FLASHBACK: Governor Jeb Bush Accused of Extramarital Affair With Subordinate by Florida Newspapers

ABC’s Brent Kallestad reported:

Gov. Jeb Bush, facing published reports about infidelity as he ponders re-election, dismissed rumors today of an extramarital affair with an agency head as an “outright lie” …

…For months, talk in Tallahassee bars and state offices and Internet Web pages linked Bush with Cynthia Henderson, secretary of the Department of Management Services. Today’s comment was his first public response to the rumors. On Thursday, a columnist for the Tallahassee Democrat reported about a rumor of an affair involving two high-ranking public officials but did not identify them. Over the weekend, two other papers — the St. Petersburg Times and the Orlando Sentinel — wrote about the rumors involving Bush and Henderson and said Bush had denied them…

…Bush originally appointed Henderson to head the Department of Business and Professional Regulation in January 1999. During her first year on the job, she faced questions about her ethics in running the agency on several occasions. Last September, Bush transferred Henderson to the Department of Management Services, a lower profile agency that oversees state facilities and insurance and retirement programs for state employees. Bush at that time said the criticism of Henderson was unjustified and had nothing to do with his decision.

As MFP observed last year:

Note the span of time from 1978 to when Jeb hired her in 1999– clearly, for her “qualifications”…

Partner
Cynthia A Henderson, P.A.
2003 – 2009 (6 years)

Secretary, State of Florida, Department of Business and Professional Regulation
State of Florida, Executive Office of the Governor
1999 – 2001 (2 years)

Student
Titusville High School
1975 – 1978 (3 years)

After allegations surfaced ahead of his reelection campaign, Bush helped Henderson acquire a position at a Miami consulting firm to shut her up…

Cynthia Henderson, a prominent lobbyist and former agency head for Gov. Jeb Bush, obtained a temporary restraining order last week against her husband after he found her in bed with another man and allegedly threatened them with a crowbar, court records show.

…Henderson left state government in January 2003 and began work as a lobbyist for Tew Cardenas, a Miami firm.

One wonders if Jeb Bush didn’t repay such favors by helping Al Cardenas– formerly of Tew Cardenas– become head of CPAC, where he now pushes Jeb Bush’s amnesty agenda…