Jeb Bush

2015 e&e George W. Bush's energy allies prepping for another Bush run<...Some familiar faces from the George W. Bush administration energy circles are eager to help their former boss's brother clinch the White House.As Jeb Bush tests the waters for a 2016 presidential run, top energy officials from the last Bush administration are ready to pitch in if they can. Some have already offered to help, others say they'll be there if they're asked, and many others are expected to jump on board to offer their expertise during a possible campaign or administration."It'll be a unitary thing. Every former Bush energy environment person is going to wind up signing up for that campaign," said Mike McKenna, a GOP energy strategist. "They're just waiting to be asked."The former Florida governor -- who hasn't yet officially launched a campaign for the White House -- is also expected to draw upon some energy allies from his own political career. But when it comes to getting help on nitty-gritty energy policy issues, ranging from air pollution regulations to international energy policy, many of the best-known GOP experts are people who already worked for Bush's brother in the last Republican presidential administration, and Jeb Bush is widely expected to capitalize on those family ties.Bush has already reached out to C. Boyden Gray, an energy and environment expert who held top posts in both the George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush administrations.<div style="font-size: small; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I've talked to people in his campaign, and I've talked to him," said Gray. "I think he's made phone calls -- hundreds, probably -- to tell people that he is thinking seriously about running and would they be willing to help."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bush asked Gray to advise him, but not on energy issues specifically, Gray said. "He hasn't announced, so there's really nothing on the screen yet."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bud Albright, a top Energy Department official during the George W. Bush administration, said, "Jeb Bush would make an excellent president, and should he need my help, I'll be there." Albright, who is now a lobbyist at Ogilvy Government Relations, added that he hasn't "really engaged yet in the presidential race" and isn't sure where other former officials from the Bush 43 energy team might end up.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When rounding up energy allies in Washington, D.C., it might be tough for Bush to avoid turning to experts who worked for his brother or his father, even if he wanted to. When Bush unveiled his list of 21 foreign policy advisers last month, 19 of them had worked in a previous Bush administration, <em style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/18/jeb-bushs-foreign-policy-team-is-eerily-familiar-in-1-venn-diagram/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">reported</a>.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But while there may be an early groundswell for Bush among former GOP administration officials, they're not necessarily ruling out supporting other candidates.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There's "a certain amount of loyalty to the Bush family," said a former George W. Bush administration senior energy official.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Ultimately, I think if you asked me now, would I be a Jeb Bush guy, I'd be a Jeb Bush guy," the former official said. But when it comes to the rest of the GOP field, "There are a lot of smart guys out there that I have a lot of respect for. ... You want all those guys to have good policy platforms.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If someone picked up the phone and called, I would be happy to give policy advice to any of the reasonable candidates."<h3 style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">'He's basically conservative'</h3><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Energy insiders say it's still early to gauge how the former Florida governor's environmental policies would shape up if he became a presidential candidate.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"His general philosophy is he's a conservative; he's basically conservative, and his message is basically conservative," said Gray. "And he hasn't been more specific really than that."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When it comes to being pragmatic on environmental issues, "I don't know that I would distinguish that much between the father, the brother and Jeb," said the former George W. Bush administration energy official. "I don't think that there would be enough distinction on those issues that would cause people not to be interested in Jeb."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bush's views on climate change haven't been particularly clear in recent years. "I think global warming may be real," he told Fox News in a 2011 <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/jeb-bush-rick-perry-global-warming_n_935168.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">interview</a>. "It is not unanimous among scientists that it is disproportionately man-made."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Asked in 2009 whether he believes global warming is primarily man-made, Bush <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a6027/jeb-bush-interview-0809/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">told</a> <em style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Esquire, "I'm a skeptic. I'm not a scientist.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I think the science has been politicized. I would be very wary of hollowing out our industrial base even further ... I think we need to be very cautious before we dramatically alter who we are as a nation because of it."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Still, Bush built up fairly good rapport with at least some environmentalists during his time as Florida's governor, and some expect him to take a moderate stance on energy and environmental issues if he wins the presidency.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Said GOP energy strategist McKenna, "If there was ever a Republican president who would sign a climate bill, it would be Jeb."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some greens who were active in Florida during Bush's tenure lauded his efforts on Everglades restoration, habitat preservation and other priorities for environmentalists in the Sunshine State.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I think you would say he had a pretty strong record," said Stuart Stahl, former president and CEO of the Audubon Society of Florida. "I think he is very upfront with the press and with people about what his values are. He believes that the environment is a conservative ideal."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If elected, Bush "may help us to end this ridiculous conflict we have between the business community and environmental protection," said Eric Draper, the current executive director of Audubon Florida.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"It could be that to deal with a complicated issue like climate change, we need a pro-growth, business-oriented tough guy," Draper added. "No one's going to think that if Jeb Bush is solving our energy and climate problems, he was doing it just because it felt good."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But not all Florida greens have a positive impression of Bush's legacy leading the state.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Like many Republicans, he had kind of an anti-tax, anti-regulatory view of the world and certainly was a pro-growth booster," Draper said.<h3 style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Names in the mix</h3><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here are some of the former Bush administration energy insiders seen as likely candidates to be tapped for campaign advice or even as contenders for posts in a possible Jeb Bush administration:<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">C. Boyden Gray: Under the George W. Bush administration, Gray held top international posts; he was the U.S. representative to the European Union and special envoy for Eurasian energy. He was also counsel to George H.W. Bush during both his presidency and vice presidency. He's now a founding partner at D.C.-based Boyden Gray & Associates, a law and regulatory strategy firm.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I suppose you could say I'm a Bush supporter," Gray said, noting that it's still very early in the campaign cycle. "A lot of people have very open minds, and I hope and think that those who haven't made up their minds will gravitate toward Bush."<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jim Connaughton: George W. Bush's longtime top environmental adviser is widely cited as a possible key energy ally for Jeb Bush. Connaughton from 2001 to 2009 was chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, where he had a big influence over the administration's energy and environmental policies. He has since worked as an executive at Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, at Exelon and at C3 Energy in Redwood City, Calif. Connaughton advised Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign and was thought to have had the inside track for a top administration position if Romney had won.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jeff Holmstead: The former Bush-era EPA air official could be another important confidant to a 2016 Bush campaign. Holmstead headed U.S. EPA's Office of Air and Radiation from 2001 until 2005 and served as associate counsel to the president during the George H.W. Bush administration. Holmstead now leads Bracewell & Giuliani's environmental strategies group, where he lobbies on behalf of heavyweight energy firms. Holmstead was also rumored to be in the running for a top environmental post under Romney (<a href="http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059971433/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Greenwire</a>, Oct. 18, 2012).<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Roger Martella: Former EPA top attorney Martella could also be called upon for his expertise. He was EPA's general counsel from 2006 until 2008, after almost seven years in the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. He now helps lead Sidley Austin's environmental practice, where he counsels a range of companies on energy and environmental issues.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marcus Peacock: Peacock held top posts at EPA and the White House budget office during the George W. Bush administration. He was EPA's deputy administrator from 2005 until 2009, and was previously associate director of natural resource programs at the Office of Management and Budget from 2001 until 2005. He stepped back from government work in 2013 after working as GOP staff director for the Senate Budget Committee, but energy insiders say he's someone who could return to federal service to advise or work for another Bush administration.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bud Albright: Albright was a George W. Bush administration undersecretary at the Energy Department from 2007 until 2009, after working for several years as staff director to the House Energy and Commerce Committee under then-Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas). After the Bush administration, Albright was senior vice president for policy and government relations at CenterPoint Energy; he signed on last year with D.C. lobbying firm Ogilvy Government Relations.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kevin O'Donovan: The former domestic policy adviser to then-Vice President Dick Cheney worked on climate change and energy policy issues during the Bush administration. He went on to work as a lobbyist for Shell Oil Co. and now runs his own firm, O'Donovan Strategies LLC, where he has lobbied on energy and conservation issues.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">F. Chase Hutto: Hutto got his start in the Bush administration as a senior policy adviser to then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. He later worked as director for international and energy security on the White House National Security Council and went on to become a senior aide to then-Vice President Cheney. He has been managing director at ClearView Energy Partners LLC since 2009.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marty Hall: The former CEQ chief of staff worked under Connaughton in the White House environmental shop. He had previously been a top staffer on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee under then-Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.). Hall joined FirstEnergy Corp. in 2009 as vice president of federal affairs and energy policy.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Karen Knutson: Another former energy policy aide to then-Vice President Cheney, Knutson was deputy director of Cheney's energy task force. She was chief of staff to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) from 2007 until 2011, and was a lobbyist at the William Koch-owned company Oxbow Corp. until earlier this year. She's now government affairs and policy leader at GE Oil & Gas, according to her LinkedIn profile.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Karen Harbert: The former Bush-era Energy Department aide is now heading up the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's energy policy shop, the Institute for 21st Century Energy. Harbert was assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at DOE from 2004 until 2008 before moving to the chamber.<p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mike Catanzaro: Catanzaro was deputy policy director for the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign before working at CEQ as associate director for policy and as EPA associate deputy administrator during the Bush administration. He was later the deputy GOP staff director on the Environment and Public Works Committee under Inhofe, a policy adviser to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and a managing director at FTI Consulting. He's now an energy lobbyist at Clark, Geduldig, Cranford & Nielsen.</div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/white-house-turmoil-as-senior-staffer-denied-key-promotion-after-right-wing-fury-on-twitter-report/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/white-house-turmoil-as-senior-staffer-denied-key-promotion-after-right-wing-fury-on-twitter-report/</a>according to a report from Politico, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/17/white-house-staffing-search-upended-261226" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">a senior White House official</a> slated to take a high profile position overseeing domestic policy had his appointment derailed by a furious response on Twitter from extremist conservatives questioning his bonafides.The report notes that Derek Lyons was on the verge of being announced as President Donald Trump’s next top domestic policy adviser before having the rug pulled out from him and seeing the job suddenly go to Brooke Rollins.According to Politico’s Anita Kumar and Daniel Lippman, “The abrupt shuffle at the Domestic Policy Council was the result of several typical Trump-era factors: an announcement that got out early, conservative anger and differing internal messages.”“Nothing’s done until it’s done, and that’s always been true in Trump world and this is yet another of many examples,” explained a person close to the White House.jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, <a class="e75a791d-denali-editor-page-rtfLink" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/10/mark-meadows-jared-kushner-influence-240020" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">floated</a> several people for the role, including both Lyons and Rollins. Newly installed chief of staff Mark Meadows floated his own name, Stephen Miller, an influential immigration policy aide. It was expected that the domestic policy chief would play a significant role in the president’s efforts to reopen the country amid the coronavirus pandemic,” the report notes. “After several days of deliberations, it appeared Kushner and Meadows had selected Lyons to serve as acting DPC director for the rest of Trump’s term, while continuing in his current role as White House staff secretary, a key official who manages document flow to the president.”However, after a Politico report noted the upcoming announcement, it set off a furor among conservative hardliners about Lyons association with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.“Lyons, a lawyer and Harvard Law School grad, started his career as a law clerk to Brett Kavanaugh when the Supreme Court justice was still a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals. He later worked on Capitol Hill,” the report continues. “But it was his time with Jeb Bush’s campaign that made some conservatives suspicious. His affiliation with Kushner also raised some eyebrows, given that Trump’s son-in-law has <a class="e75a791d-denali-editor-page-rtfLink" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/15/immigration-infrastructure-week-trump-administration-114913" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">pushed</a> for some more moderate policies, including business-friendly immigration changes that hardliners say are too lenient.”That announcement set off anti-immigration gadfly Michelle Malkin who tweeted out, “This is not what #AmericaFirst voters signed up for,” along with the hashtag, “#JaredKushnerIsNotMyPresident..” Conservative writer and political consultant Ryan Girdusky, piled on, tweeting, “Trump has picked Derek Lyons as the head of the Domestic Policy Council…- he’s a former Jeb! Person.”The report notes that the outside criticism set off alarms in the White House that eventually led to Lyons being skipped over.“A White House official said Meadows received praise internally about Lyons but some in the White House worried that criticism from influential conservative pundits, such as Ann Coulter and Tucker Carlson of Fox News, would soon follow,” the report states. “There was another problem that arose during deliberations: Meadows and Kushner had yet to have Trump sign off on Lyons’ appointment when the news broke, according to two White House officials. The White House official said Lyons and Rollins were finalists for the job, but the job ultimately went to Rollins in part because she would be able to appear on television as part of ‘the public facing role’ of DPC director.”“By the end of the week Rollins had been tapped to head the DPC in an acting capacity,” the report notes before adding, “Lyons was elevated to the title of counselor, making him one of the closest advisers to the president alongside Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway, who have similar titles, although Conway is senior counselor. The move was seen internally by some as a face-saving measure and by others as a Kushner attempt to diminish Conway’s status.”You can <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/17/white-house-staffing-search-upended-261226" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">read more here</a>.2x?<h1 id="pf-title" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; clear: both; direction: ltr; break-inside: avoid !important;">Jeb Bush Trashes Father’s Clean Air Legacy to Woo Far Right-Wing</h1>John Walke, NRDC Action Fund<div id="pf-content" style="clear: both; direction: ltr;"><div class="pf-content" data-twttr-id="twttr-sandbox-0">Jeb Bush trashed the Clean Air Act last week. He was speaking to the far right-wing <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/club-for-growth-targets-republicans-88153.html" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">Club for Growth</a>, notorious for mounting mostly unsuccessful challenges from the right against Republican candidates during congressional primaries.A Washington Post reporter attended the speech and posted some of Bush’s remarks on Twitter:So Jeb Bush thinks the Clean Air Act “stifled the ability for people to rise up.” Does he mean polluting corporations that a <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/558/08-205/" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">5-4 Supreme Court says are people</a>?Or does he mean that loud clamor for “rising up” by ordinary Americans, who consistently voice very strong support for the Clean Air Act and clean air safeguards, with <a href="http://www.usclimatenetwork.org/resource-database/review-of-polling-data-on-clean-air" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">large majorities</a> across the political spectrum Bob Marley, Mr. Bush ain’t.Jeb Bush’s father, President <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19039" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">George H.W. Bush</a>, signed the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 after <a href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=101&session=2&vote=00324" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">89 Senators</a> and <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/101-1990/h137" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">401 House members</a> (including 154 Republicans, all but 16) voted for the law.President Bush’s <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19039" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">signing statement</a> said he took “great pleasure in signing [the Clean Air Act] as a demonstration to the American people of my determination that each and every American shall breathe clean air.”<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/bush-domestic/" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">Newspapers</a> at the time called the president’s signing of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 “the single most distinguished policy achievement of the Bush administration.”The <a href="http://www.epa.gov/cleanairactbenefits/feb11/summaryreport.pdf" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">Clean Air Act</a> is estimated to achieve almost $2 trillion in yearly benefits to the American people by 2020. These vast benefits are delivered in the form of “significant reductions in air pollution” related premature death and illness, improved economic welfare of Americans, and better environmental conditions.” The <a href="http://www.epa.gov/cleanairactbenefits/feb11/summaryreport.pdf" target="blank" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">estimated</a> annual costs to achieve these benefits will be about $65 billion by 2020. [graph omit]...</div></div>http://littlesis.org/maps/530-i-am-my-own-man-jeb-bushThe list includes people representing a wide spectrum of ideological views in the Republican Party. It includes James Baker, known for his pragmatism in key roles during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidencies, and former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, a hawk as deputy defense secretary who was an architect of George W. Bush's Iraq policy.Among others are two former secretaries of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, former national security adviser Stephen Hadley and a deputy national security adviser, Meghan O'Sullivan, as well as two former CIA directors, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden.==<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The

Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal), a group best

known for filing lawsuits seeking climate scientists' personal emails,

has secretly received funding from Arch Coal, one of the largest coal

producers in the United States. The funding is revealed in <a href="https://cases.primeclerk.com/archcoal/Home-DownloadPDF?id1=Mjc3NzE5&id2=0" target="_blank">documents</a> recently filed as part of the Arch Coal bankruptcy proceedings which list the coal company's creditors.

The Arch funding is revealed just months after Alpha Natural

Resources, another coal company facing bankruptcy, was identified by <a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/08/25/chris-horner-coal/" target="_blank">The Intercept</a>

as providing funding to a group closely connected to E&E Legal, the

Free Market Law Clinic, as well as funding directly to E&E Legal's

lawyer, Chris Horner. The two organizations share staff and fellows,

often working together to bring lawsuits.

Although E&E Legal is listed as a creditor, the Arch court filing

does not provide any other details that would indicate the size of the

funding nor when any payment or payments were made.

E&E Legal has developed a niche for filing voluminous requests

for the emails of climate scientists working at state universities,

including their personal emails and for work not yet completed or ready

for publication. When E&E Legal doesn't get everything it asks for,

it will typically file a lawsuit and take the scientist and university

to court.

The Union of Concerned Scientists has said that E&E Legal's tactics amount to the <a href="http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2015/09/09/litigation-for-scientists-emails-paid-by-coal-industry/" target="_blank">harassment of climate scientists.</a>

In one such case, E&E Legal requested fully 13 years of emails

from climate scientists Dr. Malcolm Hughes and Dr. Jonathan Overpeck

based at the University of Arizona. The university and the scientists

handed over significant quantities of emails, but withheld thousands of

others which they said included "prepublication data and drafts."

E&E Legal filed a lawsuit against the scientists and the university.

The scientists eventually <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ucs-documents/science-and-democracy/19966054.pdf#sthash.a52aOaNb.dpuf" target="blank">won their case</a> in the Arizona Superior Court but it is pending <a href="http://climatesciencedefensefund.org/2015/10/27/csldf-files-legal-brief-supporting-protection-of-climate-scientists/" target="blank">review by the Arizona Court of Appeals</a>.

Other leading climate scientists, including Michael Mann, James

Hansen, and Katharine Hayhoe have also been subject to lawsuits from

E&E Legal.

"The volume and frequency of the requests from EELI are designed to

antagonize leading climate scientists, wasting their time in drawn out

and frustrating lawsuits. They frankly have better things to do, and

that's obviously the point of E&E Legal's campaign" Brendan DeMelle

of <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/energy-environment-legal-institute" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog,</a> which tracks and reports on climate change denial groups told CMD by email.

<h2>Coal Support For Chris Horner</h2>

</div>

</div>Chris Horner, E&E Legal Senior Legal Fellow, is the <a href="http://eelegal.org/?p=2015" target="_blank">group's lead</a>

on its work seeking scientists emails. In 2014, Horner received

$110,000 from a group closely tied to E&E Legal, the Free Market Law

Clinic, according to the most recently available <a href="http://pdfs.citizenaudit.org/2015_06_EO/26-4239065_990_201412.pdf" target="_blank">tax filings</a> for that organization. David Schnare, General Counsel at E&E Legal, is also the Director at the Free Market Law Clinic.

The bankruptcy filings for Alpha Natural Resources, revealed by <a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/08/25/chris-horner-coal/" target="_blank">The Intercept,</a> showed direct support from that coal company to Chris Horner personally, as well as to the Free Market Law Clinic.

In 2015, CMD obtained an invitation and other materials from a private and highly <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/06/12845/Jeb-Bush-Speaking-at-Secret-Coal-Industry-Retreat" target="_blank">secretive annual coal summit</a>,

hosted by the CEOs of five coal companies, including both Arch Coal and

Alpha Natural Resources, as well as Alliance Resource Partners,

Drummond Company, and United Coal Company. Chris Horner was a speaker at

the event, which also included then Republican presidential front

runner, Jeb Bush.

After the event, attendees received an email signed by each of the

five coal company CEOs which hinted at the coal funding for Horner's

work: "As the ‘war on coal' continues, I trust that the commitment we

have made to support Chris Horner's work will eventually create great

awareness of the illegal tactics being employed to pass laws that are

intended to destroy our industry."

That email, suggests that the coal funding of Chris Horner's work may extend even beyond Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources.

"It's very telling to confirm that E&E Legal has received Arch

Coal funding since their attacks on climate science and harassment of

scientists are just what the coal industry is counting on to survive,"

Brendan DeMelle of <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/energy-environment-legal-institute" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a> told CMD.

The Energy & Environment Legal Institute's General Counsel, David

Schnare, did not respond to numerous requests to comment for this

article.

