Thousands of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's emails are showing up online through public records laws in the days before he planned to officially release them, and show a governor who not only defended his own principles, but also the decisions of his brother, former President George W. Bush.
The younger Bush, who has admitted he is considering a run for the presidential nomination in 2016 said this past week that he would release approximately 250,000 emails from his time in office. However,
reports Politico, the liberal group American Bridge obtained the documents and posted several online Friday.
A group spokesman said it got the emails through the Florida Department of State after making the records request, and got all that were available.
According to Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell, the Bush emails are being used as a guide for an e-book he is writing and "provide a window into his record of strong leadership in Florida and his commitment to making government more effective and more responsive to citizens.”
Bush's emails show that he often defended his principles and at times would assume a more distant tone, while in others, he was more relaxed.
The communications did not cover just events in Florida, but national concerns such as the war in Iraq, immigration, abortion, and much more.
When it came to the war in Iraq, many people sent emails to criticize Bush's presidential brother, and Bush was quick to defend him, saying the president was "right on track," in one email.
On immigration, Bush has become an advocate for comprehensive reform, but his emails show he was more leery, often referring people to contact their senators and telling them such decisions are handled at a federal level.
Bush also responded to a "fellow Republican" who asked him if he supports late-term abortions. He denied that he did and pointed out that he supported legislation to ban such abortions in Florida.
"I am pro-life and believe we must create a consensus among all groups to reduce the number of abortions performed in the state of Florida," Bush said.
But one issue that attracted the most emails was that involving Pinellas Park's Terri Schiavo, who was being kept alive with a feeding tube. Eventually, a judge agreed with Schiavo's husband that the tube should be removed, but Bush agreed with her parents that she should be kept alive.
He issued an executive order in October 2003 to have the tube put back in place, and several people wrote, with some criticizing him and others praising his decision. One email even came from Schiavo's father, Robert Schindler, to thank him.
Bush's emails also show support of education issues, including Common Core, which has caused him trouble with the Republican base.
He even wrote back to children who were complaining about Bush-backed plans for expanded testing and private school vouchers, and defended his "A+ plan."
Bush also favored the death penalty and wanted to make it more efficient, the emails show, outlining statistics in one email for speeding up cases.
"I believe that justice delayed is justice denied, and our goal is to have capital cases resolved within five years," he wrote.
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