Not-so-moderate Jeb Bush of the 1990s. Plus his full op ed 1994 on same sex marriage.

[madfloridian]

The then St Pete Times carried an article in 1998 about many of Jeb's business dealings and failures.

Make the Money and Run

The son of former President George Bush has followed the family's patrician play book: Hurry up and get rich, then go into public service.


Jeb Bush and his parents at a rally in Orlando in 1994. (Photo courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel)

But Bush's hurried quest for financial success also reveals a naive reliance on his benefactors and a lack of scrutiny of those around him. He tapped his father's Washington connections to recruit help for some questionable businessmen, including one felon who remains a fugitive wanted by the FBI. He embraced business deals that have prompted lawsuits alleging mismanagement, stock manipulation and special treatment.

Armando Codina, a Coral Gables Cuban-American real estate investor who was one of George Bush's earliest supporters. He was so tight with the president that he gave Jeb Bush more than his first job in Florida. Codina put Bush's name on the company and gave him 40 percent of its profits.

Thomas Petway III, a Jacksonville insurance magnate, Republican fund-raiser and a leader on Jeb Bush's campaign finance committee. He invited Bush to an exclusive club to invest in the new Jacksonville Jaguars football franchise. He also lobbied to get Bush appointed to the board of Ideon Corp., a company that -- before its collapse -- paid its directors $50,000 a year, twice the average amount paid to directors at much larger public companies.

David Eller, a Broward County Republican fund-raiser who partnered with Jeb Bush to market water pumps to poor countries around the world. The company relied on pump sales financed by U.S.-backed loans when President Bush was in the White House. Jeb Bush's take: $648,250.

There is more at the link.

On Monday BuzzFeed posted the entire opinion piece Jeb Bush wrote in 1994 in The Miami Herald.

The Miami Herald
June 22, 1994 — Wednesday

JEB BUSH: NO SPECIAL LEGAL STATUS FOR GAYS

Re the June 20 Herald editorial Bigotry and its mouthpieces about the gubernatorial candidates’ position on homosexuality and special legal rights for homosexuals: Homosexuality is wrong, but it is also wrong to discriminate against homosexuals in employment, housing, etc., solely on the basis of sexual preference. I have employed homosexuals and continue to do so. Therefore, I take vigorous exception to your characterization of me as a bigot.

However, I do not believe that government should create a new class of citizens with special legal rights.

It is disingenuous of you to write that “the governor must stand up for and represent all the people of the Sunshine State on all matters.” You imply that discrimination is always wrong, yet government and individual Floridians discriminate every day in innumerable ways. Government discriminates against bank robbers, drug dealers, litterbugs, and homeowners who repair their seawall without a permit, just to name a few. Yours is not a reasoned argument reflecting reality.

The governor — and the government — do not defend the conduct of every Floridian with equal verve and enthusiasm. Polluters, pedophiles, pornographers, drunk drivers, and developers without proper permits receive — and deserve — precious little representation or defense from their governor. The statement that the governor must stand up for all people on all matters is just silly.

The public policy question is whether homosexuals deserve special legal protection from otherwise legal, private acts of discrimination, which protections are not available to smokers, drinkers, children, redheads, Midwesterners, Democrats, veterans, nudists, etc. Or, to put it another way, should sodomy be elevated to the same constitutional status as race and religion? My answer is No. We have enough special categories, enough victims, without creating even more.

Jeb Bush
Coral Gables

A lot of bad things happened while he was governor, though it was often whitewashed by the media. The Florida pension fund suffered greatly for just one example.

The Enron Scandal Grazes Another Bush in Florida

The Enron scandal, which has become the consuming interest in Washington and around the country, is starting to have a particular resonance in Florida, where it is touching another Bush: Governor Jeb Bush.

Mr. Bush particularly has been able to steer clear so far of the enormous damage to the state employees' pension fund, which lost more than any other public pension fund. Almost until Enron collapsed, the Florida fund continued to pour money into Enron stock. As governor, Mr. Bush is one of the fund's three trustees, although the fund has said that Mr. Bush never ordered the purchase of Enron shares or the hiring of the money manager who did.

''You've got to credit Jeb Bush,'' said Richard Scher, professor of political science at the University of Florida at Gainesville. ''He's been wonderful in keeping the issue quiet. Nothing has been coming out. He's been very shrewd in how he's handled it politically and lucky the legislature is in session and drawing attention away. The Enron Florida angle has not come home to roost yet.''

