Bill Jones

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For others with similar names, see William Jones and Bill Jones (disambiguation).
Bill Jones
Bill Jones

William roy Jones (born December 20, 1949) is a U.S. politician from California who served in the California State Assembly and later served as California's 27th Secretary of State. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Governor of California in 2002 as well as an unsuccessful candidate to the United States Senate from California in 2004 against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer.

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[edit] Early life

Born in Coalinga, California, Jones earned his bachelor's degree in agribusiness and plant sciences from California State University, Fresno in 1971.

[edit] Member of the California State Assembly

In 1976, Jones began his political career with an unsuccessful run for the 31st District State Assembly seat against then State Senate aid and future Congressman Richard H. Lehman. Lehman defeated Jones by just under ten points and went on to represent the Fresno-based Assembly district for six years before being elected to the U.S. House. Jones spent those six years working as a farmer.

After the redistricting of 1982, Jones again sought a seat in the state legislature. This time, Jones soundly defeated Democrat Clyde Gould for California’s 32nd Assembly District seat. Jones easily won reelection five times, carrying at least 69% of the vote in each election and twice running unopposed for the seat. Jones served in the Assembly from 1983 to 1995.

[edit] Proposition 184

One of Jones’s most notable contribution while in the Assembly was authoring Proposition 184, California's three-strikes law, which passed with the 72% of the vote. After the proposition’s passage in 1994, California’s violent crime rate dropped every year until 2005. By 2004, California’s violent crimes per capita were just over half of 1994 levels and 25 other U.S. states had adopted three-strikes laws. In 2000, 61% of California voters supported Proposition 36, which scaled the three-strikes law back by supporting drug treatment instead of life in prison for many convicted of possessing drugs. During the November 2004 elections, Proposition 66, which would have further limited California’s three-strikes law, was voted down at the polls 53% to 47%.

[edit] Assembly Leadership

After authoring Proposition 184, Jones was elected the Assembly Republican Leader in 1991. In that capacity, Jones worked with the newly elected Republican Governor Pete Wilson, supporting Wilson’s plans to limit gerrymandering and raise taxes to cut the budget deficit. Due to more competitive districts, Republicans expected large gains in the 1992 election. However, the coattails of Democratic Presidential nominee Bill Clinton and the general strength of the Democratic Party in California led to disappointing results for Republican candidates. After the Republican’s weak showing in the November 1992 elections, Jones stepped down as Republican Leader, despite having easily won reelction in his own district.

[edit] California Secretary of State

Jones left the State Assembly after being elected the Secretary of State, serving two terms in that office, from 1995 to 2003. As the state’s chief elections officer, Jones stated his goal was “100 percent participation but zero tolerance for voter fraud.”

Use of the internet was another priority of Jones’s during his tenure as Secretary of State. In 2000, his office drafted a report stating that “California citizens should be online- not in line.” His plan would called for putting 90% of government services online by the expiration of his term while also “taking important steps toward closing the Digital Divide to ensure no Californians are left behind.” Through use of technology, the Secretary of State’s office registered or reregistered over 9 million voters, while purging 3 million ineligible voters from the rolls.

Jones was the first California Secretary of State to place campaign finance information on the Internet. In addition to providing instant Internet access to campaign finance reports, Jones launched the nation's first Internet site that carried live election returns on Election Day. Following the 2000 presidential election, Jones developed a 10-point election reform plan to modernize voting systems used in California. The plan was soon adopted as the national model for other states to use.

[edit] Role in the 2000 vote pairing controversy

Main article: vote pairing

During his tenure as the California Secretary of State, Jones may have played a very crucial role in the outcome of the 2000 Presidential election by charging that vote pairing internet web sites were illegal.

In 2000, Jones charged that the vote pairing web sites were illegal and threatened their creators with criminal prosecution. Many of the vote pairing web sites were hosted in California, and were shut down as a result of Jones's threats. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) got involved to protect the web sites, seeking a restraining order, followed by a permanent injunction, against Jones, alleging that he had violated the consititional rights of the web site creators. The issue could be resolved only after the 2000 election had already occurred. Later, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the legality of vote pairing.

