Eminent Hypocrisy With Jeb Bush

[XLFD]

Jeb Bush spent an awful lot of money in the Iowa caucuses to get very few votes, a very surprising result considering his name recognition and political success as governor of Florida in the past.  Jeb has been upstaged by the stagemanship of businessman Donald Trump at many of this election season's debates and his low opinion of the brother and son of two former presidents.  At last night's debate in New Hampshire, Trump was asked about his glowing approval of eminent domain, usually a topic that most conservatives are not happy with, particularly when used by private businesses.

In the video below, Trump handles the question fairly well, expressing that the practice is a necessary evil, in his own terms.  When he's finished, Jeb Bush chimes in saying that Trump has used it for his own purposes-- see for yourself

Jeb says that the Donald tried to take the property from a little old lady via eminent domain in Atlantic City.  "That is not a public purpose for eminent domain", he asserts with conviction.  "to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is not a public use."

When Trump taunts him as trying to be a tough guy Jeb replies:  "How tough is it to take the property of an elderly woman?"   Apparently, pretty tough because Trump offered her four times the fair market value on the table and she held out, just like she had with Bob Guccione (founder of Penthouse Magazine), the original developer of Penthouse Casino lurking unfinished over her boarding house for years, before Trump came in.

Before the video ends, Trump asks Bush whether the Keystone pipeline is a private or public job.  Bush erroneously answers it's a public use, the pipeline has a private owner, TransCanada Corporation, there is nothing public about it.

But if you think that Trump got the former Florida governor's on those two points, it is rather minor when you consider that Jeb Bush should have nothing to talk about with private businesses using eminent domain for non-public purposes.  For his brother, former President George W. Bush, was the figurehead and part-owner of the Texas Rangers back in the 1990s when the new Ballpark in Arlington was built using eminent domain for property acquisition. 

That deal was even more contentious than Mr. Trump's, as it spawned two lawsuits by people who didn't want to move out of their homes and/or accept the fair market value plus that they were offered.  A timeline of these events were compiled by ESPN.com.

In April 1991:  "The Rangers shepherd through the Texas legislature a bill that creates the Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority (ASFDA), a quasi-governmental entity that is given the power of eminent domain. Shortly after the bill is signed by new governor Ann Richards, 13 acres of private property are seized for the Rangers' new ballpark, later prompting two lawsuits."

Additional information is found in the book Unwarranted Intrusions: The Case Against Government Intervention ...

Therefore, Jeb Bush has no leg to stand on when criticizing Donald Trump's efforts to try and get a parcel of land at well beyond fair market value via eminent domain without first decrying his brother's successful attempt at effectively offering a pittance to the family displaced by his quest for a baseball stadium.  He will never do this, nor will he ever be president.

[Willy]

I agree that eminent domain is a necessary evil but it should only be used when absolutely necessary by Government entities for important public projects. Private companies should not be involved with eminent domain.

[stump]

I myself have been a victim of eminent domain. I owned a piece of property on a highway the state wanted to widen. They sent a letter with a price they were going to pay me for what they called "right of way". They were going to take so many feet off my front lawn and the trees that they were going to removed. I refused that and went to court, That was interesting, the state attorney handed the paper to the judge, the judge signed it and I lost my property, never got to say anything. Later we came to an agreement for about 4 times the first money offer with a agreement also to plant 3 trees, they planted little sticks LOL. I can see where eminent domain is needed, just didn't like it to be mine. JEB Bush is a shrub.

[XLFD]

My family has been aversely affected by eminent domain.  My folks used to live at 106 E Foster, the old St. Simon's Rectory.  Nice place, very spacious, slate shingles, hardwood paneling throughout, constructed of solid bricks.  In the six years my folks settled into it, they did a lot of work in maintaining it, with a little help from a son also living in the Third Ward.

The beautiful historic building was brought for a fraction of its true market rate, demolished, and I hear they have put a combination city hall and police station on the land where it used to sit.  Perhaps my dislike of  city managers was born when Jim Miller told my father, a well decorated World War 2 veteran, that they could either accept the city's ridiculous price or have them condemn the building and take it through the courts for peanuts.  Mayor Pomorski was equally condescending during the process.  Shay's office is right around where our elegant dining hall used to be before the historic, well maintained building was leveled.

[Willy]

In stump's case It would be considered a necessary evil because safe transportation roadways are good for all but in X's parent's case I would consider it extortion. The City could have conducted business in the same manner as it was doing and wait for a seller who was willing to sell. Those were sad days for the community when the church and rectory were torn down. The church steeples were a wonderful landmark and could be seen for miles when viewed from the lake. Some of my family members were interested in purchasing the rectory and also the church.  I found an old picture of the church but not the rectory.

[XLFD]

Here's a couple pictures from our old homestead, two from without and one from within the dining room during a birthday celebration.  Before my parents brought it in 1994, it had been vacant a few years after housing a rehab facility.  It had seven bedrooms on the second floor, and we had plans to eventually make it into a bed and breakfast, but then the city came around and told of us how our plans needed to change.  Now instead of being a rectory, it's a rectum-y: 

[Willy]

rectum-y. Funny. The rectory was a beautiful building which was no less significant than the likes of Cartier mansion so it was a shame that it ended up in a landfill. Besides being idiots the City leaders, at that time, must have also been Protestants. Thanks for posting those photos.