Photo credit: Dave Davidson – Prezography.com
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was named as a founding director of the Bloomberg Family Foundation in 2010 and resigned at the end of 2014 shortly before launching his presidential campaign exploration committee. The foundation was set up to expand the vision of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Stop the presses right there. That in itself should present a problem for Jeb Bush considering Bloomberg’s advocacy for big government, climate change regulation and gun control, but there is more.
LifeSiteNews reports:
In March of 2014, the Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a $50 million undertaking to expand “reproductive health,” including lobbying foreign nations to loosen restrictions on abortion.
Bloomberg announced a major partnership with Planned Parenthood-Global to train and equip abortion activists in pro-life countries.
“In 2014, we started supporting local nonprofit organizations in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Uganda, and Nicaragua to advocate for better policies in their countries that will expand access to comprehensive reproductive health services,” the foundation stated. “These organizations will receive technical assistance from Planned Parenthood Federation of America – Global Division to help augment their capacity for effective advocacy.”
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards greeted the news by saying that “governments need to play a stronger role to ensure that all women have access to the health care they need” – including abortion – “no matter who they are, no matter where they live.”
Bloomberg clarified how the partnership would work while receiving Planned Parenthood’s Global Citizen Award at its annual gala last March 27.
A Bush spokesperson, LifeSiteNews notes, said Bush wouldn’t have voted on every initiative and expenditure. Ok, but did he know about it? How could he not? If he did know, and it is simply unbelievable that he wouldn’t know, why did he stay?
He could have made a strong statement at that moment or before the agreement was made resigning in protest, but he didn’t. He stayed on and didn’t resign until he was preparing to run for President when at the time he was resigning from all boards, including boards of organizations he started.
As a conservative who is pro-life I would not even consider having my name associated with Michael Bloomberg or Planned Parenthood. Bush should explain why he didn’t have a problem with it.