Countdown Worst Person: Adam Putnam

 

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Worst: Florida congressman

Feb. 20: Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, chairman of the House Republican Conference Committee, doesn't care about the truth of a story.

Update: Putnam says he has no regrets about spreading the false smear against Nancy Pelosi.

One of the most prominent was U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow. Putnam, the third-ranking House Republican, had pushed the Pelosi story aggressively the day before, both in print and on television.

"This is not about having secure communications and secure aircraft available to her. It's about an arrogance of extravagance that demands a jumbo jet that costs $22,000 an hour to operate to taxi her and her buddies back and forth to California," Putnam told Fox News.

It turns out there's no evidence Pelosi requested any such thing. A day after Snow's remarks, the nonpartisan House sergeant-at-arms released a written statement explaining that for security reasons he asked for a plane that could carry Pelosi nonstop to her home in San Francisco, a much longer distance than former Speaker Dennis Hastert, of Illinois, had to cover.

Putnam now acknowledges he had no personal knowledge of any Pelosi request. He said he was commenting on an anonymously-sourced story in The Washington Times and additional coverage from CNN.

"This was a classic case where the media got out in front of us," Putnam said. "Did we jump on it? Yes."

And he is unapologetic about that. He calls the Pelosi plane story, whatever its legitimacy, "the first break [Republicans] have had from the media in driving our message since before the Mark Foley story broke."