From the Talahassee Democrat
Tallahassee
Democrat Online Breaking News Article
The governor reads and responds to e-mail from ordinary
Floridians.
By Jackie Hallifax
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clear across the country, Gov. Jeb Bush is still wired to people in Florida.
A tech-savvy governor who spends 25 to 30 hours a week reading and sending
e-mail, Bush has his laptop computer in place as he sits in an airport
parking lot in
California, waiting for his plane.
He spends the 20 minutes answering e-mails -- including one from The Associated
Press about his cyberspace communications.
"I have received and sent over 100 messages today while traveling by car
throughout
Southern California," Bush writes.
That's typical for Bush, the son of a prolific letter-writer. Former President
Bush was
once given a letter-carrier's cap and bag by the postmaster general in
tribute to the
amount of the president's correspondence.
The younger Bush can e-mail on the road or in the air as easily as in the
office or at
home.
"I am on a plane flying back to Miami, drinking coffee, watching `Shakespeare
in
Love' (great flick) and responding to e-mail," Bush writes the next evening
as the
e-mail interview continues.
He estimates half the e-mails he reads come from citizens rather than staff
or
advisers.
Across the country, most governors -- or at least their offices -- have
e-mail
addresses. But not many use the addresses to keep in touch with constituents.
Bush's
older brother, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, uses e-mail to communicate with
family,
friends and his presidential campaign -- but not ordinary Texans.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, meanwhile, uses e-mail every day and even
takes a
cell phone and laptop on fishing trips.
"If the fish aren't biting, he will check his e-mail," spokesman Jim Harris said.
Florida's governor has three e-mail addresses. Mail sent to two of them
goes directly
to the guy at the top.
One address is the jeb@jeb.org , an account Bush set up in 1997 during
his second
gubernatorial campaign. The other address is bushj@eog.state.fl.us -- an
account he
received as an employee of the state.
As governor, Bush also has an address on the state's web page --
http://www.eog.state.fl.us -- but staff handle those messages, answering
most
themselves and forwarding some on to the boss.
The governor estimates he personally gets 100 e-mails a day. Bush responds
to most
of them, although he forwards the technical ones on to the appropriate
aides or
agencies.
Bush believes the time he spends on e-mail is well spent because it provides
a direct
link with people. It can also influence policy.
Florida lawmakers this year decided to spend $205 million to cut the waiting
list for
services needed by people with mental retardation, cerebral palsy and other
developmental disabilities.
The initiative began with Bush. And when he announced it, he had an e-mail
pal on
hand: Berthy De La Rosa-Aponte, a South Florida woman who has a profoundly
disabled teen-age daughter.
De La Rosa-Aponte met Bush a year ago as he was campaigning for governor.
He
turned to her to learn about the issue and the two started e-mailing frequently.
She estimated she and Bush e-mailed each other at least a couple of times
a week at
the peak of their correspondence. They still e-mail back and forth, although
not as
often.
"This morning I sent him an e-mail, a very short e-mail," De La Rosa-Aponte
said
Tuesday. She asked Bush for someone else's e-mail address. It was before
7 a.m.
"He responded to me within the hour," she said. "To me that's amazing."
Posted at 11:57 p.m. EDT Sunday, June 20, 1999
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