Jeb Bush offer to buy Marlins baseball club rejected

@MarcAcaputo

From Miami Herald reporter Barry Jackson's Sports Buzz

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, in recent months, has rejected overtures from a half dozen people who expressed interest in buying the Marlins, including one of South Florida’s most famous residents: Former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

According to a source, Bush made a “large offer” to buy the team this offseason, but Loria told him he’s not selling. A second source said Bush had put together a group of wealthy investors, with Venezuelan media mogul Gustavo Cisneros among possibilities mentioned. Cisneros declined to discuss the Marlins in an e-mail.

Bush -- who was governor from 1999 to 2007 and now runs an education advocacy group, consults and gives speeches – refused to discuss the matter or confirm whether he would have been Marlins CEO and managing partner if Loria had agreed to sell. Managing partner was the title his brother, George W. Bush, held when he co-owned the Texas Rangers before he was elected President.

MLB rules would have allowed Jeb Bush to become Marlins managing partner even if he owned only a small percentage.

Loria, 72, theoretically would have more incentive to sell after 2014, when he no longer would need to share profits with Miami-Dade County. But a friend of Loria insists that barring a health problem or change of heart, he does not want to sell because he loves owning a team.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2013/02/famous-name-rebuffed-in-attempt-to-buy-marlins-heat-canes-fins-chatter.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2013/02/famous-name-rebuffed-in-attempt-to-buy-marlins-heat-canes-fins-chatter.html#storylink=cpy

WP: Jeb's foundation works to change laws that benefit funders

From the Washington Post's education blog reports: A nonprofit group released thousands of e-mails today and said they show how a foundation begun by Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and national education reform leader, is working with public officials in states to write education laws that could benefit some of its corporate funders.

A call to the foundation has not been returned.

The e-mails are between the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE) and a group Bush set up called Chiefs for Change, whose members are current and former state education commissioners who support Bush’s agenda of school reform, which includes school choice, online education, retention of third-graders who can’t read and school accountability systems based on standardized tests. That includes evaluating teachers based on student test scores and grading schools A-F based on test scores. John White of Louisiana is a current member, as is Tony Bennett, the new commissioner of Florida who got the job after Indiana voters rejected his Bush-style reforms last November and tossed him out of office.

Donald Cohen, chair of the nonprofit In the Public Interest, a resource center on privatization and responsible for contracting in the public sector, said the e-mails show how education companies that have been known to contribute to the foundation are using the organization “to move an education agenda that may or not be  in our interests but are in theirs.”

Here are the excerpts about Florida specifically: 

Jeb Bush makes case for more online university courses

 Last year, House Speaker Will Weatherford said the state should create an online university and a Board of Governors task force recently released a report on the state's opinions. Count former Gov. Jeb Bush among the proponents of more online courses in higher education.

Along with Randy Best, chairman of a company that creates online courses, Bush penned an opinion piece that was first published by Bloomberg News. An excerpt:

Growth in online education is now outpacing traditional enrollments by a wide margin. Why? Because it is well suited to the needs of an increasing number of learners, extending access and allowing students to both work and study.

In addition, learning measures for online students have matched or exceeded those for on-campus students. Although graduate programs have seen the largest growth in online learning, significant increases in online undergraduate programs are expected over the next decade. Unfortunately, many universities remain averse to such change and hold to tradition and a classical notion of education.

In a recent hearing before state legislators, university officials questioned the value of moving online, testifying that there would be little, if any, savings from such a shift. These conclusions simply don't hold up.

Read the full text of Bush and Best's piece here.

Jeb Bush calls for contributions to help care for former Sen. Ken Plante

Former Gov. Jeb Bush has written a letter to colleagues and friends urging them to contribute to a fund being created to help care for former Sen. Ken Plante.

"Ken's commitment to our state has earned him the respect and admiration of legislators and the media alike, and he is recognized as being a principled leader who stands up for what he believes in, regardless of political implications or fallout,'' Bush wrote in a letter sent out Friday. Plante, a veteran lobbyist, handled legislative affairs for Bush when he was elected governor in 1998.

Plante has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, a degenerative disease with no known cure.

Bush said Plante has met the "terrible diagnosis in the way he seems to face all challenges -- with great courage, incredible resolve and unwavering faith.''

He urged friends to contribute to the Kenneth A. Plante Trust Agreement at Capital City Bank to help defray costs of medical treatment and care. Checks may be sent to Sonya Deen, 300 Jim Moran Blvd., Deerfield Beach, 33442.

Deen, lawyer/lobbyist Wilbur Brewton and former Rep. Dale Patchett are trustees of the newly created trust.

-- Lucy Morgan, Tampa Bay Times senior correspondent

George P. Bush's long road to the White House begins with TX bid, donations from FL

From an email sent by Miami lawyer/Bush family insider Luis Gazitua to "friends, floridians, Republicans....:'

Tuesday's elections proved that our party needs to broaden our appeal and rebuild in an inclusive manner with a new generation of leaders.

In order to begin this transformation, we must begin investing in rising stars within our party and I am confident that with thoughtful and forward thinking messengers such as Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and George P. Bush we will emerge stronger than ever.

As a friend of George P’s next generation movement, I wanted to let you know that yesterday George created an exploratory committee to begin looking at running for statewide office in Texas. Should you be inclined to support his efforts with some seed capital, checks can be made payable to: George P. Bush Campaign.

 

Jeb Bush Jr. on all the chatter of him running for Rep. seat now held by David Rivera

When Republicans began seriously discussing a David Rivera loss or indictment last week, the question was self-evident: Who should run for the seat?