Jones's actions did not shut down all the vote pairing web sites during the 2000 election, but rumors started to spread that the web sites were illegal, and this may have discouraged more people from signing up with the remaining web sites. This perhaps changed the outcome of the election, as the election outcome was extremely close.

[edit] Run for California Governor

In 2002, Jones ran in the Republican Gubernatorial Primary, finishing third, at 16%, behind former Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan and businessman William Simon, Jr., who went on to be defeated by incumbent Gray Davis in the General Election.

Jones’s campaign largely addresses issues of budget deficits, electrical shortages, and perceived corruption in the Davis administration. Building on his success promoting technology as Secretary of State, Jones’s platform contained an eGovernment plank. However, much of his campaign concentrated on his past experience and support from state Republican luminaries like former Governor George Deukmejian, as opposed to specific plans for addressing the state’s budget and energy crises.

[edit] Email spamming controversy

During his unsuccessful primary campaign, Jones drew criticism for spamming (sending bulk emails to) not only potential voters but also people around the world. Jones hired a professional spammer who hacked into South Korean computers used to help teach school children. The spammer used the commandeered Korean school computers to send out millions of spam emails throughout the world with Bill Jones's spam. After the spamming incidents, Jones spokesman Darrel Ng denied spamming was wrong and strongly defended the use of mass email for campaigns as an "innovative way to use the Internet."[1] The e-mail itself reflected this sentiment, stating “This is a new and unique experiment. For the first time in history I am trying to make the Internet the vehicle to provide information to the people of California - NOT 30 second TV ads.”

The hosting provider of the Jones campaign web site terminated its services for the last few days of the campaign. Although no spam emails were sent through its servers (commandeered Korean school computers were used), the spam email directed people to the website. Jones was not leading in any polls before this incident, so it is unclear if the spamming had any impact on Jones's ultimate placement in the Republican Gubernatorial Primary.

[edit] Run for U.S. Senate

Following his unsuccessful run for governor in 2002, Jones tried a run for the U.S. Senate. Although Jones won the 2004 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate over former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, Jones lost the General Election to Senator Barbara Boxer, with 38% of the vote. His campaign was so ill-funded, that he did not run a single television commercial to promote his candidacy.

[edit] Election results

Year Office Election Subject Party Votes % Opponent Party Votes %
1976 California State Assembly, District 31 General Bill Jones Republican 44,655 44.4% Richard H. Lehamn Democratic 54,004 53.7%
1982 California State Assembly, District 32 General Bill Jones Republican 60,744 61.7% Clyde Gould Democratic 37,700 38.3%
1984 California State Assembly, District 32 General Bill Jones Republican 87,555 75.0% Robert Dahlstedt Democratic 29,206 25%
1986 California State Assembly, District 32 General Bill Jones Republican 70,825 100% None
1988 California State Assembly, District 32 General Bill Jones Republican 87,483 72.6% Aden Windham Democratic 33,081 27.4%
1990 California State Assembly, District 32 General Bill Jones Republican 71,592 68.8% Bernie McGoldrick Democratic 32,457 31.2%
1992 California State Assembly, District 29 General Bill Jones Republican 122,464 100% None
1994 California Secretary of State General Bill Jones Republican 3,727,894 45.3% Tony Miller Democratic 3,690,841 44.8%
1998 California Secretary of State General Bill Jones Republican 3,783,665 47.0% Michela Alioto-Pier Democratic 3,693,927 45.9%
2002 Governor of California Primary Bill Jones Republican 387,237 17.0% Bill Simon Republican 1,129,974 49.5%
2004 U.S. Senate General Bill Jones Republican 4,548,931 37.8% Barbara Boxer Democratic 6,947,021 57.7%

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Gordon W. Duffy		 California State Assemblymember
32nd district
1982–1992		 Succeeded by
Trice Harvey
Preceded by
Ross Johnson		 California State Assembly Republican Leader
July 17, 1991–November 4, 1992		 Succeeded by
Jim Brulte
Preceded by
Andrea Seastrand		 California State Assemblymember
29th district
1992–1994		 Succeeded by
Chuck Poochigian
Preceded by
Tony Miller		 California Secretary of State
1995–2003		 Succeeded by
Kevin Shelley
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