</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-13 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/alec-exposed">ALEC Exposed</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/energy">Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/environment/global-warming">Climate Change</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-12 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news-types/news">News</a></div></div></div>
koch conf:http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/why-jeb-bushs-pitch-koch-brothers-should-scare-youAt the Koch brothers’ big <a href="http://www.prospect.org/article/why-koch-brothers-are-heroes-their-own-minds" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">California confabulation</a> last weekend, each of the invited candidates who submitted to questioning on the main stage <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/koch-brothers-wealthy-donors-gop-2016-freedom-partners-seminar-california-120663.html" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">by Politico’s Mike Allen</a> made pointed pitches to ideological proclivities of both the multi-billionaire brothers and their deep-pocketed fellow travelers. But the winner of the pitching contest may turn out to be the one least expected to win himself some Koch-love.When she wasn’t offering to “throw a punch” at Hillary Clinton, Carly Fiorina a<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/koch-love-fest-in-california-120928.html" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">pplauded the “patriotism”</a> of Charles and David Koch, implying that their neo-libertarian ideology of self-enrichment was a boon to the nation.Marco Rubio, in a smooth performance that likely persuaded some of his electability, took aim at the Obama administration’s new EPA “clean energy” regulations, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/marco-rubio-blasts-hillary-clinton-over-email-practices-120917.html#ixzz3huCmdKim" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">suggesting</a> they would benefit “some billionaire somewhere who is a pro-environmental cap-and-trade person” at the expense of “a single mom in Tampa.”Reminding those assembled that he had actually rolled back environmental regulations in Wisconsin, Scott Walker also brayed about having damaged union rights there.And Ted Cruz flat-out denied the very existence of climate change due to global warming, claiming that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was “cooking the books” when it came to measuring the earth’s temperature.But for all the preening and posturing of the candidates whose interviews preceded his on the conference schedule, the one presidential hopeful who was by far the most awkward—and the most unnatural fit for the neo-libertarian audience at the St. Regis Hotel in Dana Point—was also the one who displayed a superior understanding the Koch network’s donor base. He is widely seen as the “establishment candidate,” a low-charisma campaigner whose views align less closely with those of the Kochs than, say, Walker or Cruz. His name is Jeb Bush.In every campaign, liberal and conservative, Republican and Democrat, there’s a bullet point on the candidate’s position page that is a gimmick—something that no president can guarantee, but any candidate can promise. In Jeb’s case, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/07/06/pushing-for-4-percent-economic-growth-jeb-bush-faults-obamas-zombie-economy/" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">promise</a> is a near-doubling of the economic growth rate to 4 percent.When asked by Allen how he would make that happen, Jeb seemed almost to forget to ring the Koch bell, but when he remembered, he cleverly did so at a frequency that could be heard only by the brothers and their pals. The media, mainstream and progressive alike, missed it entirely.Bush’s answer to Allen’s question was that he would take better advantage of what he called the energy revolution in fracking and crude-oil excavation. That answer was cheerful enough, one presumes, to a pair of siblings whose conglomerate was founded on a gusher of fossil fuel. But the real money quote came next, when Bush went on to list the reasons why the recent natural-gas and crude-oil boom happened.“The one that is unique to America? Private property rights,” Bush said. “Private property rights. … And you know what the second was? Private business. Not a public company—a private business. Because a private business, by the way, through trial and error, they can do what they want. They don’t have to worry about the quarterly returns, and get on the call to listen to shareholders or analysts say why it’s stupid to be spending money on something that may be out of the ordinary.”Koch Industries is the second-largest privately held corporation in the United States. That means that when it acquires publicly traded companies, as it did with Georgia-Pacific in 2005, the earnings and activities of those companies, too, become shielded from public view. That makes the Koch network far more threatening to democracy than the cartels of defense contractors and big pharmaceutical companies and their ilk that have traditionally held sway over Congress.Like the Kochs themselves, most of the donors who take part in Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce—the Koch-founded umbrella group that sponsored last weekend’s conference—represent private capital and private companies.  And they’re close to having total control over one of the nation’s two major political parties—in a political system that makes the emergence of a significant third party virtually impossible.Take, for instance, the fight inside the Republican Party for <a href="http://prospect.org/article/how-presidential-primary-proxy-war-between-kochs-and-republican-establishment" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">control of voter data</a>. A company funded by the Kochs built a voter-data targeting and collection system that many GOP candidates find to be superior to the one available to them through the Republican National Committee. So they use the Koch system, and the data stay with the Koch network, which in itself is a constellation of political and policy-focused nonprofit organizations that are shielded from disclosing the identities of their donors, thanks to the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case.With a House of Representatives elected with Koch money, and likely to stay that way far into the future, the election of a president who is ready to make life easier for the biggest hoarders of private capital could be devastating to any shred of democracy left in our political system.A loosening of our already poorly-enforced antitrust laws could allow the wholesale gobbling-up of large, publicly traded companies by privately held corporations. The appointment of Supreme Court justices by a president who holds the shrouded workings of private capital in such high esteem promises future decisions that will make Citizens United look like a ray of sunlight.In his bid to become the third in his family’s dynasty of mediocrity to occupy the White House, Jeb Bush is ready to sell the nation to the most secretive corner of the 1 percent.With masses of private capital to back him—routed through the Kochs’ opaquely funded nonprofits—he could actually win. <div class="bio-new body_news-politics" style="width: 630px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px; height: auto; border-top-width: 3px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(223, 223, 218); clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="author-bio">Adele M. Stan is a journalist based in Washington, D.C., who specializes in covering the intersection of religion and politics. She is RH Reality Check's senior Washington correspondent.</div></div>For now, the campaign disclosed only the names of lobbyists acting as bundlers, as required by law, showing that eight raised a collective $228,400 for Bush during the second quarter of 2015.The top bundlers were William P. Killmer of the Mortgage Banking Association, who raised $36,200; Dirk Van Dongen of the National Association of Wholesalers, who raised $33,900; and Ignacio Sanchez, co-chair of the lobbying practice at DLA Piper, who raised $32,400.Bush’s rivals for the GOP nomination — even long-shot candidates lagging in the polls — were also able to tout big fundraising hauls, thanks to their outside allies. Former Texas governor Rick Perry raised just $1 million for his campaign but has generated more than $16 million in super PAC money, largely from three wealthy backers. The biggest sum came from his campaign finance chair, oil pipeline executive Kelcy Warren, who donated $6 million.[<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/10/rick-perrys-6-million-man-rich-donors-pour-massive-sums-into-2016-super-pacs/" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(46, 109, 157); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); zoom: 1;">Rick Perry’s $6 million man</a>]Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who pulled less than $600,000 during his first official week as a candidate, will benefit from three different groups — a super PAC and two nonprofits — that have collected more than $8 million so far.Brad Todd, the GOP strategist running the pro-Jindal Believe Again super PAC, said an expanding universe of donors has helped fuel the big takes.Politics wapo2016 fundraising shows power tilting to groups backedby wealthy eliteBy Matea Gold and Anu Narayanswamy July 15 2015
A small cadre of superwealthy Americans is dominating the fundraising for the 2016 Republican presidentialnominating contest, doling out huge sums to independent groups that overwhelm total contributions to thecandidates.Nearly $4 out of every $5 raised so far on behalf of GOP White House contenders has gone to independent groupsrather than the official campaigns.Outside groups have already amassed more than $235 million — more than three times the $67 million raisedcollectively by the Republican field through June 30, according to reports filed Wednesday with the Federal ElectionCommission.So far, the dynamic is different on the Democratic side, with 80 percent of the more than $80 million raised so far tosupport Hillary Rodham Clinton and her competitors flowing to their campaigns.Clinton boasted the biggest campaign haul of any candidate, $47 million, driven by a largely female donor base.Contributions less than $200 made up nearly 17 percent of her total. That was in sharp contrast with Republican JebBush: Just 3 percent of the $11.4 million he raised came from such lowdollar donations.The lopsided war chests on the right underscore how the financing of political campaigns has been fundamentallyrewired in the five years since federal courts loosened restrictions on political spending by corporations and richindividuals. Those decisions triggered a rush of big donations and political operatives to independent groups thatcan accept unlimited donations, a trend that has dramatically accelerated this year. This election cycle has alreadyseen bolder collaboration between super PACs and campaigns than previous races, as well as a proliferation ofnonprofit groups aligned with individual candidates.[How campaigns and their super PAC backers work together] linkThe 2016 elections are now poised to mark a tipping point: the first time outside groups outstrip the clout andresources of many campaigns.“It’s pretty clear that the super PACs are playing an unprecedented role,” said Michael Malbin, executive director ofthe nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, which tracks political contributions.“This whole development to me is staggering,” he said. “You’re in a fundamentally different system than 12 years agoor eight years ago.”The huge pack of wellfunded independent groups flanking the Republican candidates has fueled anxiety amongparty elders that the GOP is in for a drawnout primary fight — one that could possibly roll into the nominatingconvention in July 2016.“It could end up with the Republican vote split up in a lot of different ways,” said Ron Weiser, a former financechairman of the Republican National Committee, who is neutral in the 2016 race. “No one is going to go away if theyhave a lot of money in their super PAC.”“There are people who are concerned that this could end up a long and very extensive primary that could allow theopponent to gain substantial advantage,” Weiser added.Bush is far ahead of his rivals in the money race with $119.4 million raised by various entities supporting his bid. Insecond place, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) is being bolstered by $51.2 million raised by his campaign and aligned superPACs, while supporters of Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) have donated $45 million between his campaign, a super PAC anda nonprofit.[Jeb Bush and his allies amass an unprecedented $114 million haul]Strip away their outside allies and the top contenders are more evenly matched. Cruz, who jumped in the race first inlate March, has raised $14.3 million for his campaign. Rubio pulled in $12.2 million, while Bush collected $11.4million in just two weeks as a declared candidate. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is not far behind, with $10.6million.Bush donated $388,720 to his own campaign for “testing the waters” activities, covering travel, legal fees, polls andconsulting done before he declared his bid in early June. Advocates for stricter campaign finance rules have arguedthat the former governor skirted reporting requirements by spending months traveling and raising money for hisallied super PAC, all while maintaining that he had not decided yet whether to run.Bush aides said Wednesday that his donation to the campaign showed that he was following the rules.“Jeb 2016’s first report affirms what we have publicly stated over the past few months — that if Governor Bushengaged in any testingthewaters activities that they would be paid for appropriately, and that if Governor Bushdecided to run for office that any testingthewaters expenses would be reported at the required time,”spokeswoman Kristy Campbell said in a statement.All the expenditures are dated June 5, which was 10 days before he announced he was running.Bush officials also announced Wednesday that he will release the names of the fundraisers bundling donations forhis campaign by the next filing deadline in October.For now, the campaign disclosed only the names of lobbyists acting as bundlers, as required by law, showing thateight raised a collective $228,400 for Bush during the second quarter of 2015.The top bundlers were William P. Killmer of the Mortgage Banking Association, who raised $36,200; Dirk VanDongen of the National Association of Wholesalers, who raised $33,900; and Ignacio Sanchez, cochair of thelobbying practice at DLA Piper, who raised $32,400.Bush’s rivals for the GOP nomination — even longshot candidates lagging in the polls — were also able to tout bigfundraising hauls, thanks to their outside allies. Former Texas governor Rick Perry raised just $1 million for hiscampaign but has generated more than $16 million in super PAC money, largely from three wealthy backers. Thebiggest sum came from his campaign finance chair, oil pipeline executive Kelcy Warren, who donated $6 million.[Rick Perry’s $6 million man]Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who pulled less than $600,000 during his first official week as a candidate, will benefitfrom three different groups — a super PAC and two nonprofits — that have collected more than $8 million so far.Brad Todd, the GOP strategist running the proJindal Believe Again super PAC, said an expanding universe ofdonors has helped fuel the big takes.“It used to be that once you went through the Bush ambassador list, you were at the end of the rainbow,” he said.“But there are people who are very engaged in this presidential contest who were never a Ranger or a Pioneer,” thetitles given top bundlers for former president George W. Bush.Clinton, who raised the largest sums of any official campaign, was quick to start spending the money. Her committeeraced through nearly $19 million in less than three months, even before beginning expensive TV buys. Millions wentto hire hundreds of staffers, a sign of how rapidly it has sought to ramp up a national infrastructure.Her $47 million haul was boosted by a predominantly female donor base: Of the more the 250,000 contributorswho donated to her campaign, 61 percent are women. That puts her on track to outstrip the presidential highwatermark set by President Obama in 2012, when 47 percent of donors who gave him more than $200 were women,according to the Center for Responsive Politics.Clinton’s smalldonor base is larger than it was in her first quarter of fundraising in the 2008 race, when just 9percent of her money came from contributions under $200, according to data analyzed by the Campaign FinanceInstitute. But it is smaller than that of thencandidate Barack Obama, who raised 22 percent of his money that samequarter from small donors. It is also dwarfed by that of primary season rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (IVt.). Nearly 76percent of the $13.5 million in individual donations he received were under $200.Other contenders on the left lagged behind. Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley announced he pulled in$2 million, while former Rhode Island senator and governor Lincoln Chafee reported that he had raised just$30,000 from donors, in addition to lending his campaign $364,000.Several contenders — including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — declared theirruns after the close of the last quarter, so they will not file their finance reports until midOctober.Jose A. DelReal, Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman, Catherine Ho, Colby Itkowitz, Carol D. Leonnig andJohn Wagner contributed to this report.Matea Gold is a national political reporter for The Washington Post, covering money andinfluence.<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016-fundraising-shows-power-tilting-to-groups-backed-by-wealthy-elite/2015/07/15/4c915a74-2b05-11e5-a250-42bd812efc09_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016-fundraising-shows-power-tilting-to-groups-backed-by-wealthy-elite/2015/07/15/4c915a74-2b05-11e5-a250-42bd812efc09_story.html</a>linksThe lopsided war chests on the right underscore how the financing of political campaigns has been fundamentally rewired in the five years since federal courts loosened restrictions on political spending by corporations and rich individuals. Those decisions triggered a rush of big donations and political operatives to independent groups that can accept unlimited donations, a trend that has dramatically accelerated this year. This election cycle has already seen <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/here-are-the-secret-ways-super-pacs-and-campaigns-can-work-together/2015/07/06/bda78210-1539-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(46, 109, 157); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); zoom: 1;">bolder collaboration between super PACs and campaigns</a> than previous races, as well as a proliferation of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/groups-backed-by-secret-donors-take-the-lead-in-shaping-2016-elections/2015/07/14/e56a2572-2a3e-11e5-a5ea-cf74396e59ec_story.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(46, 109, 157); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); zoom: 1;">nonprofit groups aligned with individual candidates</a>.[<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/here-are-the-secret-ways-super-pacs-and-campaigns-can-work-together/2015/07/06/bda78210-1539-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(46, 109, 157); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); zoom: 1;">How campaigns and their super PAC backers work together</a>]The 2016 elections are now poised to mark a tipping point: the first time outside groups outstrip the clout and resources of many campaigns.“It’s pretty clear that the super PACs are playing an unprecedented role,” said Michael Malbin, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, which tracks political contributions.“This whole development to me is staggering,” he said. “You’re in a fundamentally different system than 12 years ago or eight years ago.”The huge pack of well-funded independent groups flanking the Republican candidates has fueled anxiety among party elders that the GOP is in for a drawn-out primary fight — one that could possibly roll into the nominating convention in July 2016.“It could end up with the Republican vote split up in a lot of different ways,” said Ron Weiser, a former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, who is neutral in the 2016 race. “No one is going to go away if they have a lot of money in their super PAC.”“There are people who are concerned that this could end up a long and very extensive primary that could allow the opponent to gain substantial advantage,” Weiser addeBush is far ahead of his rivals in the money race with $119.4 million raised by various entities supporting his bid. In second place, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) is being bolstered by $51.2 million raised by his campaign and aligned super PACs, while supporters of Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) have donated $45 million between his campaign, a super PAC and a nonprofit.[<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/09/jeb-bush-raised-11-4-million-in-first-quarter-of-the-year/" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(46, 109, 157); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); zoom: 1;">Jeb Bush and his allies amass an unprecedented $114 million haul</a>]Strip away their outside allies and the top contenders are more evenly matched. Cruz, who jumped in the race first in late March, has raised $14.3 million for his campaign. Rubio pulled in $12.2 million, while Bush collected $11.4 million in just two weeks as a declared candidate. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is not far behind, with $10.6 million.Bush donated $388,720 to his own campaign for “testing the waters” activities, covering travel, legal fees, polls and consulting done before he declared his bid in early June. Advocates for stricter campaign finance rules have argued that the former governor skirted reporting requirements by spending months traveling and raising money for his allied super PAC, all while maintaining that he had not decided yet whether to run.<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Coal Execs Invite Presidential Hopeful Jeb Bush to Closed-Door Weekend Retreat (2015)</h3>Drummond and other coal companies invited former Florida Governor and likely presidential candidate <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Jeb_Bush" title="Jeb Bush" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Jeb Bush</a> to be the keynote speaker at the 2015 Coal and Investment Leadership Forum, an invitation-only retreat that brings together coal industry executives, Republican donors, and other "stakeholders," according to an invitation obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy and reported on by The Guardian. Bush "evidently signalled his willingness to meet with industry leaders as early as February when the hosts of the coal forum – all owners and executives of coalmining companies – emailed out the first save-the-date notices," The Guardian reported.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-goldenberg_coal_forum-14" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[14]</a><dl style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">“It is a great opportunity to meet with stakeholders in the state,” Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for Bush, said. “He will be talking about a variety of topics.”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-goldenberg_coal_forum-14" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[14]</a></dd></dl>Bush had not yet officially declared his candidacy and was not disclosing fundraising information. "I think the major question is what promises is Jeb Bush making to the coal chief executives in that room. We assume Bush is there to raise money for his campaign [...] it is pretty clear why Jeb Bush was invited there. If Jeb Bush is elected they want him to protect their industry," Nick Surgey, research director of CMD, told The Guardian.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-goldenberg_coal_forum-14" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[14]</a>Others named in the 2015 invitation included <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tennessee_Valley_Authority" title="Tennessee Valley Authority" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Tennessee Valley Authority</a> president Bill Johns, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Christopher_C.Horner" title="Christopher C. Horner" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Christopher C. Horner</a> of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute" title="Competitive Enterprise Institute" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy%26_Environment_Legal_Institute" title="Energy & Environment Legal Institute" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Energy & Environment Legal Institute</a>, and "the owners and chief executives of coalmining and energy companies" including <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alliance_Resource_Partners" title="Alliance Resource Partners" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Alliance Resource Partners</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alpha_Natural_Resources" title="Alpha Natural Resources" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Alpha Natural Resources</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Consol_Energy" title="Consol Energy" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Consol Energy</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Arch_Coal" title="Arch Coal" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Arch Coal</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_Coal_Company" title="United Coal Company" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">United Coal Company</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-goldenberg_coal_forum-14" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[14]</a>According to The Guardian,<dl style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">The invitations to the three-day forum promise access to influential figures – including a potential future occupant of the White House – in a relaxed setting, with time for cocktails, golf lessons, and fishing. The $7,500 fee does not include lodging.</dd></dl><dl style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">"Once again, significant time will also be available for golf, fly fishing, one-on-one meetings and small VIP discussion groups, which is the hallmark of this conference," the invitation reads.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-goldenberg_coal_forum-14" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[14]</a></dd></dl>The forum was likely to touch on rules limiting carbon pollution from power plants that were announced by the EPA in 2014. Jim McGlothlin, CEO of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_Coal_Company" title="United Coal Company" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">United Coal Company</a>, "said the executives were eager to hear what Bush said about energy – but the hour-long encounter would not be restricted to the EPA rules. 'It would be our hope that he would touch upon his general energy policies,' McGlothlin said in an email." McGlothlin also noted that the forum planned to invite additional presidential candidates in 2016.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-goldenberg_coal_forum-14" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[14]</a><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Political Contributions</h3>In June 2000, Drummond gave $500,000 to the Republican National Committee.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-dbacon-4" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[4]</a> The company also gave $25,000 to the National Republican Congressional Campaign that year.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-dbacon-4" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[4]</a> In October 2000, Drummond gave $20,000 to the National Republican Senate Campaign.