Michael Putney, Senior Reporter for Local 10 News, recently highlighted the current political scene to the business leaders of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce at the Fourth Quarterly Pillar Breakfast in the Alexander All Suite Oceanfront Resort.
Michael Putney’s opening remarks highlighted the vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden, Democrat, and Paul Ryan, Republican, which took place on Thursday, October 11th. Putney expressed his enthusiasm for the vice-presidential debates by saying, “It was excellent, and if I had a choice to watch the debate or Monday Night Football, I would choose the debate.”
Putney continued by discussing the presidential candidates, and commented that President Obama recently spoke at the University of Miami, where he was in very good form, engaging and aggressive. However, he should have been more aggressive when 70 million Americans were watching the first of three presidential debates when compared to his opponent, Mitt Romney, ‘who was on his game” as Putney put it during the debate. Currently, Romney is up by 7 points in the state of Florida.
“We as a community are so lucky to have Michael Putney providing us with the true facts and what is really going on in local, state, national and worldwide politics.” Said Chairman Alan Lips, Gerson, Preston, Robinson & Company, P.A. “His integrity, honesty and moral character set an example for the media community globally. I always look forward with excitement to hear what Michael has to say on all issues! And what an incredible and unbiased education you can get from him with so few words!”
Putney highlighted a recent poll by the Wall Street Journal which concluded that 11% of American’s were not firmly committed to one candidate over another. He informed the business leaders at the Chamber’s Breakfast that this year’s ballot is 12 pages, as a result of the full length versions of the constitutional amendments that will appear on November 6th. Putney recommended that residents should vote via absentee ballot to avoid the long lines and have sufficient time to deliberate on the longer ballot issues.
“We were more than pleased to have Michael Putney as our Keynote Speaker” said Pillar Board Chairman, David Sacks, Esq. of Pathman Lewis, LLP. “Michael’s brings a depth of political expertise to the South Florida Community truly providing us with a well informed electorate. He is South Florida’s version of the late Tim Russert and I always count on his reports to be the most credible and balanced – we were lucky to have him speak to our Chamber.”
Putney noted the other political races for the Senate seat between Senator Bill Nelson and Connie Mac, and Congressional races for the District 23 seat between Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Karen Harrington, along with District 26 seat between Congressman David Rivera and Joe Garcia.
He also shared his views on the political environment in Miami Beach with the search for a new City Manager and the renovations of the Miami Beach Convention Center, along with the $1.2 billion bond issue for the public school system.
“Michael Putney shared a variety of views on the national and local political scene that were received exceptionally well by the diverse crowd at the Chamber’s Pillar Breakfast” said Jerry Libbin, President & CEO of the Miami Beach Chamber.
Putney recognized his good friends in the crowd such as Chairman Alan A. Lips, Senior Vice Chair Aaron Perry and Senator Gwen Margolis, who was the first woman president of the Florida Senate.
“For a period in my life, I lived on Pine tree Drive” said Michael Putney during his closing remarks. “I have fond feelings for Miami Beach, it’s a great community because of the people in it and because of its Chamber of Commerce.”
The event sponsored by TD Bank, attracted over 100 Miami Beach Pillar Trustee Members, which make up the highest tier of membership for the organization, to support Michael Putney’s speech.
