That Florida is a different — and better — place with 50 percent less Bush was made plain in an editorial in the Palm Beach Post.
I doubt such sentiments would have appeared while Jeb was still brutishly steering the ship of state in Tallahassee. But a new story by reporter, author, and Jeb critic S.V. Date (pronounced dah-TAY), whose wife Mary Beth was recently hired into Gov. Crist’s Office of Policy and Budget, has people talking. Freely.
It seems that consultant Donna Arduin, Jeb fan and beneficiary of Florida tax dollars, is still ripping into the public till like a grizzly bear that found a bag of marshmallows in your backpack.
House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, The Post reported this week, still spends $10,000 of the public’s money each month for the services of Donna Arduin’s consulting firm. Originally, that contract was supposed to end June 1. Ms. Arduin served as the former governor’s budget director, and is a keeper of the Jeb-is-wonderful flame.
If Donna Arduin’s job is to keep pushing Jeb Bush’s ideas, there’s no market for themAs he began his last year in office, Mr. Bush was denying that he cared about his legacy. In fact, he was installing loyalists who would continue his policies after he left.
When he became speaker, Rep. Rubio found jobs for 18 of Mr. Bush’s former aides. Putting Ms. Arduin on the payroll naturally followed. The question now is what she actually does to earn the money… Her only known contribution this year was the idea that Florida abolish the property tax and replace it with a sales tax that could have been as high as 13 percent…
Maybe the fact that she doesn’t do anything is a good thing. But, then, why pay her? Asked for specifics about what Ms. Arduin does these days, Rep. Rubio responded with platitudes. If her job is to keep pushing Jeb Bush’s ideas, there’s no market for them.
Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. After eight years of Jeb, I’d almost forgotten that.
