Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush has been outspoken in his criticism of Barack Obama's use of executive power, accusing the president of "trampling on the Constitution." But as Florida governor, Bush himself pushed the limits of his authority, the Associated Press judged.

Until Bush's election in 1998, the governor's office in Tallahassee had little relative power. But when voters shrank the size of the state's independently elected Cabinet and gave the chief executive control over education and elections, Bush embraced the changes, the news service detailed.

He cut a record number of legislators' local projects from the state budget and made lawmakers clear special spending with him in advance. And before the end of his first year in office, Bush issued an executive order ending Florida's affirmative action programs.

"We're doing the people's work and I'm not going to let anybody, for any reason, stop us from doing that," he noted at the time and in response to a 25-hour sit-in that two black legislators staged outside his office.

Cory Tilley, a Republican consultant who served as his deputy chief of staff during his first term as governor, praised Bush's efficiency.

"He doesn't shy away from the fact that he had a big agenda, and if there was a way to move it along quicker, he would find it," Tilley noted.

But not everybody in Florida agreed with Bush's approach, whose frequent rejections of bills earned him the nickname "Veto Corleone," a pun on the main character in "The Godfather." The Legislature, in fact, sued the governor for interpreting his veto power too broadly, though it ultimately gave in to most of his demands, the AP said.

If he were to move into the White House, Bush has promised to stick closely to constitutional limitations on executive power.

"I think the next president is likely to undo much of the executive orders, particularly the ones where there was no constitutional authority to do these executive orders," Bush said last week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

His brother -- who during his two presidential terms was similarly accused of overstepping his authority -- is set to assist the presumed candidate during a swing through Texas, the Washington Post noted.

Former President George W. Bush and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush, on Wednesday will headline a fundraiser for Jeb's political action committee, the newspaper detailed.