“I call on Publix to donate double the money they gave to Putman to the Stoneman Douglas Victims fund, $1,000,000. And never support an A rated NRA politician again,” tweeted Hogg Thursday evening.
The Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund was set up to support the families, survivors and those impacted by the 17 students and teachers who were murdered with an assault-style rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school on February 14. So far, the fund has collected more than $8.7 million and will remain open until June 30.
Leading up to today’s protest, Hogg drew chalk outlined bodies at a Publix in Coral Springs this morning, which were later removed by custodial workers.
Since the Times report, Publix has not said whether or not they will discontinue support of Putnam, who as Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture removed failing Publix health inspections from the public website, and then changed the labeling from a failing grade to “re-inspection required.”
The revelation of Putnam’s apparent favoritism for the Lakeland-based grocer has drawn wide criticism, especially from Orlando lawmaker Carlos Guillermo Smith, who called his actions “pay to play.”
“[Adam Putnam] is in charge of inspecting grocery stores. After 7 Publix stores FAILED health inspections for rat shit, bugs, meat at unsafe temps + more, Putnam pulled reports from his site + eliminated pass/fail system. We call that pay to play,” argued Smith in a tweet.
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This article appears in May 23-29, 2018.
