Scott Maddox Blasts Adam Putnam on Wall Street Reform and Oil Drilling

Former Florida Democratic Party Chairman and Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox unloaded on U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, his Republican opponent in the race to be Floridas next commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, in an e-mail sent out by the campaign Tuesday.

Weve had about enough of politicians who are supposed to be looking out for consumers, but instead cast vote after vote in favor of the special interests, wrote Maddox. My opponent, Congressman Adam Putnam, is that type of politician. He would like for you to believe hes fighting on behalf of Floridas consumers since thats the main duty of the higher office he seeks when in reality, he continues to put Big Oil, Wall Street banks and other special interests first. The rhetoric doesnt match the voting record.

Maddox took Putnam to task over a recent vote in Congress.

Take the vote on the Wall Street reform bill last week as the latest example of Congressman Putnam voting against consumers, wrote Maddox. He sided with the megabanks in voting against a bipartisan bill to reform Wall Street and implement new consumer protections. Instead of looking out for you, he did the bidding of his buddies on Wall Street. This should come as no surprise, since he voted earlier to bail out megabanks and brokers at our expense when he supported the TARP bailout.

Maddox continued to bash Putnam on offshore drilling and contrasted their records.

I came out against oil drilling near our beaches well before the BP oil spill, because its just as much a consumer issue as it is economic and environmental, continued Maddox.

It was just the right thing to do. But Congressman Putnam sees it differently he has taken at least $84,000 from Big Oil and refuses to rule out drilling off Floridas coastline, despite the obvious consequences of the Deepwater Horizon spill over the past two months.