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond#cite_note-dbacon-4" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[4]</a><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Lobbying</h3>6/15Jeb Bush was the highest profile speaker at a secretive three-day retreat in Bristol, Virginia, hosted by the CEOs of six coal companies, according to materials for the invitation-only event obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/29/jeb-bush-closed-door-meeting-coal-industry-barons" target="blank" style="line-height: 32px; text-decoration: none;">shared with the Guardian</a>.The event, dubbed the "Coal & Investment Leadership Forum," which ran from Sunday through Tuesday, took place at an exclusive private golf course and resort called the "Olde Farm," owned by the founder of United Coal Company, Jim McGlothlin. The private country club is known for its annual golf tournament in which players take sides in the Civil War for the South or the Union and which is described by McGlothlin as "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/29/jeb-bush-closed-door-meeting-coal-industry-barons" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">our most cherished tradition.</a>"In addition to United Coal, the forum was hosted by the CEOs of five other coal companies: Alliance Resource Partners, Alpha Natural Resources, Consol Energy, Drummond Company, and Arch Coal.Bush was the only candidate expected to run for the 2016 presidential election to speak at the event.The materials didn't say what Bush  was to speak about, but in a room of coal industry executives and potential major Bush campaign funders, climate change and proposed cuts in carbon emissions likely dominated the conversation.The purpose of the event was outlined in a letter from the coal hosts to invitees: "Our industry needs to keep a loud voice with top representatives of our government."Having long bemoaned of a "<a href="http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/inside-war-on-coal-000002" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">war on coal</a>," facing massive losses in share value, and the likely closure of many coal plants under the Clean Power Plan, the coal industry must be looking to Jeb Bush as a potential ally."It would be our hope that he would touch upon his general energy policies," McGlothlin told <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/29/jeb-bush-closed-door-meeting-coal-industry-barons" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">the Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg</a>.Bush has long been considered a climate change denier.In 2009 he <a href="http://grist.org/politics/meet-the-climate-deniers-who-want-to-be-presiden" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">told Esquire</a>: "I'm a skeptic. I'm not a scientist. I think the science has been politicized."Speaking at a May 2015 fundraising event in New Hampshire, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/21/3661573/jeb-bush-climate-change-intellectual-arrogance/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Bush said that</a> it would be "arrogant" to say that the science on climate change is settled.Despite Bush's claims, which appear to pander to the same dirty energy his<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-bushes--a-wall-street-dynasty-2012-11" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">family made a fortune in</a>, there is overwhelming scientific consensus that the climate is changing because of human activities....omg5/15<div><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://convio.motherjones.com/site/R?i=ajOIrJ6louiZF3sJAimCWw" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1431702984047_46370" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The Jeb Bush Adviser Who Should Scare You</a>By David CornLast week, Jeb Bush, the all-but-announced GOP presidential candidate, stirred up a fuss when he privately <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://convio.motherjones.com/site/R?i=2aO0gmYBQdYOMND7uqK0qA" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">told</a> a group of Manhattan financiers that his top adviser on US-Israeli policy is George W. Bush. Given that Jeb has tried mightily to distance himself from his brother, whose administration used false assertions to launch the still highly unpopular Iraq War, this touting of W.—even at a behind-closed-doors session of Republican donors—seemed odd. But perhaps more noteworthy is that Jeb Bush has embraced much of his brother's White House foreign policy team. In February, his campaign <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://convio.motherjones.com/site/R?i=6Ti0CSDOqCsSSfU2AMrWHw" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">released a list</a> of 21 foreign policy advisers; 17 of them served in the George W. Bush administration. And one name stood out: Paul Wolfowitz, a top policy architect of the Iraq War—for the prospect of Wolfowitz whispering into Jeb's ear ought to scare the bejeezus out of anyone who yearns for a rational national security policy. <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://convio.motherjones.com/site/R?i=jbW4zYi1_JuvBlU_3N6Khw" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1431702984047_46369" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[READ MORE]</a></div><div></div>The Washington PostJeb Bush’s foreign policy team is eerily familiar, in one Venn diagramClick here for more information! SubscribeThe Washington PostGet the The Fix NewsletterFree daily updates delivered just for you.NOT NOW
The FixJeb Bush’s foreign policy team is eerily familiar, in one Venn diagramShare on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google Plus Share via Email More Options Resize Text Print Article Comments 151By Philip Bump February 18  Former Florida governor Jeb Bush will announce his foreign policy vision in a speech Wednesday in Chicago. Accompanying that speech is a rollout of a slate of experts who will help guide the candidate on foreign policy issues.
If Bush's goal is to present himself as his "own man," that list of advisers undermines the point somewhat: 19 of the 21 people on it worked in the administrations of his father or brother. We've identified the roles each played in the past three Republican administrations, divvying them up as needed in the following Venn diagram.
It's easy to suggest that the above diagram indicates that Jeb Bush is hopelessly linked to his brother and father. But it's important to remember that the foreign policy team of any Republican president probably would draw heavily from the experience of the past three Republican administrations — each of which had a Bush at or near the top. Many of the foreign policy names on the alternate-universe Mitt Romney transition team appear above — although Romney branched out a bit more. That may be because he was four years closer to the low point of the Iraq war and some of the Bush-era advisers on foreign policy were still too damaged.
Bush has access to a lot of people by virtue of his family's long history in Washington. That can be a mixed blessing. "Each president learns from those who came before — their principles . . . their adjustments," Bush plans to say in Chicago. "One thing we know is this: Every president inherits a changing world . . . and changing circumstances." And, on occasion, they inherit the same advisory team.
Bush: U.S. must be in engaged in fight against Islamic State(1:52)Former Florida governor Jeb Bush says the feeling in the Middle East is that the U.S. will "cut and run" at the first sign of trouble in the fight against the Islamic State, and the U.S. needs to commit leading a coalition against the militants. (Chicago Council of Global Affairs)from the International Business Times: <blockquote style="margin: 1.2em 0px; padding: 20px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(226, 226, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(226, 226, 225); border-top-style: solid; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">While Jeb Bush was governor of Florida, state pension officials committed at least $1.7 billion to financial firms whose executives were “Pioneer” fundraisers for his brother’s presidential campaigns. To achieve Pioneer status, the fundraisers had to amass at least $100,000 worth of bundled contributions to one of George W. Bush’s campaigns.An International Business Times analysis of Florida government documents and a list of George W. Bush’s bundlers compiled by Public Citizen found that 11 firms that received new Florida pension investments under Jeb Bush were Pioneers. IBTimes also analyzed data from the Florida Division of Elections and Political Moneyline to determine how much money executives from those firms donated directly to Jeb Bush’s campaigns, George W. Bush’s campaigns, the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Florida between 1998 and 2006.</blockquote><a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/george-w-bush-fundraisers-whose-firms-received-florida-pension-deals-under-jeb-bush-1880624" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">http://www.ibtimes.com/...</a><h1 id="pf-title" style="margin: 1em 0px; clear: both; direction: ltr; page-break-inside: avoid !important;">Jeb Bush Trashes Father’s Clean Air Legacy to Woo Far Right-Wing</h1>John Walke, NRDC Action Fund<div id="pf-content" style="clear: both; direction: ltr;"><div class="pf-content" data-twttr-id="twttr-sandbox-0">Jeb Bush trashed the Clean Air Act last week. He was speaking to the far right-wing <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/club-for-growth-targets-republicans-88153.html" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">Club for Growth</a>, notorious for mounting mostly unsuccessful challenges from the right against Republican candidates during congressional primaries.A Washington Post reporter attended the speech and posted some of Bush’s remarks on Twitter:So Jeb Bush thinks the Clean Air Act “stifled the ability for people to rise up.” Does he mean polluting corporations that a <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/558/08-205/" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">5-4 Supreme Court says are people</a>?Or does he mean that loud clamor for “rising up” by ordinary Americans, who consistently voice very strong support for the Clean Air Act and clean air safeguards, with <a href="http://www.usclimatenetwork.org/resource-database/review-of-polling-data-on-clean-air" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">large majorities</a> across the political spectrum Bob Marley, Mr. Bush ain’t.Jeb Bush’s father, President <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19039" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">George H.W. Bush</a>, signed the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 after <a href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=101&session=2&vote=00324" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">89 Senators</a> and <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/101-1990/h137" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">401 House members</a> (including 154 Republicans, all but 16) voted for the law.President Bush’s <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19039" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">signing statement</a> said he took “great pleasure in signing [the Clean Air Act] as a demonstration to the American people of my determination that each and every American shall breathe clean air.”<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/bush-domestic/" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">Newspapers</a> at the time called the president’s signing of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 “the single most distinguished policy achievement of the Bush administration.”The <a href="http://www.epa.gov/cleanairactbenefits/feb11/summaryreport.pdf" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">Clean Air Act</a> is estimated to achieve almost $2 trillion in yearly benefits to the American people by 2020. These vast benefits are delivered in the form of “significant reductions in air pollution” related premature death and illness, improved economic welfare of Americans, and better environmental conditions.” The <a href="http://www.epa.gov/cleanairactbenefits/feb11/summaryreport.pdf" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">estimated</a> annual costs to achieve these benefits will be about $65 billion by 2020. [graph omit]So this staggering Bush senior achievement is one that Bush junior singles out for condemnation. It’s bewildering. One might even say it takes one’s breath away.Does Jeb Bush know of any federal law that accomplishes greater benefits for Americans relative to the cost? Would a law personally acceptable to him need to achieve $3 trillion in benefits compared to an even tinier fraction of costs? Mr. Bush’s applause line for the extreme right does not yield those answers.Clean Air Act benefits vastly outweighs costs over the entire study period in this exhibit. But what about any impacts to economic growth due to Clean Air Act implementation?This <a href="http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/2010/report/airpollution.pdf" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">chart</a> shows that over the period from 1990 through 2008, primarily due to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 signed by President Bush, U.S. Gross Domestic Product increased by more than 64 percent while the six most common air pollutants regulated by the Act decreased 41 percent. [grapgh]Stifling, I say.I cannot help but wonder whether a related clean air benefit prompted Jeb Bush’s condemnation of airline regulations. Does he mean another law signed by his father, one that “<a href="http://www.uhc.com/bmtn-categories/bmtn-news/2015/02/25/today-in-health-history-smoking-on-domestic-flights-is-banned" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">banned smoking on all domestic flights of less than six hours?</a>”I cannot tell you how many flights I have been on since then where stifled passengers were loudly demanding the right to rise up and fill airplane cabins with choking tobacco smoke.The Post reporter also tweeted this Jeb Bush comment to the Club for Growth:It makes you wonder what Bush would have said if he were speaking to the Hair Club for Men.That “growth at all cost” mentality reminded me of an <a href="http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9AH07M20131118?irpc=932" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">article</a> I had read: “To Tackle Pollution, China to Drop Pursuit of Growth at All Costs.” The “growth at all cost” vision thing espoused by Bush has resulted in <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-31110408" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">China</a> having some of the most despoiled and deadly air pollution in the world.The Chinese <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21542826" target="blank" style="word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">people</a> are rising up alright—against dangerous air pollution....http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/03/jeb-bush-trashes-fathers-legacy</div></div>An extremely wealthy Republican donor thinks he can get would-be 2016 presidential contender Jeb Bush to see the light on climate change, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/02/26/wealthy-jeb-bush-supporter-aims-to-push-him-to-combat-climate-change/" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reports the Wall Street Journal</a>.Andrew Sabin, owner of the precious metals company Sabin Metal Corporation, is a big supporter of Republican causes and candidates. He's made big donations to Karl Rove's conservative political action committee American Crossroads, the Republican National Committee and to individual candidates like Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), <a href="http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/andrew-sabin.asp?cycle=14" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">just to name a few</a>.He's also given <a href="http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2014/8/22/the-republican-metals-magnate-fighting-climate-change-throug.html" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">$5 million to support the Center for Climate Change Law</a> at Columbia Law School. And through his foundation, the Sabin Family Foundation, he's also been a big donor to Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Oceana and Earth Justice.Jeb Bush is billed as a moderate on some issues, but has said <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/jeb-bush-climate-change-skeptic" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">he's "a skeptic" on climate change</a>. Sabin says he thinks he can change that."I want him to be the next Teddy Roosevelt," Sabin told the Wall Street Journal. “We want to show that conservation is conservative and get Republicans back to their environmental roots without hurting jobs.”Sabin also said he thinks there's precedent. “Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon were supporters of the environment,” he said. “With a lot of Republicans, they just need to be educated.”Sabin was also a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/fashion/the-republicans-3-million-weekend-in-the-hamptons.html" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">big booster of Mitt Romney in 2012</a>. But while Romney <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/05/mitt-romney-gina-mccarthy-climate-change" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">promoted action on climate change</a> as governor of Massachusetts, as a presidential candidate he<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/10/28/355736/romney-flips-to-denial-we-dont-know-whats-causing-climate-change/" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">said instead</a> that "we don't know what's causing climate change" and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/08/climate-change-great-punchline-mitt" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">made the subject a punch line</a> in his campaign.More recently, Romney has moved back toward the consensus view on climate change, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/22/mitt-romney-climate-change_n_6523530.html" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">saying at an event last month</a>, "I'm one of those Republicans who thinks we are getting warmer and that we contribute to that."Bush has been less committal. "I think global warming may be real," he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/jeb-bush-rick-perry-global-warming_n_935168.html" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">said in a 2011 interview</a>. "It is not unanimous among scientists that it is disproportionately manmade. What I get a little tired of on the left is this idea that somehow science has decided all this so you can’t have a view."<a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeb-bush-cuts-ties-barclays-bank">http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeb-bush-cuts-ties-barclays-bank</a>
<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/jeb-bush-paid-by-bank-that-violated-cuba-sanctions">http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/jeb-bush-paid-by-bank-that-violated-cuba-sanctions</a><p class="sub_buzz_desc" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush blasted the Obama administration’s decision to normalize relations with Cuba in a Facebook post Wednesday, but in an example of why Bush’s ties to private equity and Barclays could provide fodder for opponents and critics, Barclays (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/politics/jeb-bushs-rush-to-make-money-may-be-hurdle.html?_r=0" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">which reportedly pays Bush</a> more than a million dollars a year) had to settle criminal charges for violating sanctions that included Cuba.<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Barclays agreed in 2010 to to forfeit $298 million to the United States and to the New York County District Attorney’s Office “in connection with violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA),” <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/barclays-bank-plc-agrees-forfeit-298-million-connection-violations-international-emergency" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">according to a Justice Department press release</a>.<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">“The violations relate to transactions Barclays illegally conducted on behalf of customers from Cuba, Iran, Sudan and other countries sanctioned in programs administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC),” the Justice Department added.<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Bush has been at Barclays since 2008, but the actions that led to the fine took place before the Florida governor was with the bank.<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">“The Obama administration’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba is the latest foreign policy misstep by this President, and another dramatic overreach of his executive authority,” wrote Bush Wednesday. “It undermines America’s credibility and undermines the quest for a free and democratic Cuba.”<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">“The beneficiaries of President Obama’s ill-advised move will be the heinous Castro brothers who have oppressed the Cuban people for decades.”<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Bush’s ties to Barclays have caused some to raise the alarm about his potential candidacy....<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">---<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px 12px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; line-height: 23px; font-stretch: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">According to court documents, from as early as the mid-1990s until September 2006, Barclays knowingly and willfully moved or permitted to be moved hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of banks from Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma, and persons listed as parties or jurisdictions sanctioned by OFAC in violation of U.S. economic sanctions.http://www.alternet.org/print/tea-party-and-right/5-things-you-should-know-about-jeb-bushs-far-right-legacy
<div class="headline"><h1 property="dc:title" datatype="" class="node-title">5 Things You Should Know About Jeb Bush's Far-Right Legacy</h1></div><div class="the_body body_story clearfix"><div class="clear"> </div><div class="story_tools_bottom"><div class="text-size"><div class="story_tools_email"><div class="story_tools_print"><div class="story_tools_share"><div style="clear: left;"><div class="story-date">December 17, 2014  |  </div>Former Florida governor Jeb Bush announced his intention to create a presidential exploratory committee this week. While many are focusing on his relation to his brother, former President George W. Bush, the association with one of America's most unpopular presidents isn't all that could hurt him.Jeb Bush has been responsible for enacting some of the far-right's most toxic policies, from the nation's first Stand Your Ground law to a path of education privatization that Bush has continued even after he has left office. Here are the five big ones.1. Signed First “Stand Your Ground” Bill Into Law: The tragic Trayvon Martin killing spurred renewed criticism of “Stand Your Ground” laws that make it easy for citizens to justify using lethal force. Bush signed into law the first of these bills, making Florida a pioneer state in their use. “This law is about affirming that your home is your castle and, in Florida, you have a right to be absolutely safe inside its walls,” said the then-president of the National Rifle Association, <a href="http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/news-from-nra-ila/2005/castle-doctrine-self-defense-law.aspx?s=%22litigation%22&st=&ps=">thanking Gov. Bush for signing it</a> [3]. Sadly, the law has applied to a lot more than just home invasions; “justifiable homicide” <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/stand-your-ground-laws-coincide-with-jump-in-justifiable-homicide-cases/2012/04/07/gIQAS2v51S_story.html">tripled in Florida</a> [4] after the passage of the law, and similar laws were in 30 states by 2012.2. Spearheaded Efforts to Privatize Education: Bush wanted to make a name for himself as the “education governor,” but the policies he ended up pursuing produced results that were “mixed as best,” <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/05/AR2007010502156.html">as theWashington Post</a> [5] notes. The governor enacted the state's first statewide voucher program, but it ended up being struck down as <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-05-florida-school-vouchers_x.htm">unconstitutional</a> [6] by Florida's supreme court. He also enacted high-stakes testing,<a href="http://www.icasinc.org/1999/1999l/1999ljeb.html">coupled</a> [7] with a system to grade and sanction Florida schools that did not meet standards. While these policies pleased conservatives on paper, they <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/05/AR2007010502156.html">didn't net much in results</a> [5], with some modest test score improvements but a “high school dropout rate and per-pupil spending [ranking] among the nation's worst.” Nonetheless, Jeb Bush touted himself as an education expert after leaving office, running an education foundation that the <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/172551/jeb-bush-uses-his-education-reform-foundation-corporate-personal-gain-e-mails-show">Nation caught</a> [8] lobbying for education technology companies, including one tied directly to Bush.3. Became Huge Booster of Death Penalty and Being “Tough on Crime”: In the governor's race, Bush <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Jeb_Bush_Crime.htm">accused</a> [9] his opponent of being too reticent to use the electric chair, and passed a series of laws designed to keep people in prison, such as the 10-20-Life law, which had no impact on the state's rate of violent crime. One of his signature initiatives was to champion and pass a bill to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/08/us/florida-passes-bill-to-quicken-execution-pace.html">quicken the pace</a> [10] of executions in Florida. By 2006 <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2006/12/15/jeb-bushs-botched-execution">he was forced</a> [11] to temporarily halt executions after one that was badly botched.4.Intervened in Terri Schiavo Case: Bush made national headlines <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/national/23cnd-schiavo.html">after trying to intervene</a> [12] in the case of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman whose guardian had decided to take her off life support. His efforts were <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/31/schiavo/">rebuked by the courts</a> [13] and the entire affair, which was supposed to be handled by loved ones, turned into a nasty case of government interfering in private matters.5. Cut and Privatized Government Services:While championing the right for government to intervene in cases like Schiavo's, or put people to death quickly, Bush <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/05/AR2007010502156.html">took aim</a> [5] at the government's ability to respond to social welfare needs. His Department of Children and Families lost track of 500 children under the care of the state; the foster care system was spun off altogether and had massive cost overruns. While gutting the ability of the state to respond to its people, he passed gigantic tax cuts for the wealthy, some <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/jeb-bush-built-conservative-record-as-florida-governor-1418761689">$19 billion total</a> [14] over his time in office, “much of it benefiting businesses and investors” rather than families.Bush's legacy for Florida can perhaps best be assessed by where it stood when he left office in 2007, before the country went into recession. During this relatively prosperous economic time, Florida had the <a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf">third-worst rate</a> [15] for average percentage of people without heath insurance, behind only Texas and New Mexico. Its rate of infectious disease was 41 for every 100,000 people, the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/06/health-vermont-mississippi-biz-cx_tvr_1106healthstates_slide_21.html?thisspeed=25000">nation's highest rate</a> [16]. The significant rates of child poverty had an impact on Bush's signature issue: education. <a href="http://sitemaker.umich.edu/670gispolicybrief/files/670gispolicybriefformat.pdf">Analysis</a> [17] by researchers found a real link between poverty and results on Bush's prized FCAT standardized test. If he ends up running, Bush will likely try to separate himself from his brother's legacy. But it's more or less the same story: more privatization, more poverty, more government intrusion into people's private lives, and more giveaways to the wealthy.</div>

