Posted on 05/16/2014 6:20:51 AM PDT by jimbo123
Florida first lady Columba Bush made a mistake and "feels horrible" about her embarrassing run-in with U.S. Customs agents late last week, a chagrined Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday.
"I can assure you it was a difficult weekend at our house," the governor said. "She knew that what she did was wrong and [she] made a mistake."
Columba Bush was briefly detained and fined at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport on Thursday after her arrival following a five-day shopping spree in Paris. The governor was not with her. She declared only $500 worth of merchandise on a Customs form at the airport. But during a random check, agents found receipts indicating the governor's wife was toting about $19,000 worth of clothing and jewelry bought in France.
Using a personal check, she paid $4,100 in duty and fines on the items. She was then allowed to continue to Tallahassee.
Still, the episode dogged the governor on Monday when he was forced to answer questions about his wife's run-in before signing into law a sweeping education reform package.
"It is a lot of money. But look, that's between her and me," said Gov. Bush, adding that his wife was embarrassed by the incident. "The mistake was not filling out the form at Customs properly -- that was the mistake," said the governor, who has reported a net worth of $2.4 million.
The question on many people's minds was why Columba Bush, an accomplished international traveler, disclosed only $500 in purchases.
U.S. Customs spokesman Patrick Jones said it is routine for agents to ask travelers if their declaration forms are accurate before any attempt is made to search luggage.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.sun-sentinel.com ...
This may be Jeb Bush’s “Bridge Scandal!” We can only hope.
“If she was really trying to smuggle merchandise in don’t you think she would have gotten rid of all of the paper receipts?”
She wasn’t trying to smuggle it in. Just trying to under report it’s value. After spending 19K on the stuff, she was balking at paying the duty? C’mon, give me a break. The elite mentality on display.
I was coming home from a business trip to France and the US custom guy took some receipts out of my wallet from purchases I had made in Houston Tx not Paris France and he was ready to lock me up over them. I made him get his supervisor and I showed him the dates and address of the stores where I purchased them. I think those people make points for catching people, I am never on their side. Call me a smuggler if you want to.
Her actions exactly fit the very definition of smuggling.
1 : to import or export secretly contrary to the law and especially without paying duties imposed by law 2 : to convey or introduce surreptitiously
intransitive verb
: to import or export something in violation of the customs
She purposely under reported the value to save $4,100. Not very different from her hermanos and hermanas sneaking across the border and working with stolen SS numbers.
No one mistakes $500 for $19,000. She lied intending to cheat on the tax. No other conclusions possible.
With Jeb’s blessing....of course until they got caught. Then Jeb threw her under the bus.
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