There is a widening gulf between ordinary people and how they make a living and the wealth of political insiders. According to the NY Times today, Bill Clinton made $17 million last year from speeches to industry groups. Hilary Clinton charges $200,000 per speech. How is Jeb! making his money?
Back in the earlier, pre-politician days, there were a couple of Jeb! Bush ventures that attracted attention if not the concern of voters. One of them resurfaced in the Miami Herald today: charges of fraud against a Fort Lauderdale pipeline company that Bush represented in transactions with Nigeria in the mid-1990's.
Since leaving the Governor's Mansion, Jeb! has maintained a role as a top GOP voice but retreated behind the shield of his private consultant business. Not much is known about that.
Jeb! did surface as a consultant to Lehman Brothers. It was reported as his first gig after leaving the Governor's Mansion. While there were many questions about Bush's role in advising Lehman -- the state's largest bond dealer to the state pension fund before the company self-destructed, -- Bush has been silent about his Lehman role as he has about his ties to R. Allen Stanford, one of the biggest Ponzi schemers in the nation's history now languishing in federal prison.
In media accounts, Jeb! "serves on corporate boards", though details are never provided.
Once the "education governor" -- it was Jeb! who pushed standardized testing, the FCAT, on Florida's future generations -- Jeb! is now a leading advocate for the charter school movement and wide scale privatization of public education.
In his excellent blog for Slate, Tampa Bay Times writer Craig Pittman levels his gaze at the FCAT: "Because this is Florida, some people have tried to game the test—for instance, the principal and three assistants at Cocoa High who moved 54 disabled children to a different grade (on paper), so their FCAT scores wouldn’t drag down the whole school. The FCAT itself has had problems. Some of the people hired by a contractor to grade the tests turned out to be “janitors, homemakers, and store clerks” with no experience in education."
While Jeb! is not required to disclose his income as a private citizen, as a public voice of the GOP, there should be no question who and what interests Jeb! Bush represents.
Back in the earlier, pre-politician days, there were a couple of Jeb! Bush ventures that attracted attention if not the concern of voters. One of them resurfaced in the Miami Herald today: charges of fraud against a Fort Lauderdale pipeline company that Bush represented in transactions with Nigeria in the mid-1990's.
Since leaving the Governor's Mansion, Jeb! has maintained a role as a top GOP voice but retreated behind the shield of his private consultant business. Not much is known about that.
Jeb! did surface as a consultant to Lehman Brothers. It was reported as his first gig after leaving the Governor's Mansion. While there were many questions about Bush's role in advising Lehman -- the state's largest bond dealer to the state pension fund before the company self-destructed, -- Bush has been silent about his Lehman role as he has about his ties to R. Allen Stanford, one of the biggest Ponzi schemers in the nation's history now languishing in federal prison.
In media accounts, Jeb! "serves on corporate boards", though details are never provided.
Once the "education governor" -- it was Jeb! who pushed standardized testing, the FCAT, on Florida's future generations -- Jeb! is now a leading advocate for the charter school movement and wide scale privatization of public education.
In his excellent blog for Slate, Tampa Bay Times writer Craig Pittman levels his gaze at the FCAT: "Because this is Florida, some people have tried to game the test—for instance, the principal and three assistants at Cocoa High who moved 54 disabled children to a different grade (on paper), so their FCAT scores wouldn’t drag down the whole school. The FCAT itself has had problems. Some of the people hired by a contractor to grade the tests turned out to be “janitors, homemakers, and store clerks” with no experience in education."
While Jeb! is not required to disclose his income as a private citizen, as a public voice of the GOP, there should be no question who and what interests Jeb! Bush represents.
4 comments:
You can go to Jebs office and ask him what he is doing. It is at the Biltmore Hotel. Does he pay rent?
I am sure it is has something to do with development. He is the bozo that was looking at a satellite photo of Florida with a media editor and told the guy to " look at all the underdeveloped land" as he pointed to the Glades ...
As it turns out, the editor was equally interested in the environment as he was tourism. Bush's staff swooped in and terminated the interview.
Bush also popped up at a county commission meeting one day when Codina was expanding the Deering Bay complex. The neighbors opposed having towering condo shadows on their property. And in strolls the Bush-Codina investment team, plops their butts directly in front of the commissioners. They never said a word, that I can recall, but the commissioners got the message and the neighbors ended up looking at massive buildings on the bays coastline.
Jeb Bush is friends with the scammer who got the Jungle Island lease from the City of Miami. Jungle Island owes $25 mil to the Feds for bonds sold to pay for the deal.
Citizen's United - driving force. I will never forgive him for unleashing Super PACS.
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