Jeb Bush: 'For the record, Neil Bush is not involved in the FCAT business. Stop spreading rumors.'

[seafan]

My, my.


All of this festering exposure of Jeb Bush's railroading of the Florida Legislature to pass his *education agenda* along with the cesspool of his other devious plans is really getting him rattled, let alone keeping him up at night..



Via Jeb Bush on Twitter on April 13, 2010:

# @LISABURKEAGVILL for the record, Neil Bush is not involved in the FCAT business. Stop spreading rumors. 3:39 AM Apr 13th via web in reply to LISABURKEAGVILL

Now, that one is a real whopper.




The article below is from an archived illustration from the Herald Tribune newspaper (FL) as it appeared on October 28, 2002:



Monday October 28, 2002

Herald-Tribune

via AP


Bush brother tries to sell FCAT software in Florida

A software company run by Neil Bush, a younger brother of Gov. Jeb Bush, hopes to sell a program to Florida schools that students would use to prepare for the test that is key to the governor's education policy.

Texas-based Ignite Inc. makes software being used in a pilot program at an Orlando-area middle school to help students prepare for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which the governor has championed as a yardstick for school performance.

Ocoee Middle School, which has received millions of dollars in state grants to study ways of lowering costs, is using the software for free.

But a company spokeswoman said Saturday that Ignite soon hopes to sell its early American history course to other Florida schools, at a cost of $30 a year per student.
Ignite spokeswoman Louise Thacker denied the company had an unfair advantage because its founder and CEO, Neil Bush, is a brother of Florida's governor.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Education said Friday that Ignite officials had not approached the state about its product. Mike Eason, formerly the top technology official for the department, is a member of an Ignite advisory board.

Katie Muniz, a spokeswoman for Jeb Bush, said the governor has never talked with his brother about the business.

Gov. Bush's use of the FCAT complies with a law supported by another brother - President George W. Bush. The president's "Leave No Child Behind" law forces states to use testing as a measuring stick for schools.

Gov. Bush's education agenda has been criticized by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill McBride, who has attacked the governor for his reliance on the FCAT to grade schools.

Ryan Banfill, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, called Ignite's marketing campaign in the state problematic, saying that is creates a strange appearance. "I don't know where the money's going to come from for this," Banfill said. "These districts are hard pressed to pay for chalk, let alone to put money in the pocket of the Bush family."

Neil Bush gained notoriety as director of the Silverado Savings & Loan in Colorado, whose failure cost taxpayers $1 billion and led to a grand jury investigation during the term of his father, President George H. W. Bush. Neil Bush was never charged.

Just to make sure everyone knows the score:



From Pam Spaulding on January 8, 2005:

.....

Neil Bush founded Ignite Incorporated, a software company that helps students prepare to take comprehensive tests required under the No Child Left Behind act. A phone call to Ignite's toll free number (1.866.464.4648, ext 113) with a search for a company directory by name for Neil Bush gets his extension, so it's still his baby with the dough rolling in.

Here's a little more info on Neil's profiteering down in Florida: Governor's Brother Marketing School Software (FlaNews.com):

Some politicians are questioning whether Governor Jeb Bush's brother Neil is trying to use the FCAT to make a buck. Neil Bush founded a company that provides software to help students take standardized tests. Critics say it doesn't look right for Neil Bush to be marketing his software to Florida schools.

Ignite, Incorporated makes computer software to help children prepare for standardized tests like florida's FCAT. Students at an Orlando-area middle school are using the software as part of a pilot program. Founder Neil Bush is the brother of Governor Jeb and President George Bush.

The arrangements is raising eyebrows at the state Democratic Party. Spokesman Ryan Banfill says having one brother selling something to help students on a test spearheaded by another brother and sanctioned by the president doesn't look good. "We think that there's an appearance of impropriety here," Banfill said. "We think that in the name of all that's good and ethical, that maybe Neil Bush should step back and not try to make money off of Florida's FCAT."

Care to retract that sniping, outright fabrication, Jeb?






Here's more information about this whole corrupt educational scam run by the Bush Family, for the record.


It's time a major investigation gets underway to unearth and link all of the corrupt ties and profiteering that enriches the Bush Family with regard to educational policy, Texas schoolbook writers, Neil Bush's educational software companies, standardized educational testing companies, and the relentless push by these people to destroy public education with privatization and an intrusive religious agenda.




This reeking, festering abscess needs to be opened and flushed.