Curtains for Jeb?
By Jack McCarthy
CounterPunch correspondent in Tallahassee
From London to Chicago to Tallahassee
the air shimmers with rumors that Florida Governor Jeb Bush will
not run for re-election, supposed reason being a breach of the
seventh commandment.
Last weekend the columnist
Robert Novak raised Jeb's hackles by writing that Republican
sources in the state tell him that Bush most likely won't run,
due to "family troubles".
When asked by Florida reporters
about Novak's column, Jeb snapped testily, "Bob Novak doesn't
know what he's talking about".
On Thursday Martin Kettle of
the London Guardian reported the Same rumors.
Here in Tallahassee veteran
columnist Bill Cotterell,
unintentionally sent shock waves through the capital when he
reported in his Thursday column that the state capital's press
corps and politicos are abuzz with rumors that, if true, could
see a change in helmsmen for the sunshine state.
Indeed, a specter haunts Jeb
Bush.
The specter, according to Cotterell,
is an article soon
to appear in the July issue of "Vanity Fair" written
by VF
writer David Margolick, by whom Cotterell himself had been interviewed.
Cotterell, a conservative whose
column moniker is "Capitol
Curmudgeon", writes"
"The Capitol press corps
is waiting with bait-like breath
for the July issue of vanity Fair, which supposedly has the
goods on 'em."
Question: who is "em".
Speculation in Tallahassee
swirls around Jeb Bush and
former Playboy bunny and Bush appointee,
Cynthia Henderson.
Henderson, a well connected
Tampa land use attorney, was first appointed by Bush in 1999
to head the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
She had a rocky tenure, including a lawsuit by a co-worker who
alleged that Henderson choked him.
Last year heads turned when
Henderson was reborn as agency head for Department of Management
Services. As one co-worker said, "Jeb has gone out of his
way to
protect Cyndi."
In an email interview Cotterell
says that when he was
interviewed several months ago by Margolick the topic of
interest was Jeb Bush's character.
"He asked me a lot of
questions about Jeb Bush, his
character generally. At the time, the ridiculous rumor was
about Katherine Harris. This one hadn't appeared yet."
Among the stories flying around
the capital is one of a late night confrontation at Henderson's
home, with an unannounced visit by Columba Bush "yelling
and screaming". A neighbor may have called the police.
The Florida Bushes are a spirited
lot, with both of Jeb's sons capturing headlines, one for a break-in
to a former girlfriend's bedroom, the other for having sex in
his car i8n a public place. CP
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