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<h2 style="margin: 15px 0px -10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;">HEADING FOR THE HILLS</h2>

For now, however, no prominent Republican running for office in the next few years will want to get anywhere near a carbon-tax proposal, or even talk about climate change. While the rift in the party over global warming is becoming increasingly evident, most Republicans feel much more secure on the side that denies the problem.

That was made abundantly plain during the Conservative Political Action Conference in March, the annual Washington gathering that the GOP base uses to anoint its future leaders. Two leading speakers this year were Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush, both of Florida, the state that scientists such as Kerry Emanuel warn is the most vulnerable to devastation from intensified hurricanes in the coming years.

Rubio was the undisputed star attraction, and his keynote speech sparked some of the loudest cheers when he denounced climate science in the context of condemning abortion.

“The people who are actually closed-minded in American politics are the people who love to preach about the certainty of science with regards to our climate but ignore the absolute fact that science has proven that life begins at conception,” Rubio said. A month earlier, in his response to President Obama’s State of the Union, Rubio had said, “When we point out that no matter how many job-killing laws we pass, our government can’t control the weather, [Obama] accuses us of wanting dirty water and dirty air.”

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Bush’s CPAC speech had a decidedly different tone. He castigated his party for espousing hard-right views. “Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, antiwoman, antiscience, antigay, anti-worker … and the list goes on,” he said. “Many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates, because those voters feel unloved, unwanted, and unwelcome in our party.”

Bush did not specifically mention climate change, although many on both sides of the aisle interpreted his remark about science as a signal that he’d be open to addressing the issue. Pundits praised the speech, but it was not a hit with his party. Bush spoke to a quiet room with a fair number of empty seats. Many in the audience members were checking their mobile devices. When he finished, Bush was met with a polite, modest smattering of applause. (Another Republican who has signaled support for climate-change legislation, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, wasn’t even invited to CPAC.)

At 41, Rubio personifies the next generation of Republican leadership, while Bush represents an older, perhaps out-of-date moderate mind-set—which means the party may very well be heading in the wrong direction when it comes to embracing climate science. Rubio’s view is likely to remain the mainstream one in the party in the short term, thanks to tea-party groups such as Americans for Prosperity, a super PAC founded by David and Charles Koch, the principal owners of Koch Industries, a major U.S. oil conglomerate.

Over the last several years, Americans for Prosperity has spearheaded an all-fronts campaign using advertising, social media, and cross-country events aimed at electing lawmakers who will ensure that the fossil-fuel industry won’t have to worry about any new regulations. The group spent $36 million to influence the 2012 elections.

“We’ve been having this debate with the Left for 10 years, and we welcome having the debate with these new groups. If there are groups who want to do a niche effort with the Republican electorate, we’ll win that debate,” says the group’s president, Tim Phillips. He’s not worried that organizations such as Combs’s Christian Coalition or economists such as Laffer will influence lawmakers—because AFP would hit any such candidate with an all-out negative campaign. “Let them bring a carbon tax on. They know it’s political death for them to bring this forward on their own.”

There’s no denying the political power of groups like Americans for Prosperity. Still, despite its massive wealth, the super PAC failed to achieve either of its two chief political goals of 2012—unseating President Obama and claiming the Senate majority for Republicans.

The goal of grassroots efforts is to persuade Republicans that they’ll be rewarded if they take a stand in support of climate action—and that they could doom their party to minority status if they don’t. Advocates in the GOP realize that it’s too early and too fraught for Republicans seeking reelection to sound the alarm over the changing climate.

But out of sight on Capitol Hill, staffers say, conversations are taking place about how to go about doing that—eventually. “Most Republicans say the same thing behind closed doors: ‘Of course, I get that the climate is changing, of course I get that we need to do something—but I need to get reelected.’ Somehow they’re going to have to find a safe place on this,” says the Audubon Society’s Yarnold.

“We’re trying to get them to come out of the climate closet,” he says. “There’s no question they’re leaving votes on the table because of this. And they know it.”

