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After Taking Big Sugar Money, Florida Ag. Commissioner Adam Putnam Seeks To Halt Soda Ban In Schools

Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) has yet to take office in his new role as Florida Agriculture Commissioner, but he’s already making his Big Sugar contributors smile.

Throughout 2010, the State Board of Education has considered banning sugary drinks from Florida schools, including soft drinks, high-sugar juices, and chocolate milk. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Board member John Padget “has been pressing his colleagues for a year to cut out most beverages besides water, pure juice and white, low-fat milk.” Justifying such a move, Padget writes in a Key West Citizen op-ed, is the fact that “over one-third of America’s children are either overweight or obese,” leaving them “often less ready to learn in the classroom.”

A few weeks before the issue was to be considered, the state’s newly-elected Agriculture Commissioner, Adam Putnam, wrote a letter demanding that the Board of Education halt such a move. Putnam criticized the Board for choosing “to focus only on the nutrition content in beverages served in Florida schools,” rather than taking a more holistic approach:

One such area that I look forward to tackling is ensuring that Florida’s students have better nutrition options to reduce obesity and related long-term health risks. This is a topic your Board has discussed recently for possible policy recommendations. However, instead of looking at the entire nutrition intake of students, you have chosen to focus only on the nutrition content in beverages served in Florida schools. It is my belief that any nutrition improvement plan needs to be certain that students are receiving the best possible nutrition package, in concert with total wellness initiatives, to allow them to reach their optimum achievement potential. [...]

First steps would be to take a comprehensive look at current school foodservice offerings, rather than making individual product recommendations that do not address the broader health picture. This comprehensive approach will need time to develop and I would appreciate your Board considering delaying any plans to address just a single component of the nutrition factors and instead allow time for a complete approach to building a healthier generation of Florida students.

As a result, “the Board of Education decided to put off any further discussion of the issue,” Deborah Higgins of the Board of Education’s communications department told ThinkProgress, “until the agriculture commissioner-elect Adam Putnam was sworn in.”

However, campaign finance records show that Putnam is less than an impartial figure in the matter. A ThinkProgress investigation has found that the incoming Agriculture Commissioner has been the benefactor of a significant amount of money from both the sugar and dairy lobby during the campaign – both of whom have a strong financial interest in keeping sugary drinks in schools. Despite Florida’s $500 contribution limit for both individuals and PACs, Putnam received at least $61,000 in campaign funds from sugar and dairy interests, including maxed-out contributions from Coca Cola’s lobbyist in Tallahassee Brian Ballard and a slew of maxed out contributions from the Sugar Barons of South Florida, the Fanjul family.

Following his victory on November 2, Putnam also made a wealthy sugar magnate one of his first appointments. Tracy Duda Chapman, Vice President and General Counsel for the corporate megafarm A. Duda & Sons, Inc., was appointed by Putnam as co-chair of his four-member transition team. Chapman is not just heavily invested in the sugar industry herself. She also serves on the leadership of the Florida Land Council trade association alongside the senior vice president of the US Sugar Corporation, Robert Coker, who also maxed out to Putnam.

There is little doubt that sugarmakers take comfort with Chapman sitting at Putnam’s right hand. Now that Putnam has moved to block a ban of sugary beverages in schools, that faith has been vindicated. In an instance of life imitating art, Florida sugarmakers are proving true the classic Simpsons quote, “In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power.”

Padget, who has spearheaded this issue for over a year, remains cautiously optimistic. “I think we could have 4 votes for this issue,” Padget told ThinkProgress by phone, which would constitute a majority of the seven-member Board. “Still,” he said, “there is a lot of work to be done. I look forward to Commissioner-elect Putnam’s contributions to this effort.”

It's that time again where everyone starts making those promises to themselves.  Next year, I'll lose 25 pounds.  Or quit smoking.  Or manage my money better. Or get back in church. Or... whatever. With the new year comes new resolutions.  This time, stick to it longer than a week why don't you?  This year, arm yourself with a few Android apps to keep you on track.  We've put together a list of titles we think you should consider installing on your phone to keep you adhering to your 2011 resolution.  Some may not be available in your country or through your respective carrier however there are probably great alternatives.  Most of these are free, but a few are available in paid versions as well.  We're big on supporting developers for paid apps we value, therefore we feel comfortable recommending these to Android users.

Of course, as awesome as this list is, we know we're missing more than a few.  That's where you come in.  Hit the comments and share your favorite apps to help ring in the new year.  The more you share, the better for the rest of us!

I resolve to read more...

• Nook for Android by B&N - A must have for NOOK owners with plenty of customization options to suit to taste.  Access to more than 2 million titles doesn't hurt either. FREE


• Kindle for Android - Gets better every single update.  Read from 100+ newspapers and magazines and more than 750,000 electronic books. Amazon's Whispersync automatically syncs last page read, bookmarks, notes, and more across multiple devices. FREE


• Aldiko Book Reader - One of the first Android ebook reader apps worth a look, landed ahead of Kindle, Nook, and others.  Like a good book, easy to pick up and hard to put down.  Available in free (ad subsidized) and paid ($2.99) versions.


• Google Books - Build a library of cloud-based books with Google's foray into the space.  Select from nearly 3 million free ebooks and sync up between phone and PC. FREE


• Kobo - User defined options include adjustable text, automatic bookmarking, and various reading modes.  Access to 1.9 million free books and counting! FREE

I resolve to lose weight...

