2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumDocuments show the expensive tastes of Jeb Bush’s low-key wife
In 1999, Columba Bush, the famously private wife of then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was detained and fined by federal customs officials for misrepresenting the amount of clothing and jewelry she had bought while on a solo five-day shopping spree in Paris.
The incident left the Florida first lady deeply mortified and her husband politically chagrined. Jeb Bush said the first lady had misled customs officials because she did not want him to know that she had spent about $19,000 on the trip.
The embarrassment I felt made me ashamed to face my family and friends, Columba Bush said in a July 1999 speech to the Central Florida Make-a-Wish Foundation, not long after the incident. It was the worst feeling Ive ever had in my life.
The ordeal did not stop her from spending freely, however. Less than a year later, she took out a loan to buy $42,311.70 worth of jewelry on a single day, according to records filed with the state of Florida by Mayors Jewelers.
That purchase was part of a pattern by Columba Bush of borrowing to buy tens of thousands of dollars of jewelry at a time from the South Florida store over a 14-year period. Documentation available online, which does not include the details of two transactions made less than six weeks apart in 1995, shows that she spent a total of more than $90,000 at the store.
more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/documents-show-the-expensive-tastes-of-jeb-bushs-low-key-wife/2015/02/22/5bb480da-b9f4-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html?
louis-t
(23,297 posts)LuvLoogie
(7,034 posts)gwheezie
(3,580 posts)Unless it turns into some kind of bob McDonald thing.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Chump change.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)Doesn't affect me one bit.
66 dmhlt
(1,941 posts)When she falsely claimed she only had $500 of goods at Customs after a Paris shopping spree, when in fact she had spent over $19,000!
She was detained by Customs Agents at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, and fined $4,100.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/62299/State/Gov_Bush_says_his_wif.shtml
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/09/23-reasons-why-jeb-bush-shouldnt-run-president
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2627406/A-crack-smoking-daughter-Mexican-American-wife-detained-customs-lying-19k-clothes-jewelery-Why-Jeb-Bush-not-run-president.html
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)But, again, her business. Doesn't affect my life in any meaningful way.
66 dmhlt
(1,941 posts)Sad to see you don't think that's "meaningful"
So many criminals, so little time.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)jmowreader
(50,562 posts)Presidents make $400,000 per year, plus an expense account, and they're required to put their investments into a blind trust.
$42,311.70 is over ten percent of a president's yearly salary, she spent that in one day, and you KNOW it's not the only money she's spending. She also needs thousands to keep up her wardrobe, hair and makeup, nails, skin-care treatments, trips to spas, fitness trainers and all the other minor expenses someone with Bush-level income needs to make to keep up her appearance. Rough estimate: $150,000 to $200,000 per year just to keep Columba looking pretty.
This is what the security guys call "living beyond your means" and if it happens with the rank-and-file, they pull your clearance quick before you can take advantage of that time-proven method of raising quick cash called "selling out your country." With Bush, you'd be looking at the temptation to become the next Bob McDonnell.
DFW
(54,437 posts)She may have a personality disorder with her spending habits, but the Bush family is good for bills in five figures. Hell, they're good for bills in seven figures. This is an embarrassment, not a scandal. What the McDonnells did was a scandal.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)this just another example of the rules being only for the small people
DFW
(54,437 posts)That plus a healthy dose of "because I can," which is another way of saying what you just did.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Rich people buy nice jewelry.
GOLGO 13
(1,681 posts)Yeah, I don't give a fat baby fuck about Bush's wierdo marriage.
Paladin
(28,273 posts)This is a problem that is not going away.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)Paladin
(28,273 posts)stevenleser
(32,886 posts)the issues of average Americans out there. His dad had problems with that IIRC, at one point it was suggested he didnt even know of the existence of laser check out systems at grocery stores because he never went to grocery stores. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/05/us/bush-encounters-the-supermarket-amazed.html
Some folks say the accusation was a myth but the perception lingered and added to the overall impression folks had of him that he was so wealthy and insulated that he had no idea of what the average American faced.
That is where I could see these shopping issues hurting Jeb. If they contribute to the idea that he and is family are so wealthy they have nary a clue of the issues real people deal with.