Poppy Bush Wants Jeb to Run for President One Day -- Despite What Jeb Did to Florida

Deb Cupples

Buck Naked Politics

January 05, 2009

Think Progress reports that former U.S. President George H.W. Bush  said this about his son Jeb during a Fox interview: "I’d like to see him be president someday, or maybe senator, whatever."  

Jeb in the White House (or "whatever")?  He'd have a heckuva time coming up with campaing slogans that actually reflected historical facts.

He couldn't use "I'm nothing like my brother," because Jeb was very muchlike his brother -- except that Jeb didn't start an unjust war, likely because Florida wasn't equipped or legally authorized to invade foreign countries.

"I screwed up Florida, but I'd do better in Washington" also has a lead-balloon quality. 

Make no mistake: Jeb Bush left major damage behind when he left the governor's mansion.  
Among Jeb's more deleterious pursuits was his non-stop privatization crusade, which wasted  hundreds of millions of tax dollars.  A 2001 Miami Heraldarticle listed the following few examples from early in Jeb's first term:

-  Unisys won an $86 million state contract to administer health-insurance plans for more than 100,000 state employees, retirees and their dependents. For two years, state employees and retirees put up with ahealth-care insurance system that didn't work. Taxpayers covered a $200 million deficit created by the fiasco.

-  The state hired Lockheed Martin and Maximus to streamline records and collect child support from ``deadbeat'' parents. The contractors received a $4.5 million contract to collect $104 million in child support. Only $207,000 was collected.

-  In 1993 the Legislature, mistrusting the Department of Corrections, established the Correctional Privatization Commission to send convicts to private prisons. The commission has been wracked with scandals, andthe private corporations (Wackenhut and the Corrections Corp. of America), which contributed heavily to political campaigns,haven't provided the cheaper, higher-quality services they promised.

- The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability found that start-up costs at the privately run prison in Lake City were excessive. Counselors came and went. The substance-abuse program was un- licensed, and instructor jobs stayed vacant for months. The Legislature required that private prisons produce a 7 percent savings compared with public prisons. Private prisons aren't providing the projected savings.

-  Taxpayers lost $96 million in lottery dollars that could have gone to education coffers because the state failed to fine a private vendor, Automated Wagering International, for failing to meet terms of its contract. (Miami Herald)

In short, Jeb was remarkably similar to his president-brother in terms of government spending: both politicians funneled tax dollars to folks running certain businesses -- and let those folks off the hook when they failed to do the job we taxpayers had paid them to do.  

It goes beyond money, though.  Horrifying stories emerged out of Jeb's decisions regarding Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF). Here's what a 2006 St. Pete Times article said about Jeb's stewardship:

April 2002: DCF officials admit they cannot find 5-year-old Rilya Wilson. Her DCF-approved caregiver is later charged with killing the girl.

May 2002: DCF says it can't locate 515 children in its care, but says most are runaways.

August 2002: Journalists locate nine of the missing children using public records. DCF Secretary Kathleen Kearney resigns and Bush names former Oklahoma social services head Jerry Regier to replace her.

August 2004: Regier resigns after an inspector general's investigation shows he and two of his top technology employees accepted favors from lobbyists or contractors.

December 2004: Lucy Hadi, a 30-year career DCF official, is named to replace Regier.

December 2006: Hadi is fined $80,000 on a contempt of courtcharge for failing to remove mentally ill inmates from a jail as required by law. She announces her intention to resign.

As he did with so many areas of Florida's government, Jeb stubbornly pushed privatization of the DCF.

Then there's what Jeb did to our education system.  As governor, he over-emphasized the FCAT test, despite repeated protests from teachers, parents, and school boards.  Jeb made the test so high-stakes that teachers spent most of their time teaching to the test, which left students with a very narrow education.

After the first six years of Jeb's education "reforms," our state's education system still ranked near the bottom among the 50 states, despite Florida' s being the fourth largest state and a pretty wealthy state.

Jeb's little brother Neil (the one involved in the savings and loan scandal) got involved with a company called Ignite -- which happened to sell FCAT-study software.  Neil's company got government funds for a pilot program in Orange County, one of Florida's largest school districts (and I suspect the company got contracts from other counties). 

Coincidence abounds.

I could go on with examples, but it's getting late.  Quite simply, it would not be good for us taxpayers if  Jeb Bush were to occupy the White House (or any other spot in our federal government).

All that said, I do wish the Bush Brothers well -- despite the billions they've wastefully cost us taxpayers.  At least, I will wish them well once they've decided to disappear into private life and I have a view of their backs as they saunter off into the sunset. 

Copyright 2009 Buck Naked Politics