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Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (John Minchillo, AP)
This post has been updated:
It’s game on for potential Republican presidential candidates, now that Jeb Bush says he’s going to release thousands of e-mails from his eight years as Florida governor.
“Part of serving or running, both of them, is transparency, to be totally transparent,” Bush told WPLG-TV in an interview that aired Sunday. “So I’ll let people make up their mind. There’s some funny ones. There’s some sad ones. There’s some serious ones.”
Bush, who has said he’ll soon decide whether he’ll seek the presidency in 2016, told the Miami TV station he will also release an e-book to accompany the correspondence “sometime early next year.” He served as Florida governor from 1999 to 2007.
“It’s a smart political move,” said Matthew Corrigan, chairman of the University of North Florida’s political science department and author of Conservative Hurricane: How Jeb Bush Remade Florida. “It’s a strong signal that he’s running and sends a message to the rest of the field.”
While it’s become commonplace for candidates to release tax information or medical records — <span style="color: Red;">*</span>or at least allow reporters to review them — voluntarily releasing some 250,000 electronic communications is a twist that would seem to get ahead of opposition researchers digging for dirt. Bush’s move also would up the ante on other White House hopefuls who have served in public office.
“I was digital before digital was cool, I guess,” Bush said in the interview. “Now it’s like commonplace.”
The decision to release the e-mails came as Bush’s business ventures have gotten greater scrutiny and his every word is being parsed for clues on whether he’ll run.
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e-mails, Florida governor, Jeb Bush, transparency, 2016<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
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