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Agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam's daughter, Abigail, caused a stir when fertilizer giant Mosaic paid $10,000 this week for a chocolate hazelnut cake she entered into a Youth Fair Auction in Polk County. Fair officials said it was an unprecedented sum for an auction cake.
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First off, it does not appear that Adam Putnam did anything wrong. In fact, it appears he is handling the situation pretty well. My problem here is the clear and foolish behavior on behalf of folks at Mosaic. The article says Mosaic has launched an investigation, and that the woman who made this bid didn't talk to her bosses first.
I would like to know, then, where she came up with $10,000 to purchase a fair cake. That has to be question No. 1.
After that, we can see what branch of the company she works for, who may have been involved in this little stunt and whether she is connected to any specific dealings in which Mosaic will very shortly be dealing with the Agriculture department.
This is the type of blatant, unabashed bribery that has given government as a whole a bad name. And for a company already reviled by environmentalists for its wetlands-discounting ways, this is a move sure to do far more damage than good on the publicity front.
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