Both Bush brothers
accused their Democratic opponents for governor of being soft on crime in their 1994 gubernatorial bids. But as
David Corn reports, Jeb ran an ad that employed an outright lie and likely cost him the race. Jeb's ad featured one of his volunteers, Wendy Nelson, whose 10-year-old daughter was tragically kidnapped and murdered. The murderer received a death sentence in 1981 and in the '94 ad, Nelson claimed, "Her killer is still on death row, and we're still waiting for justice. We won't get it from Lawton Chiles because he's too liberal on crime."
The problem here is that Gov. Chiles had no control over the slow pace of the wheels of justice in the case. One of Bush's press aides later admitted as much in a book, saying, "There was nothing the Florida governor could do to speed up Death Row executions." Corn adds:
At the time, the Orlando Sentinel reported, "Bush has admitted that Chiles could not have accelerated Mann's execution by signing a warrant, but he will keep airing the Nelson ad." And Chiles compared the ad to the infamous Willie Horton ad that had been aired during the 1988 presidential contest to help Bush's father defeat Michael Dukakis. The Sun Sentinel newspaper published a scathing editorial that blasted Bush for "running a shamelessly false, irresponsible and tasteless 30-second TV ad." The editorial denounced Bush's "utter contempt for the truth," noting, "If any politician should be criticized for his involvement with this tragedy, it is Jeb Bush, who is using the pain and suffering of a mother's loss to smear and distort Chiles' record on the death penalty."
Jeb, who once held a 10-point lead in the race, plummeted in the polls. But he still wouldn't admit the error during his televised debate against Chiles.
Tossing out the first question, moderator Tim Russert noted that Bush had conceded that Chiles could not have accelerated the execution process for this criminal and asked Bush, "Why do you continue to air the commercial, which is, by your own admission, misleading?" Bush responded by saying the commercial was no longer being aired "because it completed." But, Bush added, "I would have kept it on for longer."
Bush did not explain why he would have stuck with an ad that his own press aide later called an untruth or a lie. Instead, he went on the attack and slammed Chiles for somehow not speeding up the execution process. He said the ad was "appropriate" because "a symbol of crime needs to have a human face on it … I do believe [Chiles] has been a liberal on crime and soft on crime."
Chiles supported capital punishment and had presided over eight executions during his time as governor—almost exactly the same number as his Republican and Democratic predecessors.
George W., who was facing off against Gov. Ann Richards in Texas, similarly accused her of being soft on crime. She had reportedly presided over 45 executions—apparently not enough for the Lone Star State. W won by more than seven points. Jeb lost by two—teeing up his brother for a 2000 presidential run.
Sometimes misleading people works in politics, but Jeb obviously crossed a line with Florida voters.