by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Brothers George W. and Jeb Bush soon will be in Jacksonville within two weeks of each other.
The first is the 43rd president of the United States and the second is the 43rd governor of the state of Florida, for those who didn’t realize it.
Former President Bush will be the keynote speaker March 1 at the Florida Forum speaker series. His presentation is scheduled at 7 p.m. at the Times-Union Center Downtown.
Less than two weeks before, on Feb. 17, former Gov. Bush will be the featured speaker at the NAIOP of Northeast Florida luncheon.
The luncheon is 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Hyatt Downtown.
“It’s great,” said Lenny Curry, chair of the Duval County GOP and vice chair of the Republican Party of Florida.
“The Bush brothers, a former very popular governor and President Bush, the president who got us through 9/11,” he said.
Curry said he definitely plans to attend the Florida Forum, which announced the series in April, and was checking his calendar for the recently scheduled NAIOP event.
He said that neither event is official party business.
Republican Party heavyweight Mike Hightower said Tuesday the brothers have been together in Jacksonville at least five or six times between 2000 and 2004. On a 2003 visit, President Bush arrived on Air Force One to visit Mayport Naval Station.
He also stopped at Dagher Printing on the Southside, where he joined the head of the Small Business Administration and Gov. Jeb Bush to promote the administration’s economic plans.
The former president and governor are the sons of former President George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, and Barbara Bush.
Asked about speculation that Jeb Bush might also run for president, Curry said Bush “is saying ‘no’ right now.”
“I think we are going to have to wait and see,” said Curry.
“I think he would be a good president, but there are a lot of good Republicans” (who might seek the nomination) he said.
That might be for 2012. There’s talk that Bush might be interested in the 2016 race.
“I have heard people rumbling about it,” said Curry.
Former President George W. Bush, 64, recently published his biography, “Decision Points,” which has been on the New York Times best-seller list since its release.
His speech at the Florida Forum will be presented by Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company.
Bush is the last of the three speakers in the Florida Forum series this season. The 2010-2011 series started with a presentation by former President Bill Clinton, followed by author and humanitarian Greg Mortenson.
The Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital sponsors the Florida Forum annually to increase awareness of the hospital’s mission and to raise money for its programs.
Funds raised from Bush’s presentation will benefit the Larry J. Freeman Behavioral Health Center at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Freeman recently retired as administrator of the hospital.
Tickets start at $70 a person. For information, call 202-2886 or visit www.thefloridaforum.com
According to a White House biography, Bush was first sworn into office Jan. 20, 2001. He was sworn in for a second term on Jan. 20, 2005. He previously served for six years as Texas governor.
He received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University in 1968 and served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard.
Bush received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1975.
The most significant event of his presidency, said the website, was Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people on American soil.
Bush responded with a comprehensive strategy and what the site called “the most dramatic reorganization of the federal government since the beginning of the Cold War,” including creating the Department of Homeland Security.
Former Gov. Bush, who turns 58 on Feb. 11, will “discuss the importance of continually improving the business environment in order to attract the high-wage jobs needed to be a sustainable community,” according to NAIOP, an area commercial real estate trade association.
Bush was elected Nov. 3, 1998, and re-elected in 2002. He served as governor 1999-2007. His term briefly coincided with his brother’s leadership as governor of Texas.
John Ellis Bush (“JEB”) earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin and moved to Florida in 1981.
Upon moving to the state, Bush started a real estate development company with partner Armando Codina that grew into a full-service commercial real estate company in South Florida.
Bush was the state secretary of commerce under former Florida Gov. Bob Martinez.
Bush is chair of the Foundation for Excellence in Education and also runs the Jeb Bush and Associates corporate consulting firm.
356-2466