Free Republic

<p>MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Gov. Jeb Bush defended his choice to lead Florida's beleaguered child welfare agency after an article surfaced in which he condoned "manly" discipline of children and asserted that men have authority over their wives.</p> <p>Bush told reporters Friday that he questioned whether Jerry Regier was being pilloried because of his conservative religious views, and condemned a "soft bigotry that is emerging against people of faith."</p>

Tuesday, August 20, 2002 SENTINEL COLUMNIST Mike Thomas Regier 'crisis' falters when facts known Published August 20, 2002 The attacks against Jeb Bush's choice to head the state's child-welfare department, Jerry Regier, show what you get by mixing an incomplete news story and nasty politics. Excerpt: It began last week when The Miami Herald wrote this story: The man named Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush to head Florida's notoriously inept child welfare agency is an evangelical Christian who views spanking that causes "bruises or welts" as acceptable punishment….. All the ingredients were present for a juicy controversy. There was a...

CAPTION THIS: Rev. Jesse Jackson comments on Gov. Jeb Bush's new DCF Chief From the Associated Press, Aug. 18, 2002: The Rev. Jesse Jackson and other Democrats blasted Gov. Jeb Bush's nominee for child welfare chief Saturday, saying he should be fired for his ties to a paper that promotes spanking and demeans women. … The Democrats said Bush either failed to check Regier's background or that he must agree with a paper published in 1989 that endorses spanking that causes bruises and welts and says that married women shouldn't have careers. The paper lists Regier on the cover as...

Where the FL Story of Jeb's New DCF Chief Should Have Appeared: "The Weekly World News" Written by summer - a former Dem, now an independent and a FL certified teacher Florida media went into a heated overdrive this week. "Far right" headlines across the state screamed about Gov. Jeb Bush's new appointment to lead the DCF (the state's Department of Children and Families, better known as the agency responsible for child foster care and adoption). In the The Miami Herald, we find the Tallahassee Bureau Chief and political editor, Peter Wallsten, listed among other newspaper staff members, all claiming...

TALLAHASSEE - The man named Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush to head Florida's notoriously inept child welfare agency is an evangelical Christian who views spanking that causes ''bruises or welts'' as acceptable punishment. The revelation did not come to Bush's attention until hours after the governor introduced Jerry Regier, a former Oklahoma Cabinet secretary and aide to Bush's father, as the new chief of the state's Department of Children and Families.Regier, 57, was named less than 48 hours after the resignation of DCF Secretary Kathleen A. Kearney. He takes over an agency that has been embroiled in scandal since 5-year-old...