problem. Old septic tanks that are only a few feet above the water line, of course, there is going to be a problem. Yet Adam Putnam wants a State mandated Septic inspection system to force every homeowner to pay for expensive and unnecessary inspections, no matter where they live. Although it is a local problem, Adam Putnam wants a top down government mandate on homeowners while ignoring his buddies in "Big Sugar".
