Jeb Bush Vows To Take On "Arrogance" Of DC
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/AP) — Former state governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush will outline some of his domestic priorities Monday in a speech on the campus of Florida State University.
If elected president, Bush will pledge that he will take on the "arrogance" and "sheer incompetence" that he says permeates Washington. He will also outline how he will change the culture of what he calls "Mount Washington." When he was Florida's governor, Bush referred to state government as "Mount Tallahassee" because he said it was remote from the state's residents and settled in it ways.
"Should I win this election, you will not find me deferring to the settled ways of "Mount Washington," Bush says in excerpts released early Monday. "The overspending, the overreaching, the arrogance, and the sheer incompetence in that city — these problems have been with us so long that they are sometimes accepted as facts of life. But a president should never accept them, and I will not."
Bush also criticizes the size of the federal government payroll and how people are promoted. He said he plans to "disrupt" the establishment.
"It's a system stuck in old ways, ruled by inertia, and unaccountable to the people," said Bush.
It's not surprising that Bush would begin rolling out a series of policies even as the field for president continues to grow. Before he ran for president he constantly urged other Republicans to offer alternatives to Democratic-backed ideas like President Barack Obama's health care overhaul instead of just opposing them.
The speech also reinforces Bush's attempts to distance himself from the other Washington politicians in the race, including Sen. Marco Rubio, who is also from Florida.
When Bush became governor in 1999 it marked the first time that Republicans had complete control of Florida state government in more than a century. Many GOP leaders, including current FSU President John Thrasher, were eager to work with him on a long line of substantial initiatives, including an overhaul of the state's public school system that remains contentious 15 years after it was first put in place.
Bush, who has been an infrequent visitor to Tallahassee since he left office in 2007, is expected to tout that record as proof of his ability to push forward changes on taxes and spending. In advance of his speech the Bush campaign website released new videos mentioning that Bush balanced budgets for eight years and built up billions in reserves while slashing state worker jobs.
The video, however, does not note that Florida requires the state to pass a balanced budget. The reserves cited by Bush also include money that the state won in a landmark settlement reached with the nation's tobacco companies prior to his election.
Bush was able to cut taxes consistently while he was governor because the state's economy tracked upward, part of which was due to a supercharged real estate market that collapsed after he left office.
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