Why are so many key episodes missing from Jeb Bush's emails?

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Mother Jones ?@MotherJones 12m12 minutes ago
Why are so many key episodes missing from Jeb Bush's emails? http://bit.ly/1Cy3idE

The 250,000-plus messages he released say almost nothing about the 2000 recount and other major controversies of his governorship.

Bush is hardly in a position to take potshots at Clinton over her emails. Like Clinton, he conducted government business using a personal email account (two of them, actually). He released only a portion of his correspondence from his time as governor of Florida. And it took Bush more than seven years to hand over his self-selected emails, as required under a Florida public records law.

Moreover, Bush's email archive, which includes more than 250,000 messages, has produced no piercing insights or major news stories about his gubernatorial stint. There are an immense number of emails from constituents weighing in on the issues of the day. But when it comes to the major issues of his governorship, there are—curiously—very few, if any, emails between Bush and his aides. This email archive is not easy to search. It is comprised of 248 separate files and is hardly user-friendly. But employing the most obvious search terms for key episodes that occurred during his governorship, as well as combing messages covering certain time periods, we mounted an extensive review of this gigantic collection of correspondence and looked for emails about the most important moments of Bush's eight years leading the Sunshine State. This search yielded little correspondence revealing Bush's actions and decisions regarding pivotal events. It turns out that what's most notable about Bush's email trove is what's not in it.

When the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore came down to Florida, Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris found themselves at the center of the political universe. Bush's email archive contains reams of messages that poured in from constituents during the controversial recount process, but there are barely any notes between Bush and his aides.

The day after the election—which ultimately took 36 days, several Florida court rulings, and a final intervention by the US Supreme Court to resolve—Bush officially recused himself from the election certification process. But an investigation by the Los Angeles Times found that Jeb Bush's office and top aides were in contact with his brother's legal team and other top members of George W. Bush's staff during the recount. Jeb officially handed the state's 25 electoral votes to his brother on November 26, while court battles over the recount were still underway, and indicated he would sign legislation to preempt the courts and give the election to his brother. But if Bush and his top aides were discussing these important decisions or communicating with George W. Bush's team, it does not show up in Jeb's email archive. The archive does include Jeb Bush's responses to a few constituents. When one emailed to ask Bush to certify the election, he responded: "I am doing what I can within the laws of our state."


read more instances of unavailable emails related to Bush's many controversies and scandals as Governor: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/jeb-bush-emails-key-episodes-mia

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. Kick and recommend./NT

[Thinkingabout]

2. Looks like Jeb has a big email problem also, now let the republicans rant about this.

[-none]

4. They won't. They will try to excuse it somehow.

One excuse will be they did not have an E-mail server in a closet at home, so that makes them better.

[djean111]

3. I assume that ANY time ANY politician voluntarily releases emails, their staff has already gone

through and deleted controversial stuff. The only time I believe we would see everything is if everything was already in the hands of a neutral third party. Like automatic backups to a cloud that is not controllable by the politician in some way.
It always makes me laugh when any politician says they have released all their emails; usually their staff has decided what can be seen. And releasing some that may be iffy, like Jeb releasing peoples' private info, may just be used to cover up the deletion of worse stuff. Like anything to do with stealing the election in Florida.

Oh, wait - why do people yammer on about "stealing the election"? I have been told many times that the Dem Lefty Hippie Wing (not to be confused with actual Democrats these days, of course) are totally responsible.

[B Calm]

5. I think it's very more likely that Jeb Bush is hiding something than I do Hillary. I

don't see Hillary e-mailing the Benghazi terrorists to attack the embassy. Jeb stealing the election for his brother in 2000, I'm certain there were e-mails they want to keep hidden.

[UTUSN]

6. It was always a fake "transparency" - nothing on his businesses & Cuban/CIA partners

Scamming MediCARE and boarding planes with suitcases of cash.

[unhappycamper]

7. Why Does A Dog Lick His B*lls?

Because he can.

[BrotherIvan]

8. If there is no email back from an aide to track

Then get their emails and cross reference. I assume there are more of Jeb's email accounts out there.

[bigtree]

9. myriads of ways to retrieve them

...he's so vulnerable on this, it's no wonder why there's been a virtual silence from him recently about his earlier criticisms of Hillary.

[BrotherIvan]

10. agreed

But it will take a very brave journalist to do it, because the BFEE likes to disappear people. Jeb must not win. He is the worst of the worst and inconceivable that he could run so soon. But he will be the nominee, God help us.