Rep. Adam Putnam, flanked in this file photo by Rep. John Boehner on the left and Rep. Roy Blunt on the right, has said he is leaving his congressional leadership position.
“I believe it is time to step off the leadership ladder and return my focus to crafting public policy solutions for America’s generational challenges — the very reason I ran for Congress in the first place,” wrote Rep. Adam H. Putnam , a 34-year-old Floridian who has been viewed as a rising star in his party since his first election to Congress in 2000. “With the issues before us today come bipartisan opportunities and partisan differences. My current role obligates me to the latter and too often excludes me from the former. I want to fight the battles worth fighting and lock arms to strengthen our nation whenever possible.” Adam Putnam, November 5, 2008
Link MANASSAS, Va., Nov 10, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Conservatives deserve credit for the resignations of Roy Blunt and Adam Putnam from their positions as the second and third-ranking House Republicans, Richard A. Viguerie, the Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, said.
The resignations show that "Grassroots conservatives are being heard," Viguerie said. "Conservatives who make up the base of the Republican Party know that we will never get to the political Promised Land with the leaders who got us into this mess."
Said Viguerie: "The so-called 'cranky conservatives' - those who refused to fall in line behind the Republican Party, and who maintained their independence, at the price of being ridiculed as 'impossible to please' - deserve credit for forcing the Republicans to change leaders.
"And credit should also go to those Republicans in Congress who risked their careers by demanding changes at the top.
"In addition, Congressmen Blunt and Putnam deserve thanks for putting the future of their party ahead of their own ambitions. It's nothing personal. These are good men, but the Republican Party needs to go in a different direction with new leaders.
"Now it's time to finish the job. The Republican leaders in the House and Senate, at the Republican National Committee, and everyone else responsible for this debacle, must go."
.....
Link