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<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11883/taxpayer-enriched-companies-back-jeb-bushs-foundation-excellence-education-its-bu">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11883/taxpayer-enriched-companies-back-jeb-bushs-foundation-excellence-education-its-bu</a>

<h1 class="print-title">Taxpayer-Enriched Companies Back Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education, its Buddy ALEC, and Their "Reforms"</h1>

<div class="meta">by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves" title="View user profile.">Lisa Graves</a> [1] — November 28, 2012 - 4:04pm</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-2">Topics: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics/right-wing">Right Wing</a> [2], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/front-groups">Front Groups</a> [3], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/third-party-technique">Third Party Technique</a> [4], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/children">Children</a> [5], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations">Corporations</a> [6], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy">Democracy</a> [7], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/education">Education</a> [8], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/lobbying">Lobbying</a> [9], <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/think-tanks">Think Tanks</a> [10]</li>

</ul>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-9">Projects: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed">ALEC Exposed</a> [1]</li>

</ul>

</div>

This week in Washington, DC, Jeb Bush's "Foundation for Excellence in Education" (FEE) is meeting just five blocks away from the post-election conference of the <a href="http://www.ALECexposed.org" target="_blank">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> [13] (ALEC), the controversial corporate bill mill working on profitizing public education among other legislative changes, but the ties between the two groups are even closer.

Aptly named FEE, Bush's group is backed by many of the same for-profit school corporations that have funded ALEC and vote as equals with its legislators on templates to change laws governing America's public schools. FEE is also bankrolled by many of the same hard-right foundations bent on privatizing public schools that have funded ALEC. And, they have pushed many of the same changes to the law, which benefit their corporate benefactors and satisfy the free market fundamentalism of the billionaires whose tax-deductible charities underwrite the agenda of these two groups.

FEE and ALEC also have had some of the same "experts" as members or staff, part of the revolving door between right-wing groups. They have also collaborated on the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/3150" target="blank">annual</a> [14] ALEC education "report card" that <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/02/11272/alec-education-academy-launches-island-resort" target="blank">grades states' allegiance to their policy agenda higher than actual student performance</a> [15]. That distorted report card also rewards states that push ALEC's beloved union-busting measures while giving low grades to states with students who actually perform best on standardized knowledge tests. As Dustin Bielke <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/02/11272/alec-education-academy-launches-island-resort" target="_blank">wrote</a> [15] for PRWatch earlier this year:

Imagine getting a report card from your teacher and finding out that you were graded not on how well you understood the course material or scored on the tests and assignments, but rather on to what extent you agreed with your teacher's strange public policy positions. That is the best way to understand (ALEC's) 17th Report Card on American Education. ...

</blockquote>

The ALEC/FEE scoring is based in part of whether states have embraced changes to the law to advance charter schools or virtual schools (which FEE touts as "digital education") or other corporate-backed reforms. Yet, studies of the actual performance of such schools raise serious questions of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/online-schools-score-better-on-wall-street-than-in-classrooms.html?r=2&ref=k12inc&" target="blank">costs versus benefits</a> [16] of market-driven primary and secondary education. As Minnesota 2020 put it in <a href="http://www.mn2020.org/issues-that-matter/education/false-choices-the-economic-argument-against-market-driven-education-reform" target="_blank">its comprehensive study</a> [17], "False Choices: The Economic Argument against Market-Driven Education Reform," the "mounting evidence" indicates that"the market approach to education does not produce gains anywhere like those needed for universal student achievement."

As the Center for Media and Democracy/PRWatch previously <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11325/wisconsin-education-reform-only-alec-could-love" target="blank">noted</a> [18]: "The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/online-schools-score-better-on-wall-street-than-in-classrooms.html?r=1&ref=k12inc" target="blank">New York Times</a> [19] recently studied one K-12, Inc., school which was failing to educate kids 'by almost every educational measure' but 'by Wall Street standards, Agora is a remarkable success,' profiting off of federal and state taxpayer dollars. A recent study of virtual schools in Pennsylvania conducted by <a href="http://www.thenation.com/print/article/164651/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools" target="blank">Stanford University</a> [20] showed that online students performed significantly worse than their traditional counterparts. The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/opinion/troubled-online-charter-schools.html" target="_blank">University of Colorado</a> [21] conducted a study that found only 27 percent of virtual schools met minimum federal standards."

These shortcomings have not stopped FEE's founder, Jeb Bush, from putting his name on the preface to the 16th Edition of the ALEC's Report Card on Education, asserting: "ALEC's Report Card on American Education is a helpful guide for anyone who wants to achieve a quality education for all students."

<h2>Conflict of Interest? For-Profit School Corps Backed Both FEE and ALEC</h2>

Many of these policies are designed to redirect state taxpayer dollars from public schools to private or for-profit education corporations. It is perhaps unsurprising that corporate beneficiaries of these policies have also been the corporate benefactors of the non-profit groups promoting them, including FEE and ALEC.

As Colin Woodward reported about FEE's role in Maine, critics contend that "<a href="http://www.pressherald.com/news/virtual-schools-in-maine_2012-09-02.html" target="_blank">This is the ideal form of crony capitalism ... these are free market entrepreneurial companies manipulating the law to create markets for themselves</a> [22]," citing Arizona State University professor emeritus Gene Glass.

Here are just a few examples of the overlap between FEE and ALEC and evidence of this critique:

K-12's NYSE Stock SymbolK-12 is a for-profit corporation that pushes "virtual" schooling. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as LRN. While most American families have struggled financially in the four years since Wall Street crashed the economy at the end of the Bush Administration, K-12's revenues have increased by over 300%, from over $226 million in 2008 to over $708 million this year.

As K-12 notes in its most recent annual report, "most of (its) revenues depend on per pupil funding amounts and payment formulas" from government contracts for what it calls its "virtual public schools" and blended schools, among other products.

Meanwhile, ALEC has pushed a number of bills that help make K-12's profits possible, including a "Virtual Public Schools Act," which provides that virtual schools should be paid the same per pupil rate as public schools that actually provide bricks and mortar public schools, with desks, heating and A/C, lunch ladies, playgrounds, gyms, in-person teachers, and extracurricular activities like sports, orchestra, and student councils. That bill was secretly approved in 2004 as an ALEC agenda item in an ALEC task force meeting where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps voted as equals with state legislators. The bill and various iterations of it have been pushed in numerous states across the country since then, and along with it the number of students K-12 says are enrolled in its programs has increased to almost over 100,000.

K-12's net income (profit after taxes and expenses) was over $17 million last year. But, that was the amount left over after it paid its CEO, Ron Packard, a base salary of $625,000, in addition to a "performance" bonus of $584,375, which was in addition to an award of stock this year worth $1.25 million, plus stock options worth $1.5 million, for a total compensation in 2012 of over $3.9 million. The prior year his total compensation was over $5 million. Its next five highest paid employees received annual compensation of between $3.2 million and $769,000. K-12 also paid its part-time board members fees of between $49,000 and $139,000, plus stock awards. (Meanwhile, ALEC legislators and alums who have backed privatization have claimed that it is public school teachers who receive luxurious benefits like health care or retirement plans, which pale in comparison.)

In addition, K-12's CEO owns about 4% of the company (worth about $24 million at today's share price) and one of its board members, Jon Q. Reynolds, owns over 10% of the company. The "Learning Group LLC" owns 18% and another corporation that is part of a foreign mega-corp that is member of ALEC, Macquarie Group Limited, owns 13% of K-12, as of its most recent SEC filings.

K-12 Inc. was founded in 1999 by Packard, a former <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldman_Sachs" target="_blank">Goldman Sachs</a> [23] mergers and acquisitions guy with an MBA from the University of Chicago, and by William Bennett, the Republican writer and talk-show host, with an infusion of cash from felon and former junk bond fraudster, Michael Milken.

Connections Academy is now owned by the UK's PearsonConnections Academy, which previously co-chaired ALEC's Education Task Force for a number of years and funded ALEC, is also a funder of FEE. Connections Academy is a division of Connections Education LLC, an entity based in Baltimore, Maryland, that contracts with charter schools, school districts, or governmental entities to provide "online" lessons to students.

Sylvan Ventures started Connections Academy in 2001. In 2004, Connections Academy was sold to Apollo Management, L.P., a corporate investor specializing in real estate, which had total revenue from all of its corporate enterprises of $2.1 billion in 2010. In 2011, Pearson Education acquired Connections Academy's parent corporation, Connections Education.

Pearson Education is part of Pearson plc, a foreign/global corporation based in the United Kingdom, and which also includes the Financial Times (a global financial periodical and competitor of the Wall Street Journal), Penguin Group (famous for Penguin publishing, which includes a number of imprints) and the Pearson Foundation. According to Pearson plc's 2011 Annual Report, the company's earnings overall increased by 20% in the preceding year, with revenue of over 5.8 billion British pounds. The company's revenue attributable to Connections Academy, and its access to a stream of American taxpayers' dollars, over the past year or so is not known.

Until earlier this year, Connections Academy's co-founder, Mickey Revenaugh, co-chaired ALEC's corporate-legislator task force which voted to approve bills to change education law. In July 2012, a Connections spokesperson <a href="http://prwatch.org/news/2012/07/11652/energysolutions-and-connections-education-are-27th-and-28th-corporations-leave-al" target="_blank">told</a> [24] the Center for Media and Democracy/PRWatch that it had cut ties with ALEC in order to align "our affiliations with organizations whose central focus is education."

Its other affiliations include FEE and the "International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL)," a funder and member of ALEC's Education Task Force.

These are just a few of the overlapping corporations benefiting directly from ALEC's legislative agenda that also work through FEE. Others include Charter Schools USA and Apex Learning, which are corporations that are part of trade groups that are members/funders of ALEC, such as iNACOL, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (a former ALEC member), and the Center for Education Reform (a current ALEC member and the employer of ALEC's former press secretary Raegen Weber), which have participated in ALEC's Education Task Force where legislators and private sector members vote on bills to benefit these industries.

<h2>Other For-Profit Corporations Backing Both ALEC and FEE</h2>

Education companies are not the only corporations in common that back both of these groups. Other corporate benefactors of ALEC and FEE include:

State Farm Insurance. State Farm, the largest seller of auto insurance in the US, was listed on FEE's "Meet the Donors!" page which was <a href="http://excelined.org/Pages/Excellence_in_Action/Meet_the_Donors.aspx" target="_blank">deleted by the organization today</a> [25]. State Farm has a seat on ALEC's corporate board. Its CEO, Ed Rust, is also the co-chair of the Business Roundtable, which includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and he previously chaired the Financial Services Roundtable, which advances the interests of Wall Street bank and investment firms. In 2010, State Farm had revenue of $1.8 billion and paid Rust $10.2 million in compensation.

Under Rust's leadership, State Farm has not only backed ALEC and its extreme agenda but also refused to advertise on the progressive Air America radio syndication along with other right-wing corporations. In 2011, State Farm was named ALEC's "Private Sector Member of the Year."

Roland Spies, General Counsel at State Farm, represents the company on the corporate ("Private Enterprise") board of ALEC as of 2011. Emory Wilkerson, Lead Counsel and Managing Attorney at State Farm, represents the company as the corporate co-chair of ALEC's Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force as of 2012.

In addition, at least two corporations that benefit directly from the push for virtual schooling have been underwriters of both ALEC and FEE:

Intel. This computer chip maker has been a financial supporter of both ALEC and FEE.

Microsoft. Bill Gates' company has previously paid for a seat on ALEC's Communications and Technology Task Force, where its corporate representative has voted as equals with legislators on bills to change state laws on telecomm issues.

Other corporations that are not donors to ALEC but have given to FEE include, Apple, Inc., Target, McGraw Hill, and Electronic Arts, and acronymed corporations such as ETS, SMART, and SAS.

<h2>CEO-Funded Philanthropies Bankroll Both FEE and ALEC</h2>

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Just as the Microsoft corporation funds these groups, its founder's foundation has funded both FEE and ALEC to push changes in education law. The Gates Foundation recently gave FEE over one-half million dollars ($501,485), funding FEE called its highest or "Vanguard" level, and it gave ALEC a grant of over a quarter million dollars ($376,000). Earlier this year, the foundation <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11422/gates-foundation-drops-alec" target="_blank">announced</a> [26] it would not be renewing this grant to ALEC, in the wake of controversy over ALEC's role in laws to make it easier to get away with shooting people -- as with the delayed prosecution of Trayvon Martin's shooter -- and make it harder for Americans to vote, after CMD helped connect the dots between those bills and ALEC, and other organizations and concerned citizens spoke out against ALEC.

The Walton Foundation. This foundation has funded both FEE and ALEC. It is also a "Vanguard" level funder of FEE, giving it $1,692,000 in 2010, and $600,000, the year before that. The foundation was a "Chairman" level sponsor of ALEC's Annual Conference in 2011 (which amounted to at least $50,000 in 2010), and one of its consultants, Lori Drummer (the former staff Director of ALEC's Education Task Force), spoke on "Enacting a Comprehensive K-12 Education Reform Agenda" at that ALEC meeting on August 3, 2011.

The corporation whose fortunes have made the Walton family able to fund this foundation was also a long-time ALEC member until earlier this year when Wal-Mart announced it would no longer fund ALEC, in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting and other ALEC controversies. Wal-Mart -- the largest retailer of rifles and ammunition in the U.S. -- had co-chaired the ALEC task force meeting that approved the "Stand Your Ground/Castle Doctrine Bill" pushed by the NRA as a national model; that is the same task force that later approved restrictive voter ID legislation to make it harder for citizens to vote.

