Hahahahahahaha...
Oh man, this is such a great way to start the weekend: The New York Times has just busted Jeb Bush for not turning over the emails from his private account immediately after leaving office... but instead waiting a very, very long time to do so.
It was so long, in fact, that he was clearly in violation of Florida law!
Jeb Bush has rebuked Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private email account as secretary of state, holding up his own conduct as an example of transparency in government.
But it took Mr. Bush seven years after leaving office to comply fully with a Florida public records statute requiring him to turn over emails he sent and received as governor, according to records released Friday.
Damn. And the media was just criticizing Hillary for taking
four months to turn over all her emails after the State Department's request!
Mr. Bush delivered the latest batch of 25,000 emails in May 2014, seven and a half years after leaving the Statehouse and just as he started to contemplate a potential run for the White House, according to a newly disclosed letter written by his lawyer.
A Florida statute governing the preservation of public records requires elected officials, including the governor, to turn over records pertaining to official business “at the expiration of his or her term of office.”
“If they’ve been adding to it, it’s a technical violation of the law,” said Barbara A. Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group in Florida that advocates access to government information.
She added, “The law clearly says you’re supposed to turn everything over at the end of your term in office.”
Okay news media...we've put up with your breathless, trumped-up, innuendo-filled "reporting" about Hillary Clinton's private email account since March 2nd, so it's only fair that Jeb Bush gets the exact same week-and-a-half treatment for his clear violation of Florida law. I mean, this guy was the executive of one of the biggest states in the union for eight years, including that one time when his brother "won" the state in 2000 to become the worst president in American history.
In the parlance of the New York Times: It raises many new concerns.
For instance, how did Jeb determine which emails were private and which pertained to his government work? Are his private emails recoverable? Why did it take him so very long to comply with the law? Was his email server secure? How many devices did he use then and how many does he use now? Did he ever email his wife while in office...and does she even use email?
But I'm going to take a wild guess that instead of getting such pleasurable extended coverage, these revelations about Jeb's email will simply make 'Emailgate' disappear even faster than it already was.
And that's fine. In fact, if we can finally start talking about actual issues effecting the American people...like the economy, the environment and dramatic ongoing events in the Middle East...that would be terrific.
It's becoming obvious that 'Emailgate' or 'Email-ghazi' or whatever is not actually the first scandal of the 2016 election cycle...but rather the first big media embarrassment.
Also posted at Hillary HQ