The most-intriguing name: Jeb Bush Jr., son and namesake of the former popular governor. Here's his response to an email inquiring about the speculation:

Marc, I hope all is well and thank you for the note. We are hoping things with Congressman Rivera work out well in his tight race! If I've learned one thing in politics, its never a good idea to talk in hypotheticals, rather better to with facts. Let's see how things shake out when more of them are available. All the best, Jeb

That's not quite a yes or a no, obviously.

Still, it would be a surprise if he ran for this reason: The Bush model posits that you go out in the world, make your mark/fortune first and then run for office. JBJ right now heads up a conservative political committee aimed at Hispanics, SunPAC. And if he ever decided to run for a congressional seat in Miami, it's doubtful he'd face serious opposition.

Video: Marco Rubio mum on David Rivera questions, Jeb Bush Jr. floated as future replacement

Sen. Marco Rubio preferred to get rained on Monday than answer questions about a criminal investigation into his long-time friend and ally, Congressman David Rivera.

Rivera is the subject of a federal grand-jury investigation into whether he steered tens of thousands of unreported cash to a Democratic congressional candidate who ran against a rival of the Republican.

The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald first reported the allegations when two longtime Rivera campaign vendors said he was behind the effort that’s now under federal scrutiny.

Rivera has attacked the vendors’ credibility, but Rubio had nothing but good things to say about the two.

“I’ve always had positive dealings with them,” said Rubio, who tried to say as little as possible about Rivera before an aide whisked him away in the rain at an event.

Meantime, top Republicans from Washington D.C. to Tallahassee to Miami are laying the groundwork to field new challengers for the District 26 Congressional seat in the event that Rivera loses the race to Democratic challenger Joe Garcia.

A powerful new name, meanwhile, is being floated in Miami-Dade: Jeb Bush Jr., son and namesake of the popular Florida governor who lives in Coral Gables.

State Sen. Anitere Flores is at the top of the list as future congressional candidates as well as Marili Cancio, an attorney who ran against Rivera in the Republican primary in 2010.

Paul Ryan to Little Havana: 'We will be tough on Castro'

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan got the Cuban exile seal of approval Saturday at a campaign rally in Little Havana where he pledged to hold a hard line against the Castro regime.

The Republican vice presidential candidate did not mention that he once opposed the U.S. trade embargo against the island, but he pointed to his change of heart — prompted by Miami’s current and former Cuban-American Republicans in Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart.

“They’ve given me a great education — lots of us in Congress — about how we need to clamp down on the Castro regime,” Ryan told supporters at the Versailles restaurant. “We will be tough on Castro, tough on [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chávez.”

Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, has voted against the embargo at least three times. The Midwest tends to see trade opportunities in agriculture with Cuba.

 

Ryan began supporting the embargo in 2007 as he started to ascend the House Republican leadership ranks. And on Saturday he began criticizing President Barack Obama’s policies toward the island. The Obama administration has made it easier for families and certain groups to travel and send money to Cuba.

 

Ryan said he and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney would take a different approach.

“We will not keep practicing this policy of appeasement,” Ryan said. “We will be tough on this brutal dictator.”

More here.

Michelle Obama fires up crowds in Gainesville and Tallahassee

 

Florida became the battleground for the youth vote Monday, as Michelle Obama and the son of former Gov. Jeb Bush arrived within hours of each other on college campuses in Tallahassee and Gainesville hoping to drum up support for their candidates among pivotal young voters.

The First Lady spoke to a standing-room only crowd of 10,750 cheering supporters at the Stephen O’Connell Center at the University of Florida and then darted to Tallahassee to another packed house of 8,850 at the Leon County Civic Center.

“All our hard work, all the progress we’ve made is all on the line; it’s all at stake this November,” Obama told a rowdy crowd of supporters in Gainesville. “This election is even closer than the last one, and it could all come down to what happens in just a few battleground states like Florida.’’

She delivered a similar 30-minute speech in Tallahassee, and coached her audiences not to take a day off for the next 60 days and “work like you’ve never worked before.”

Part pep talk, part get-out-the-vote drive, Obama’s remarks also underscored the importance of registering to vote by the Oct. 9 deadline in Florida.

Four years ago, she said, her husband won by 236,000 votes in Florida. “That’s just 36 votes per precinct,’’ she said. “That could mean just one vote in your neighborhood, in your dorm, in your apartment.”

The greeting was more subdued for George P. Bush, son of Florida’s former governor and nephew of the former president, as he launched his six-college bus tour on behalf of the Maverick PAC, a political action committee designed to increase activism among young Republican professionals. Read more here.

Bush appeals for new dedication to equal education, wants Obama to stop blaming his brother

TAMPA _ Former Florida governor Jeb Bush used his prime time spotlight at the Republican National Convention Thursday to pass a symbolic torch to his party’s nominees, defend his brother, and urge the nation to rededicate its promise of an equal education. 

 “If we want to continue to be the greatest nation on the planet, we must give our kids what we promise them: An equal opportunity,’’ he said, opening the third night of the GOP’s three-day pep rally. “That starts in the classroom. It starts in our communities. It starts where you live.” 

Bush spent most of his 15-minute speech focused on the need to reform education, an issue he has devoted himself to since he retired as governor in 2007. Working through the Foundation for Excellence in Education, he has pushed for expanding school choice and classroom accountability.

But before he began his prepared remarks, he said he had to get something off his chest – the defense of his brother, former President George W. Bush.

“He is a man of integrity, courage and honor and during incredibly challenging times, he kept us safe,’’ he said to loud applause. “So Mr. President [Obama], Mr. President, it is about time to stop blaming your predecessor for your failed economic policies .. In the fourth year of your presidency, a real leader would accept responsibility for his actions and you haven’t done it.”