When you run this ported version of putty as root from a terminal window, the putty GUI looks PERFECT, much better than those above pictures. Configurations can even be saved and read, which I could not do when I ran putty the 'normal' way through the application launcher.

I wonder why?

In any case, the following is just a workaround, but it works great!
Install the Personal Menu. Create a menu item for the command: /usr/bin/putty
Click the 'run as root' checkbox
Finally, edit the /etc/sudoers file and add the line: "user ALL = NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/putty

Voila!