• Calorie Counter - Get the calorie and nutrition information for store brands, restaurants, and more.  Food diary, calendar, and weight tracker keep an eye on your daily progress, showing where you've been. FREE


• South Beach Diet - Access to tons of recipes and diet tips.  Get healthy cooking advice from the pros as well as other dieters.  Fitness routines and lifestyle advice make sure you're doing more than just eating the right foods. FREE


• Fitness Club & Gym Finder - Find real-time locations to many popular gyms and clubs including 24 Hour Fitness, Gold's Gym, Bally's, Pilates,Yoga,YMCA, and YWCA.  Still missing a few but definitely worth having when traveling out of town. FREE


• Cardio Trainer - Works indoor and outdoor and tracks calories, GPS, pedometer and more.  Recent update includes feature to set New Year's Resolutions and hold yourself accountable. FREE


• Diet & Food Tracker - Track your food calories across more than 1 million foods.  Fitness tracker keeps an eye on calories burned and while the weigh in tools keep your progress in easy to digest reports.  Recent changes allow for tracking strength exercises, copying meals from day to day, and animated demos for exercises. FREE

I resolve to eat healthier...

• Epicurious - Complements official website with gorgeous app full of recipes and reviews from magazines and top sources.  Access more than 28,000 professionally tested and created recipes and search with your voice!  Desktop widget puts daily recipe front and center. FREE


• Healthy Recipes - SparkRecipes -Browse the expansive library of recipes by categories such as occasion, course, dietary needs, and calories.  Community-based recipes with easy to follow directions, nutritional content, and more. FREE


• Diet Points Calculator - Since there is no official way to get a Weight Watchers calculator without signing up for the service, this "diet points" app works just a well.  No frills or fancy graphics, but that does not matter when you want to find out whether you have enough points left to eat that Fast Break candy bar. FREE


• BigOven - Search more than 170,000 recipes and really nail down the right concoction for that homemade stuffing.  The Leftover Wizard lets users enter three ingredients into the app to result in recipes that incorporate each.  FREE

I resolve to get back into church...

• SermonAudio Android Edition - Browse the massive library of MP3 sermons from thousands of different speakers for free.  Find churches in nearby areas using the "Local Church Finder" FREE


• Bible Promises - 500 popular passages to read across various topics, including anger, courage, addiction, belief, and more. 99¢


• Bible - Share passages and verses from multiple versions of The Bible (NIV, ESV, MSG, NKJV, NLT, KJV) over twitter and Facebook.  Features 44 Bibles in 22 different languages. FREE

I resolve to manage my finances better...

• Mint.com - The official client for Mint, it provides access to all of your accounts in one clean app.  Lets users set budgets, see where money is being spent, and personalized savings.  FREE


• PageOnce -Organizes and tracks your money and bills. View banks, credit cards, bills and and more in one simple place. Real-time alerts and reminders keep you in the loop as things happen. Also able to track frequent flyer miles and rewards as well as mobile minutes, text and data usage. FREE and paid versions


• Toshl - Dirt simple way of tracking expenses and habits.  Tag and sort by date, export to CSV, Excel, and PDF.  Allows for multiple types of currencies from around the world. FREE


• Ask Dave Ramsey - Advice from one of the biggest names in debt relief, financial freedom, and money management.  Listen to hundreds of archived calls, read transcripts, and share stories with friends.  FREE

I resolve to stop smoking...

• StopSmoking- Helps those who want to go cold turkey or with a gradual decline.  Displays time between cigarettes, money saved, and average times per day.


• QuitNow! - Track the money you've saved by not smoking, count the days since the last cigarette, and more.  Helpful widget keeps the app front and center and on your mind all the time.  Scare yourself straight with the facts about snuff. FREE

Other self-improvement and general lifestyle apps to help with resolutions...

• Catch Notes - Notepad application that lets users capture text, voice, images, and locations, with the option to sync and backup online at Catch.com. Passcode protection, reminders, sharing, and tagging help organize your notes. FREE


• Evernote - Handy desktop widget makes it a breeze to add notes, images, and recordings to database of things worth keeping.  Easy to sync up with Evernote's website and browser plugins.  Save websites and images from Chrome or Firefox and see them on your phone right away. FREE


• AK Notepad - Also tied with Catch.com, allows for reminders, tags, import/export, back-up, and themes. Pin notes to home screen to keep your important stuff front and center.FREE


• Remember the Milk - Add notes, sort by time, location, date, and more.  Latest update allows for push sync from website to handset.  While the app is free, it does require a Pro RTM account at $25 per year.


• OpenLoopz - Location-aware task manager and to-do list inspired by Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen.  App is smart enough to recognize where you are and recommend things to do automatically. FREE and paid ($4.72 US)


• Pocket Informant 3.1 Beta - Exhaustive list of features, looks and acts like the PIM we have been asking for since the days of Palm Pilots.  Based on GTD principles, the developers could easily charge a couple of bucks for the customization and personalization.


• Got To Do - Sync with online task website ToodleDo, organize by folders, tags, and more. Desktop widget with configuration options puts tasks where you need them, in your face. Also allows for filtering, searching, alarms, and sub-tasks (Pro version). FREE and ($3.16 US) paid versions.

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