Even Mr. Bush's decision to travel to Houston and raise money on Jan. 17 at the home of Richard Kinder, a former Enron president, has yielded no political advantage for Democrats.

Jeb was one of 3 trustees of the pension fund, yet he managed to get by with very little bad publicity.

Seems to me his background is again being whitewashed, and he is being made to sound like the very most moderate Republican. That is not true. He was not a good governor, and he does not deserve to be president.

[madfloridian]

1. His 1994 op ed was just ugly. First time I read all it, and I am shocked.

The governor — and the government — do not defend the conduct of every Floridian with equal verve and enthusiasm. Polluters, pedophiles, pornographers, drunk drivers, and developers without proper permits receive — and deserve — precious little representation or defense from their governor. The statement that the governor must stand up for all people on all matters is just silly.

And this paragraph even worse:

The public policy question is whether homosexuals deserve special legal protection from otherwise legal, private acts of discrimination, which protections are not available to smokers, drinkers, children, redheads, Midwesterners, Democrats, veterans, nudists, etc. Or, to put it another way, should sodomy be elevated to the same constitutional status as race and religion? My answer is No. We have enough special categories, enough victims, without creating even more.

Now he is backpedaling? He should not be allowed to do so.

[Sopkoviak]

2. So maybe he's evolved, for political purposes

It's been known to occur.

At least there better be an answer to that because you know the subject will come up.

[madfloridian]

3. "for political purposes"

That just about describes it.

[madfloridian]

4. Jeb's not so funny gaffes...

When Jeb Bush speaks, people cringe

Bush’s latest gaffe comes on the heels of the first arrests in the tragic Rilya Wilson case. The child, who turned 6 last month, has been missing from state custody for more than a year, having last been seen at the home of her guardian Geralyn Graham. Graham, who has a long rap sheet for fraud and more than 40 aliases, says a worker from the state’s Department of Children and Families picked up the little girl from her home and never returned with her. She and her sister Pamela Graham claimed to be the child’s maternal grandmother and grand-aunt, respectively, but turned out to be acquaintances of Rilya’s mother. They’re now under arrest, along with two of Geralyn Graham’s grown children, for allegedly obtaining more than $14,000 worth of state assistance for the girl after she went missing.

News of their arrest prompted Bush to tantalize GOP lawmakers at a Wednesday meeting with what he called “juicy details” about the women — who he implied were not sisters at all, but rather a lesbian couple.

“As (Geralyn Graham) was being arrested,” Bush told the Panhandle lawmakers, “she told her co-workers, ‘Tell my wife I’ve been arrested.’ The wife is the grandmother, and the aunt is the husband.” Bush added gestures, using his fingers to make quotation marks as he emphasized the word “grandmother.”

And then there were the insults to 2 state legislators waiting in his office

Since then, Bush has had two other public stumbles, including his response to an impromptu sit-in by two African-American state legislators, state Sen. Kendrick Meek and Rep. Tony Hill, who in 2000 were protesting the implementation of Bush’s One Florida plan repealing affirmative action in state contracting and higher education. Irritated by the legislators’ refusal to leave his offices following a failed attempt at renegotiating the plan, Bush admonished staff — within earshot of a television reporter — to “throw their asses out.” Bush’s staff later tried to “convince” the reporter not to air the remarks, but they were splashed across the airwaves anyway, forcing the governor to backpedal into a cover story that he was actually referring to the media’s asses, not the lawmakers’.

[FSogol]

5. "moderate" "consensus-building" "reformer" are all BS terms when applied to Jeb.

The media is helping whitewash the extreme conservative views of Jeb to help the little shit get elected. No wonder Cheney is salivating.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. I remember Jeb and all of his Republican ilk in the 80's and 90's, such extreme hate mongers

Some on DU like to claim that 'way back then' Republicans were moderate and the Party only 'went nuts' recently. But Republicans have always been Republicans and 1994 was not that long ago.

[madfloridian]

8. Jeb was not a moderate as a governor.

He started in on public schools as soon as he was in office. We could see the changes happening all too clearly.

[Zorra]

7. K, R, and bookmarked. Thanks, madfloridian. nt

[madfloridian]

9. You are welcome. More on the way.

Can't let them get away with calling him a moderate governor. He is only moderate in comparison to the tea party.

[Jefferson23]

10. When have Republicans not been a nightmare? Not in my life time they haven't. K&R