However, the Walton family foundation did not join Wal-Mart in leaving ALEC.

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. This Wisconsin-based foundation has also funded both FEE and ALEC. It has given at least $50,000 to FEE and at least $145,000 to ALEC in recent years. Bradley has been <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11834/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-controversial-billboards-treading-controversial-new-" target="_blank">embroiled in controversy</a> [27] over its close ties to Republican politicians like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and its funding of an array of right-wing operations. Its most recent controversy was making a grant that was used to pay for billboards in African American communities warning observers that they could go to jail for voter fraud, despite the infinitesimal amount of such fraud in the U.S.

<img src="file:///D:/DATAfugazi/BRAINS/webodec3_brain/Files/2804005F-3286-7760-197D-DD865B664305/PersonalBrain Notes/downloadedimagefile5.png" alt="Betsy and Dick DeVos" title="Karl Rove and Dick and Betsy DeVos" class="caption" height="145" width="180" align="" />Karl Rove and Dick and Betsy DeVosThe Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation. This foundation has been spending heavily on efforts to privatize the public school system in the U.S., pursuant to Betsy DeVos' ideological hostility to public schools under the guise of pushing for "<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2011/05/10778/wealthy-families-corporate-backed-foundations-behind-push-school-vouchers" target="blank">school choice</a> [28]." She also leads a group called "American Federation for Children," which has actively <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/05/10724/walker-promotes-education-privatization-dc-amid-protests" target="blank">pushed for privatizing schools</a> [29].

As John Nichols has reported in The Nation, one of Betsy DeVos' groups, "the political action committee 'All Children Matter,' was fined a record $5.2 million by the Ohio Elections Commission after it was charged with illegally shifting money into the state to support candidates considered friendly to private-school 'choice' initiatives. [It] was also fined for political misconduct in Wisconsin, where the secretive group's 2006 campaigning violated campaign finance laws by expressly urging voters to cast ballots against legislative candidates who were strong backers of public education. Those troubles led to the evolution of 'All Children Matter' into 'American Federation for Children,' which has collected money from a who's who of right wing millionaires and billionaires, including the political operations of Charles and David Koch ... "

The billionaire DeVos' family is active in Republican donor circles. Betsy, whose maiden name is Prince, is the sister of Eric Prince of Blackwater infamy, and they are the children of right-wing political activist and industrialist Edgar Prince. She married Dick DeVos of the Amway family fortune. The DeVos family ties to ALEC run deep: in 1993, ALEC gave its first "Adam Smith Free Enterprise Award" to Richard DeVos. (The following year, ALEC gave that award to Charles and David Koch.)

Other Foundations. Numerous other foundations fund FEE and/or ALEC including the Pearson Foundation, affiliated with Pearson plc. Other foundations that have given to FEE -- but are not known to have donated to ALEC in recent years -- include the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, Robertson Foundation, The Broad Foundation, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Foundation, Susan and Bill Oberndorf, Doris & Donald Fisher Fund, Koret Foundation, and the William E. Simon Foundation.

<h2>Other Commonalities: Legislators, "Experts," and Staff</h2>

At FEE's education summit in DC this week, seven of the eleven state lawmakers on FEE panels are legislators who are known members of ALEC:

<ul>

<li>Sen. Luther Olsen, Wisconsin</li>

<li>Sen. Kelli Stargel, Florida</li>

<li>Rep. Pam Myhra, Minnesota</li>

<li>Sen. Chip Rogers, Georgia</li>

<li>Sen. Anitere Flores, Florida</li>

<li>Rep. Bill O'Brien, New Hampshire</li>

<li>Sen. Peggy Lehner, Ohio</li>

</ul>

<img src="/7596915f-bf6d-582c-847b-0174effc405e.png"/>Sen. Chip Rogers at a Koch-Americans for Prosperity EventRogers is on ALEC's Board of Directors and this past month he <a href="http://neighbornewspapers.com/view/full_story/20893643/article-Rogers-to-step-down-as-Majority-Leader?instance=all" target="blank">withdrew</a> [30] from his bid to be state majority leader in <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/11/georgia-senate-gets-52-minute-briefing-united-nations-takeover" target="blank">disgrace</a> [31] after news surfaced of his role in spearheading a Republican Caucus meeting in the Georgia statehouse featuring a video making the absurd conspiracy theory claim that President Obama is using "mind control" on Americans.

Rep. O'Brien has been a staunch defender of ALEC, peddling its spin in an op-ed in the <a href="http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/opinionletters/957570-263/alec-latest-target-of-smear-campaign.html" target="_blank">Nashau Telegraph</a> [32].

Sen. Lehner, like many of these elected representatives, <a href="http://www.ocsea.org/generalnews/files/ALEC_REPORT.2.12.pdf" target="blank">has pushed for ALEC legislation to become law</a> [33]. Other legislators on FEE panels at the summit are not listed as ALEC task force members but have pressed for ALEC bills to become legally binding, including <a href="http://jasonnelsonok.blogspot.com/2010/06/curtain-falls-on-state-attorney.html" target="blank">Rep. Jason Nelson</a> [34] of Oklahoma, <a href="http://louisianavoice.com/2012/03/19/following-campaign-money-through-the-house-and-senate-education-committees-or-why-teachers-never-had-a-chance/" target="blank">Sen. Conrad Appel</a> [35] of Louisiana who has pushed ALEC's education bills, <a href="http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120122/EDIT10/301229977/1147/EDIT07" target="blank">Rep. Todd Huston</a> [36] of Indiana (who has strongly backed charter schools), and <a href="http://www.progressva.org/alec-sides.html" target="_blank">Del. Algie Howell</a> [37] of Virginia.

In addition, the following staff of FEE have been part of ALEC's Education Task Force:

<ul>

<li>Mandy Clark, Director of State and Strategic Initiatives</li>

<li>Dr. Matthew Lander, Director of Policy and Research</li>

<li>Dave Myslinski, State Policy Director for Digital Learning Now</li>

<li>Adam Peshek, State Advocacy Director</li>

</ul>

Lander previously worked at the Koch-funded Goldwater Institute, part of the "State Policy Network" of groups that work in tandem with ALEC to push its legal policy agenda in the states, and has been the co-author of a number of ALEC's education report cards. Ladner was previously the director of state projects at the Alliance for School Choice. The most recent such report card was co-authored by him in his capacity as a leader of FEE.

FEE reps have also attended ALEC meetings -- such as Angie Recker, FEE's National Policy Advisor and the former Special Advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney on domestic policies -- and have worked to influence ALEC's legislative agenda.

<h2>Meanwhile, the FEE/ALEC Education Reform Story Is Not So Sunny</h2>

Questions have been raised about FEE, the success or failure of Jeb Bush's Florida reforms on which it makes many of its claims, and the organization's relationship with for-profit firms, including the firm that was controlled by its top two staff leaders.

As Stephanie Simon reported <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/27/usa-education-bush-foundation-idUSL1E8MR08N20121127" target="_blank">in Reuters</a> [38], voters in conservative states -- Idaho and South Dakota -- rejected Jeb Bush-style reforms and "ousted the Indiana state schools chief, who had enacted much of the Florida formula." Yet, FEE invited Indiana's controversial governor Mitch Daniels to address the summit this week.

As Simon noted:

In Florida, meanwhile, the durability of the Bush-era gains has come into question. High school graduation rates rose during Bush's tenure but remain substantially lower than in other large and diverse states, including California, New York and Ohio, according to new federal data. Students' average score on the ACT college entrance exam has not improved and remains well below states such as Missouri and Ohio, where a comparable percentage of students take the test. Florida's scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, widely considered the most reliable metric, dropped on all four key tests last year -- fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math. On all four tests, low-income students fell further behind their wealthier peers.

</blockquote>

Some suggest the FEE reform agenda deserves an F with results like these, which is not exactly achieving "a quality education for all students" as touted by Jeb Bush and ALEC, which recently gave Florida a B+ while giving several states with higher test scores lower grades.

Despite the failure of these costly experiments of outsourcing public education to private for-profit enterprises, some interested parties -- other than students, at least based on their test scores -- are doing well.

<img src="/ba9af967-e350-5a0f-a2aa-b57243e75b8b.png"/>Source: Minnesota 2020 cc-byncndRecent tax filings reveal that FEE, a tax-exempt/tax-deductible 501(c)(3), has grown from less than a quarter million in revenue ($243,655) in 2007 to a multi-million dollar operation in 2010, with almost six million in donations as of its last public report as a non-profit ($5,943,765). FEE has been led by two of Jeb Bush's closest advisors from the Governor's office from his tenure as the leader of the state.

Its 2010 filing indicates that its Executive Director, Patricia Levesque, and its Deputy, Deirdre Finn, worked 40 hours a week for FEE but were paid no salary. Its highest paid employee, Christy Hovanetz, was listed as working 40 hours a week for $102,000 in compensation. But, Levesque and Finn were also reported as working 20 hours a week each for a related 501(c)(4) organization, the Foundation for Florida's Future (FFF); and Hovanetz was listed as working 40 hours a week for FFF as well. The tax filings indicate that FFF and FEE paid the consulting firm Levesque and Finn were then equal partners in, Meridian Strategies LLC, $276,000 that year. As a private for-profit consulting firm, Meridian Strategies LLC did not dislose other work and revenue from other sources, if any, that year.

And, the IRS forms indicates that Jeb Bush receives no compensation from either FEE or FFF. What consultancy agreements or other sources of income, if any, is Jeb Bush receiving fees from? The filings of FEE and FFF indicate that in 2010 he worked at least 15 hours a week for them for free.

Although Bush is not being paid by the non-profit groups he founded, FEE and the for-profit education corporations that back it are thriving, even if the students that are being enrolled in the companies fed by FEE/ALEC reforms are not profiting so handsomely from the free market's growing role in taking money away from public schools to provide enormous private profits and executive compensation for companies like K-12.

(To learn more about ALEC's education agenda, click <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Privatizing_Public_Education,Higher_Ed_Policy,and_Teachers" target="blank">here</a> [39], and to see a list of the education bills ALEC has pushed, click <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_Affecting_Americans%27_Rights_to_a_Public_Education" target="blank">here</a> [40].)

</div>

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<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11883/taxpayer-enriched-companies-back-jeb-bushs-foundation-excellence-education-its-bu">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11883/taxpayer-enriched-companies-back-jeb-bushs-foundation-excellence-education-its-bu</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves

[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics/right-wing

[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/front-groups

[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/third-party-technique

[5] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/children

[6] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations

[7] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy

[8] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/education

[9] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/lobbying

[10] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/think-tanks

[11] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed

[12] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2012%2F11%2F11883%2Ftaxpayer-enriched-companies-back-jeb-bushs-foundation-excellence-education-its-bu&linkname=Taxpayer-Enriched%20Companies%20Back%20Jeb%20Bush%27s%20Foundation%20for%20Excellence%20in%20Education%2C%20its%20Buddy%20ALEC%2C%20and%20Their%20%22Reforms%22

[13] http://www.ALECexposed.org

[14] http://www.prwatch.org/node/3150

[15] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/02/11272/alec-education-academy-launches-island-resort

[16] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/online-schools-score-better-on-wall-street-than-in-classrooms.html?_r=2&ref=k12inc&

[17] http://www.mn2020.org/issues-that-matter/education/false-choices-the-economic-argument-against-market-driven-education-reform

[18] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11325/wisconsin-education-reform-only-alec-could-love

[19] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/online-schools-score-better-on-wall-street-than-in-classrooms.html?_r=1&ref=k12inc

[20] http://www.thenation.com/print/article/164651/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools

[21] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/opinion/troubled-online-charter-schools.html

[22] http://www.pressherald.com/news/virtual-schools-in-maine_2012-09-02.html

[23] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldman_Sachs

[24] http://prwatch.org/news/2012/07/11652/energysolutions-and-connections-education-are-27th-and-28th-corporations-leave-al

[25] http://excelined.org/Pages/Excellence_in_Action/Meet_the_Donors.aspx

[26] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11422/gates-foundation-drops-alec

[27] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11834/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-controversial-billboards-treading-controversial-new-

[28] http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2011/05/10778/wealthy-families-corporate-backed-foundations-behind-push-school-vouchers

[29] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/05/10724/walker-promotes-education-privatization-dc-amid-protests

[30] http://neighbornewspapers.com/view/full_story/20893643/article-Rogers-to-step-down-as-Majority-Leader?instance=all

[31] http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/11/georgia-senate-gets-52-minute-briefing-united-nations-takeover

[32] http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/opinionletters/957570-263/alec-latest-target-of-smear-campaign.html

[33] http://www.ocsea.org/generalnews/files/ALEC_REPORT.2.12.pdf

[34] http://jasonnelsonok.blogspot.com/2010/06/curtain-falls-on-state-attorney.html

[35] http://louisianavoice.com/2012/03/19/following-campaign-money-through-the-house-and-senate-education-committees-or-why-teachers-never-had-a-chance/

[36] http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120122/EDIT10/301229977/1147/EDIT07

[37] http://www.progressva.org/alec-sides.html

[38] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/27/usa-education-bush-foundation-idUSL1E8MR08N20121127

[39] http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Privatizing_Public_Education,_Higher_Ed_Policy,_and_Teachers

[40] http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_Affecting_Americans%27_Rights_to_a_Public_Education

</div>

==

Bush: Man Behind the Virtual Curtain

Jeb Bush campaigned vigorously in 2010 to expand such reforms, with tremendous success. About a month after the election, he unveiled his road map for implementing a far-reaching ten-point agenda for virtual schools and online coursework. Former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise, a Democrat, has barnstormed the country to encourage lawmakers to adopt Bush’s plan, which calls for the permanent financing of education-technology reforms, among other changes. In one promotional video, Wise says it is “not only about the content” of the online courses but the “process” of students becoming acquainted with learning on the Internet.

