Governor fires salvo into Democrats' traditional turf

The governor tells fellow Republicans that he will campaign on education, environment and services.

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 3, 2002

CLEARWATER -- Gov. Jeb Bush made it clear Saturday night that his ambitious four-year record will be the heart of his re-election campaign and he won't cede a single issue to the Democrats.

In a stump speech to 600 enthusiastic Pinellas County Republicans, Bush sounded determined to campaign as the education governor, the environmental governor, the tax-cutting governor and the governor looking out for the neediest Floridians.

"Don't let anybody tell you that if you believe in limited government, and you're a conservative, that you don't have a big and caring heart," Bush told the Pinellas GOP's Lincoln Day dinner crowd at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort.

Bush said he's "sick and tired" of claims that Florida is heading for trouble, unable to meet dire long-term needs. His administration, he said, has shrunk state government, even while spending on children's health insurance, drug treatment and services for the disabled dramatically increased.

Democrats are pounding Bush, saying he is spending wants to spend too little on education and too much on tax breaks for wealthy Floridians. But Bush boasted about his education spending and his education initiatives that focus on school testing to measure achievement.

"My opponents want to go back to the old way: no testing, give more money to schools, don't worry about it, it will all take care of itself," he said.

"We tried it that way. It did not work. It failed. It's time for a different approach."

Florida's budget crisis has recently prompted cuts in prison drug programs. But Bush alluded to his daughter's recent arrest on drug-related charges to stress his commitment to drug treatment and education. "I can tell you personally, as you all know, about the heartache that comes from this issue," he said.

He even boasted about an issue Democrats love to talk about, the controversial overhaul of affirmative action in Florida. Amid a firestorm of criticism, he said he could have retreated, but didn't. Now minority enrollment at universities is increasing, and the state is spending far more money on minority-owned businesses.

"We're going to advocate big ideas as best we can. We're going to bring people toward those ideas. And what I've learned more than anything else as governor, we will stick to our principles," Bush said.

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