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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Mon Feb 23, 2015, 06:38 PM Feb 2015

Documents 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 I’ve 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?

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Documents show the expensive tastes of Jeb Bush’s low-key wife (Original Post) DonViejo Feb 2015 OP
Yikes. Sounds like she has a problem. louis-t Feb 2015 #1
I don't care. It's his wife. LuvLoogie Feb 2015 #2
This doesn't bother me gwheezie Feb 2015 #3
Those actresses last night on the Oscars are thinking yeoman6987 Feb 2015 #4
Her money. Her business. bigwillq Feb 2015 #5
Well, EXCEPT when she tried to defraud & evade paying taxes ... 66 dmhlt Feb 2015 #12
If she did something illegal, then she should be charged. bigwillq Feb 2015 #13
She DID do something illegal ... AND she was FINED for doing something illegal 66 dmhlt Feb 2015 #14
Cool. bigwillq Feb 2015 #15
Too Big To Care blkmusclmachine Feb 2015 #6
This is a significant potential problem jmowreader Feb 2015 #7
The Bush family is worth a bloody fortune DFW Feb 2015 #8
then why the need for the false claims? Skittles Feb 2015 #16
Not ticking right, I suspect DFW Feb 2015 #19
I don't care. HappyMe Feb 2015 #9
Substituting lack of love for another form of happiness. GOLGO 13 Feb 2015 #10
A "low key" wife with spending problems like this? Paladin Feb 2015 #11
She will be a problem for Bush if he runs Rosa Luxemburg Feb 2015 #17
Count on it. (nt) Paladin Feb 2015 #18
Not something I care about. But I think that wealthy folks who run need to show they understand stevenleser Mar 2015 #20
 

bigwillq

(72,790 posts)
13. If she did something illegal, then she should be charged.
Tue Feb 24, 2015, 11:17 AM
Feb 2015

But, again, her business. Doesn't affect my life in any meaningful way.

66 dmhlt

(1,941 posts)
14. She DID do something illegal ... AND she was FINED for doing something illegal
Tue Feb 24, 2015, 11:25 AM
Feb 2015

Sad to see you don't think that's "meaningful"

jmowreader

(50,562 posts)
7. This is a significant potential problem
Tue Feb 24, 2015, 05:22 AM
Feb 2015

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)
8. The Bush family is worth a bloody fortune
Tue Feb 24, 2015, 05:47 AM
Feb 2015

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)
16. then why the need for the false claims?
Fri Feb 27, 2015, 06:55 PM
Feb 2015

this just another example of the rules being only for the small people

DFW

(54,437 posts)
19. Not ticking right, I suspect
Sat Feb 28, 2015, 04:03 AM
Feb 2015

That plus a healthy dose of "because I can," which is another way of saying what you just did.

GOLGO 13

(1,681 posts)
10. Substituting lack of love for another form of happiness.
Tue Feb 24, 2015, 09:02 AM
Feb 2015

Yeah, I don't give a fat baby fuck about Bush's wierdo marriage.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
20. Not something I care about. But I think that wealthy folks who run need to show they understand
Mon Mar 2, 2015, 01:22 PM
Mar 2015

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.

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