Crowley Political Report

On February 6, 1999, Jeb Bush had been Florida's govenor for just a month. Everything was new to him, from the tiny size of the governor's bathroom door, to fine food at the governor's mansion. He also discovered the power of his voice. 

In an email to Brian Crowley, then political editor of the Palm Beach Post, Bush talked about his first 30 days as governor. 

From [email protected]

Brian, it has been a joyous experience. I get to eat dinner with my family many nights which we didn’t do much of in Miami. Unfortunately, the food at home is verrrrrryyyyy good leaving me with no chance yet to lose any weight. Most important, Columba is happy and so is Noelle. When they are happy, I am as well.

The biggest surprise is the volume of my voice. People listen to what I say and do. I am learning to show more self-restraint so as to not restrict a free flow of thinking that could yield a better decision. That has been hard for me. IN fact, I would say I have a long way to go on this. So far, it has not been a problem since I have known where I want to go on decision but that will change.

I really enjoy the work. It is important and meaningful. Education reform, a drug policy, the largest tax cuts in State history, child welfare and developmentally disabled reform and adequate funding, an ethics package of significance, the Lawton Chiles endowment idea, the end of the bullet train and Powerball and a good solid budget got us off to a good start.

A growing challenge is to focus on the things I need to focus on and slow the pace down for the rest of the team. We got off to a fast and fine start but we need to slow down to follow up and let our partners, the legislature, digest and absorb our suggestions. That will be easier to do with me less visible than I have been.