by Deb Cupples | Marc Ambinder reports that advisers close to ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush say that Mr. Bush is considering running for Mel Martinez's U.S. Senate seat.
(Big sigh) Didn't Jeb do enough to Florida during his eight years in Tallahassee? Hasn't his brother done enough to our nation during his years in the white House? Why won't the Bush family simply call it a day, retreat into private life, and enjoy the gratitude of the corporate folks that Bush politicians have so heartily enriched?
An adviser of Jeb said that Jeb is interested in pursuing causes like education and health care.
Education? Really? Give me a second to stop guffawing and catch my breath. I have the flu, so the laughter is also causing painful coughing fits.
Ok. I'm back.
As governor, Jeb Bush insisted on using the FCAT test as the be all and end all of K-12 education -- despite repeated protests from teachers, parents, and even many school boards. The test was designed to be merely a diagnostic tool, but Mr. Bush made it so high-stakes that teachers spent most of their time simply teaching to the test, which left students with a very narrow education.
After the first six years of Jeb Bush's "reforms," our state's education system still ranked near the bottom among the 50 states. Yes, Florida is the fourth largest state and a pretty wealthy state.
It gets worse. Jeb's little brother Neil (the one involved in the savings and loan scandal of the '80s) got involved with a company called Ignite -- which sold software to help kids study for the FCAT. Neil's company got government funds for a pilot program in Orange County, one of Florida's largest school districts. I suspect, but don't know, that Neil's company branched out and took even more tax dollars.
As governor, Jeb went on a frenzied privatization spree. By some measures (i.e., those coming from Jeb's supporters), savings reportedly resulted. So did waste, abuse, and corruption.
A 2001 Miami Herald article gives us concrete examples of consequences that Florida's taxpayers suffered due to Jeb Bush's privatization efforts:
"Privatization has cost Florida taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars:
- 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 a health-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, and the 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.
Here's what the St. Pete Times said this about Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF) under Jeb Bush'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 court charge for failing to remove mentally ill inmates from a jail as required by law. She announces her intention to resign.
I could go on and on (and on...) with examples of Jeb Bush's legacy to us Floridians, but I'm feeling dizzy from my flu. If you're interested, you can find out more via Google.
In short, Jeb Bush seemed to have the same aims as his brother: to funnel tax dollars to the folks running certain businesses -- and to let them off the hook when they failed to do the job that we taxpayers had paid them to do.
Obviously, I'd prefer that Jeb Bush not occupy a seat in the U.S. Senate (or even the House).
On the other hand, I'll wish all the Bush Brothers well (despite the billions they've collectively cost us taxpayers) -- as long as I'm watching their backs as they walk off into the sunset.
Memeorandum has commentary.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Bailouts Redistribute Wealth Upwards
* Cutting Executive Pay Would Save Jobs
* Paulson's Op-Ed: Specious Statements and Omissions
* Are Bailout Funds Being Misused?
* Execs Made Millions While Driving Companies into Ditch
* Someone Please Take the Economy Away from Mr. Paulson
* Our President Says the Darndest Things
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No More Bush-Inc
What is happening in Florida? Is anyone paying any attention down there? I just read that on Fox News Sunday that past President, George H. Bush, thinks that it would be good for all Americans if his other son, the former Governor of Florida, was President of the United States one day. Do any of you people get out? Florida, let me stir your kettle-of-fish with the femur-bone of reality.
“W” just successfully closed the longest-running, most-expensive frat party in the history of the world. It was so messy afterwards that they had to hire a janitor, Barac Obama, to clean up afterwards. Now the younger Bush-brother, not to be out-done, wants to book the Whitehouse for his frat pals in eight-years.
Florida, this is where you need to pay close attention. The Senate Seat that will be vacated by the Republican, Mel Martinez, is no accident. It’s a void-of-convenience for Bush, Inc. Mel is leaving it because he has been paid handsomely to step aside so Jeb can do Florida a favor. Jeb, won’t do Florida any favors.
Jeb has already used Florida as a doormat to acquire untold wealth and get his brother elected. After his term as Governor was up, he took his vastly accumulated wealth from Florida’s development lobbyist back to Texas in a tractor-trailer. These same lobbyists are the ones that are responsible for turning the “Rainbow Rivera,” a once flourishing, proud south Florida community, into the “Repo Riviera.” Now, Jeb plans to use Florida as a condom to commit rape on Lady Liberty. Do the Bushes have no shame? Is anyone in Florida using his/her top three inches?
Florida has always considered itself a “politically progressive state.” To that point, I have a progressive idea. Let’s “out-source” the soon to be vacant Senate Seat of Mel Martinez. “What do I mean by out-source?” you ask. If you haven’t been paying attention, let me fill you in on a frightening trend here in America. It’s called out-sourcing and politicians think it’s the best thing since no-term-limits. Let’s do unto them what they have been doing to the working class for decades. Let’s find someone over in India, Pakistan, or maybe even Mexico to sit in a “Virtual-Senate-Seat.” This Virtual-Senator couldn’t possibly be any more corrupt than an actual Senator. We can save millions by just letting the “Senator” telecommunicate from whatever country he’s in. Just think of the overhead we could save on perks alone. As a bonus, we could lease out the office space in the capital building and make enough money to pay the Senator’s salary, costing the people of Florida nothing out-of-pocket. When you consider that our Representatives only work 72-days-a-year, we may even clear a profit. Now, that’s what I call progressive political thinking and an idea whose time has come. While we’re on the subject of out-sourcing, let’s start a new political party, a grassroots movement if you will. We’ll call it the “Out-Source Party.”
Posted by: Bruce Wachob | January 05, 2009 at 07:46 PM
Bruce,
I agree with most of what you said -- and I like the idea of the "out-source party."
Posted by: Buck Naked Politics | January 05, 2009 at 11:59 PM