Miami attorney Jack Thompson, a leading activist against the video game industry, has today been asked by the Office of the Governor of the State of Florida, Jeb Bush, to draft and submit to him and to Florida legislators a bill that will prohibit the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.

The Office of Governor Bush has told Thompson that the Governor will sign such a bill if it is placed before him.

Thompson will submit the proposed bill to the Governor and to appropriate Members of the Florida legislature in the next several days in response to the Governor's request. Florida's legislative committees are already active in anticipation of the commencement of the March 2006 legislative session.

This news from Governor Bush comes as California Governor Schwarzenegger has in front of him a video game bill. The Governors of both Illinois and Michigan have signed similar video game bills into law recently.

The fact that the Governor of the nation's fourth largest state wants such a law is very bad news for reckless video game companies like Take-Two/Rockstar, which have assaulted teens for years with their hyper-violent Grand Theft Auto video games.

Jack Thompson is privileged to respond in the affirmative to Governor Bush's request.

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Jeb Bush's office has since denied that it has had any contact with Jack Thompson three times. Jack responded to these denials by issuing a second press release, this time in the form of two angry letters.

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Mr. Schweiss, I'm not sure if you think you have the gift of telepathy or not, but I am getting tired of your holding forth about phone conversations to which you were not a party. I just read an article in which you were quoted about all this. You are underinformed at best.

The below correctly reflects what I heard coming from Mr. Ball in the Governor's policy office. He and I have since spoken, and he does not materially disagree with it.

The problem with you press office guys is that you apparently think you control the news cycle as well as the news in it. Mr. Ball said this: "If the bill passes, I'm confident the Governor will sign it." Of course the Governor reserves the right not to sign it and to review it in light of its content, but Mr. Ball said precisely that, and it was clearly intended as an encouragement to proceed.

I could go on about how wrong you have got what transpired here, but I'll stop with one more thing: I DID NOT call the Governor's people. THEY CALLED ME. You are either ill-informed or lying about that. I have sent many, many letters to the Governor about the video game issue, and finally they responde [sic] in a positive way. The use of the "bully pulpit" comment was regarding the Bully game. I had written the Governor about that. I have the letter.

Mr. Ball's call had absolutely NOTHING to do with that game. The call was made to encourage me to proceed with a video game bill, and then he gave me specific advice on what to do with it, even discussing with me various legislative approaches and content of the bill.

He then capped it off with the comment about whether the Governor would sign it.

I'm happy to take a polygraph about what I heard and what I said. Are you, Mr. Schweiss, going to take a polygraphy about a phone call you were not on and didn't know about? Knock it off.

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The Honorable Jeb Bush
Governor, State of Florida
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida Via Facsimile Transmission to [number removed]

Re: Florida Video Game Law

Dear Governor Bush:

I appreciate the fact that your policy advisor, Randy Ball, called me yesterday and encouraged me to do the following:

1. Draft a video game bill prohibiting the sale of adult and mature video games to minors.

2. Submit the bill I draft a) to your legislation drafters and b) to conservative members of the Florida legislature.

Mr. Ball concluded by saying "I am confident, if it passes, that the Governor will sign it."

This is encouraging because, as you know, I have written you for years many times asking for just such a call. It finally came.

Now your press people, for some reason, are saying that the above did not transpire as I have indicated in a press release. They wouldn't know. They weren't on the call. It looks like your press people don't know what the policy people are doing. This happens in bureaucracies. They should have bothered to pick up the phone and call me and I would have disabused them of their confusion.

Governor, the reason I sent out the news release memorializing what transpired is that you, to be frank, have let down, in my opinion, conservatives during the Elian Gonzalez affair and during the Terri Shiavo matter, unwilling to do all that was necessary and proper to win those two battles. I am not the only one who thinks so. You, Ward Connerly, and I were featured in the same American Spectator issue years ago, and I don't need to remind you as to why.

Governor, again, I am pleased that the call finally came regarding a video game bill. I would suggest that the people of Florida are out in front of you on this one, as is Tom Gallagher as indicated by his announcement the other day. But I am glad you are now realizing that selling murder simulators to children poses a public safety hazard.

I believe such a measure will enjoy such a large majority in both houses that the tallies will be veto-proof, but I encourage you to sign the bill which Mr. Ball encouraged me to draft and submit.

Regards, Jack Thompson

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