The key pillar of Bush’s plan is to make sure virtual education isn’t just a new option for taxpayer money but a requirement. And several states, like Florida, have already adopted online course requirements. As Idaho Republicans faced a public referendum on their online course requirement rule last summer, Bush arrived in the state to show his support. “Implemented right, you’re going to see rising student achievement,” said Bush, praising Idaho Governor Butch Otter and school superintendent Tom Luna, who was elected with campaign donations from the online-education industry. Bush also claimed that making high school students take online classes would “put Idaho on the map” as a “digital revolution takes hold.” Bush was in Michigan in June to testify for Governor Rick Snyder’s suite of education reform ideas, which include uncapped expansion of virtual schools, and he was back in the state in July to continue to press for reforms.

In August, at ALEC’s annual conference in New Orleans, the education task force officially adopted Bush’s ten elements agenda. Mickey Revenaugh, the virtual school executive overseeing the committee, presided over the vote endorsing the measure. But when does Bush’s advocacy, typically reported in the press as the work of a former governor with education experience advising the new crop of Republicans, cross the threshold into corporate lobbying?

The nonprofit behind this digital push, Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, is funded by online learning companies: K12 Inc., Pearson (which recently bought Connections Education), Apex Learning (a for-profit online education company launched by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen), Microsoft and McGraw-Hill Education among others. The advisory board for Bush’s ten digital elements agenda reads like a Who’s Who of education-technology executives, reformers, bureaucrats and lobbyists, including Michael Stanton, senior vice president for corporate affairs at Blackboard; Karen Cator, director of technology for the Education Department; Jaime Casap, a Google executive in charge of business development for the company’s K-12 division; Shafeen Charania, who until recently served as marketing director of Microsoft’s education products department; and Bob Moore, a Dell executive in charge of “facilitating growth” of the computer company’s K-12 education practice.

Like other digital reform advocates, the Bush nonprofit is also supported by Microsoft founder Bill Gates’s foundation. The fact that a nonprofit that receives funding from both the Gates Foundation and Microsoft pressures states to adopt for-profit education reforms may raise red flags with some in the philanthropy community, as Microsoft, too, has moved into the education field. The company has tapped into the K-12 privatization expansion by supplying a range of products, from traditional Windows programs to servers and online coursework platforms. It also contracts with Florida Virtual School to provide cloud computer solutions. Similarly, Dell is seeking new opportunities in the K-12 market for its range of desktop products, while the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the charitable nonprofit founded by Dell’s CEO, promotes neoliberal education reforms.

Through Bush, education-technology companies have found a shortcut to encourage states to adopt e-learning reforms. Take his yearly National Summit on Education Reform, sponsored by the Foundation for Excellence in Education.

At the most recent summit, held in San Francisco in mid-October, a group of more than 200 state legislators and state education department officials huddled in a ballroom over education-technology strategy. Rich Crandall, a state senator from Arizona, said to hearty applause that he had developed a local think tank to support the virtual school reforms he helped usher into law. Toward the end of the discussion, Vander Ark, acting as an emcee, walked around the room acknowledging lawmakers who had recently passed pro–education tech laws this year. He handed the microphone to Kelli Stargel, a state representative from Florida, who stood up and boasted of creating “virtual charter schools, so we can have innovation in our state.”

Throughout the day, lawmakers mingled with education-technology lobbyists from leading firms, like Apex Learning and K12 Inc. Some of the distance learning reforms were taught in breakout sessions, like one called “Don’t Let a Financial Crisis Go to Waste,” an hourlong event that encouraged lawmakers to use virtual schools as a budget-cutting measure. Mandy Clark, a staffer with Bush’s foundation, walked around handing out business cards, offering to e-mail sample legislation to legislators.

The lobbying was evident to anyone there. But for some of those present, Bush didn’t go far enough. David Byer, a senior manager with Apple in charge of developing education business for the company, groaned and leaned over to another attendee sitting at the edge of the room after a lunch session. “You have this many people together, why can’t you say, ‘Here are the ten elements, here are some sample bills’?” said Byer to David Stevenson, who nodded in agreement. Stevenson is a vice president of News Corporation’s education subsidiary, Wireless Generation, an education-technology firm that specializes in assessment tools. It was just a year ago that News Corp. announced its intention to enter the for-profit K-12 education industry, which Rupert Murdoch called “a $500 billion sector in the US alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed.”

As attendees stood up to leave the hall, the phalanx of lobbyists surrounding the room converged, buttonholing legislators and school officials. On a floor above the main hall, an expo center had been set up, with companies like McGraw-Hill, Connections Academy, K12 Inc., proud sponsors of the event, providing information on how to work with politicians to make education technology a reality.

Patricia Levesque, a Bush staffer speaking at the summit and the former governor’s right hand when it comes to education reform, does not draw a direct salary from Bush’s nonprofit despite the fact that she is listed as its executive director, and tax disclosures show that she spends about fifty hours a week at the organization. Instead, her lobbying firm, Meridian Strategies, supplies her income. The Foundation for Florida’s Future, another Bush nonprofit, contracts with Meridian, as do online technology companies like IQ-ity Innovation, which paid her up to $20,000 for lobbying services at the beginning of this year. The unorthodox arrangement allows donors to Bush’s group to avoid registering actual lobbyists while using operatives like Levesque to influence legislators and governors on education technology.

Levesque’s contract with IQ-ity raises questions about Bush’s foundation work. As Mother Jones recently reported, the founder of IQ-ity, William Lager, also founded an education company with a poor track record. Lager’s other education firm, Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, is the largest provider of virtual schools in Ohio. ECOT schools have consistently underperformed; though the company serves more than 10,000 children, its graduation rate has never broken 40 percent. The company was fined for billing the state to serve more than 2,000 students in one month, when only seven children logged on during the same time period. Nevertheless, after Levesque spent at least two years as a registered lobbyist for Lager’s firm, Bush traveled to Ohio to give the commencement speech for ECOT. “ECOT proves a glimpse into what’s possible,” Bush said with pride, “by harnessing the power of technology.”

* * *

Levesque is no ordinary lobbyist. She is credited with encouraging the type of bare-knuckle politics now common in the wider education-reform movement. In an audio file obtained by The Nation, she and infamous anti-union consultant Richard Berman outlined a strategy in October 2010 for sweeping the nation with education reforms. The two spoke at the Philanthropy Roundtable, a get-together of major right-wing foundations. Lori Fey, a representative of the Michael Dell Foundation, moderated the panel discussion.

Rather than “intellectualize ourselves into the [education reform] debate…is there a way that we can get into it at an emotional level?” Berman asked. “Emotions will stay with people longer than concepts.” He then answered his own question: “We need to hit on fear and anger. Because fear and anger stays with people longer. And how you get the fear and anger is by reframing the problem.” Berman’s glossy ads, which have run in Washington, DC, and New Jersey, portray teachers unions as schoolyard bullies. One spot even seems to compare teachers to child abusers. Although Berman does not reveal his donors, he made clear in his talk that the foundations in the room were supporting his campaign.

Levesque ended the strategy discussion with a larger strategic question. She pointed to the example of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donating $100 million to Newark schools. She then asked the crowd to imagine instead raising $100 million for political races where we “could sway a couple of seats to have more education reform.” “Just shifting a little bit of your focus,” she added, noting that new politicians could have a greater impact.

Levesque’s ask has become reality. According to author Steven Brill, ex–DC school chancellor Michelle Rhee’s new group, StudentsFirst, raised $100 million within a few months of Levesque’s remarks. Rhee’s donors include Rupert Murdoch, philanthropist Eli Broad and Home Depot founder Ken Langone. Rhee’s group has pledged to spend more than $1 billion to bring for-profit schools, including virtual education, to the entire country by electing reform-friendly candidates and hiring top-notch state lobbyists.

A day before he opened his education reform conference to the media recently, Bush hosted another education meeting. This event, a private affair in the Palace Hotel, was a reconvening of investors and strategists to plan the next leg of the privatization campaign. Michael Moe, Susan Patrick, Tom Vander Ark and other major players were invited. I waited outside the event, trying to get what information I could. I asked Mayor Fenty how I could get in. “Just crash in, come on in,” he laughed, adding, “so what company are you with?” When he learned that I was a reporter, he shook his head. “Oh, nah, you’re not welcome, then.”

An invitation had billed the exclusive gathering as a chance for “philanthropists and venture capitalists” to figure out how to “leverage each other’s strengths”—a concise way to describe how for-profit virtual school companies are using philanthropy as a Trojan horse.

<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/164651/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools">http://www.thenation.com/article/164651/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.thenation.com/interactive/164595/education-reform

==

Just to get the "juices flowing" of the billionaires in the room, Rove shared a little anecdote. Someone he described as a "benefactor" had recently contacted him, offering to donate $10 million to be deployed in Florida--$5 million for Republican Congressman Connie Mack's Senate race against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson and $5 million for the presidential race. But the donor placed two conditions on the money. One, his donation had to be matched by other donors. And two, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush had to start making phone calls on their behalf. Rove paused for effect and announced: "Jeb's making phone calls for us!" The crowd erupted.

American Crossroads' total budget, Rove said, was $300 million, with $200 million of it for the presidential race, $70 million for the Senate, and $32 million for the House.

</blockquote>

---<a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/646/000022580/">

</a>

</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/646/000022580/">http://www.nndb.com/people/646/000022580/</a>

Executive summary: Governor of Florida, 1999-2007

In August 1994, a voter asked Jeb Bush what his administration would do to help the black community. His response (rather, two words of it) became an instant classic:

<blockquote>"We have elected people year after year that say, 'I'm going to do this for you,'" Bush replied. "Now it's time to strive for a society where there is equality of opportunity, not equality of results. [...] So I'm going to answer your question by saying, 'Probably nothing.' I think what we ought to do is to have a society where you go out and pursue your dreams and you're not punished."</blockquote>

It was the "probably nothing" that cost him the election. But when the elections came around four years later, Bush got his act together and won.

During his 2003 inaugural address, Governor Bush shared: "It is my most ambitious goal to provide the catalyst, in small ways and large, that will bring our families closer together. I, for one, intend to begin with my own family. Although it is an intensely private -- and at times painful -- matter, you should know I have rededicated myself to being a better father and husband." Afterwards Bush felt it necessary to clarify: "I wasn't saying that I'm a horrible dad."

An avowed fan of the TV show American Gladiators. Was hired to be CEO <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/900/000054738/">Ben F. Love</a>'s administrative assistant at Texas Commerce Bank sometime in the early 1970s.

Father: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/362/000022296/">George H.W. Bush</a> (U.S. President)

Mother: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/007/000022938/">Barbara Bush</a> (former First Lady)

Brother: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/360/000022294/">George W. Bush</a> (U.S. President)

Brother: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/505/000026427/">Neil Bush</a>

Brother: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/016/000054851/">Marvin Bush</a>

Sister: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/919/000056751/">Doro Bush</a>

Sister: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/872/000159395/">Robin Bush</a> (b. 20-Dec-1949, d. 11-Oct-1953)

Wife: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/780/000052624/">Columba Bush</a> (m. 23-Feb-1974, two sons, one daughter)

Son: George Prescott Bush (b. 24-Apr-1976)

Daughter: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/995/000025920/">Noelle Bush</a> (b. 26-Jul-1977)

Son: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/907/000103598/">Jebby Bush</a> (b. 13-Dec-1983)

High School: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/edu/571/000068367/">Phillips Academy Andover</a>

University: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/edu/721/000068517/">BA Latin American Studies, University of Texas (1974)</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/gov/922/000051769/">Governor of Florida</a> (1999-2007)

Member of the Board of <a href="http://www.nndb.com/company/853/000060673/">Tenet Healthcare</a> (2007-)

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/company/464/000141041/">Texas Commerce Bank</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/692/000051539/">Alfalfa Club</a> 1999

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/922/000052766/">Caracas Sports Club</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/254/000118897/">Drug Free America Foundation</a> Advisory Board

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/008/000055840/">George Bush Presidential Library</a> Trustee

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/740/000204128/">National Council for a New America</a> Founding Member

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/821/000043692/">Project for the New American Century</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/512/000041389/">Phi Beta Kappa Society</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/724/000206106/">Global Warming Skeptics</a> Esquire magazine interview (8-Jul-2009)

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/050/000140627/">Secret Service Codename</a> Tripper

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/group/315/000128928/">Bush Family</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/event/930/000084678/">Converted to Catholicism</a>

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