Considering a run for the presidency, Jeb Bush has released the first chapter of an e-book -- along with a trove of emails from his two terms as governor of Florida.
“I loved being the governor of Florida,” the Republican writes in the first chapter of the untitled book. “It was my dream job, and that feeling never changed, not in eight years. Not through the hurricanes, budget debates, or even hanging chads.”
The chapter relies heavily on Bush’s emails from his first month in office in January 1999, showing how the wonky chief executive earned his moniker as the e-governor: He said his staff estimated that he spent 30 hours a week answering emails from staff, lawmakers, critics and fans.
He includes emails pestering his staff to improve the state’s website (he says he was “somewhat obsessed with getting a new and improved state web site”) and asking them to provide backup data for each of his tax cut proposals, “how it would work, how it would impact the average person, how many people would be impacted and when, why the tax is the right one to cut (fairness, broadness, equitableness, eco.dev. etc.etc.)”
He closes the chapter, sharing an email that he wrote to then-Palm Beach Post political reporter Brian Crowley, who had asked him to share his experiences of his first month in office.
“It has been a joyous experience,” Bush wrote, confirming that, as Crowley had asked, that the governor’s bathroom door is the smallest in Florida. “It requires a sideways twist to make it in,” Bush wrote.
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