Official Lands in Hot Water After GOP Flip-Flop

When Secretary of State Bill Jones yanked his endorsement away from GOP presidential contender George W. Bush recently and gave it to Sen. John McCain, a collective gasp shot forth from California’s Republican establishment. As did a question:

Has this man lost his marbles?

Jones, the state’s highest-ranking Republican officeholder, is not known as a risk-taker. Yet there he was, walking all by his lonesome out onto a shaky political limb, switching from the safe bet to the iffy one. His GOP brethren--who remain firmly, if not altogether comfortably, in the Bush camp--could not believe it. And still can’t.

“I am completely perplexed, because he is so cautious, such a person of integrity,” says GOP Assemblyman Bill Leonard of San Bernardino, a friend for 20 years. “To do this switcheroo--to change allegiances--just isn’t Bill Jones.”

First off, Jones would like to declare that he remains of sound mind. He is simply convinced--wholeheartedly--that McCain is the better pick for California and the nation after a string of Republican losers.

And while it pains him to flip-flop after making a commitment, he says the stakes are too high--for his state and his party--”for me to go quietly into the night,” even if it means jeopardizing his political career.

“John McCain is a unique messenger--he has a compelling life story and an ability to connect with people--and that’s not something that comes along very often,” Jones says. “So I’m going to ring the bell, sound the alarm, tell people what I think.”

The bell began clanging Feb. 16, and the reaction was swift. Politicians loathe a turncoat, and Jones concedes he’s taken heat--”quite a bit.” Insiders confirm it’s been ugly, with threats from donors and other allies important to a politician who hopes to keep climbing the food chain.

Along with the bad, however, has come the good. There have been appearances on CNN’s “Hardball” and “Inside Politics,” PBS’ “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” and interviews with a dizzying assortment of other reporters.

And as McCain’s main man in California, Jones is smack in the thick of the Arizona senator’s high-voltage campaign. He introduces him at events on the trail, stands in for him at fund-raisers, works the phones trying to get other Golden State Republicans to come on board.

“It’s crazy,” says Jones’ longtime aide, Beth Miller. Suddenly, everybody wants Bill.

For Jones, 50, that’s a welcome phenomenon. Because unlike the lively presidential hopeful he now supports, the secretary of state does not typically draw a crowd.

While McCain is charismatic, Jones borders on dull, with a monotonic delivery and Boy Scout earnestness that do not make his news conferences must-see events.

“I think of him as plodding,” says UC Berkeley political scientist Bruce Cain. “He’s not a dynamic, natural politician.”

That said, McCain credits Jones with pursuing an ambitious agenda as secretary of state, a position he’s held since 1994. From his efforts to boost turnout to online disclosure of campaign contributions, Jones has done a lot to make his office more relevant and useful, Cain says.

And while Jones may lack McCain’s pizazz, he has a homespun sincerity that makes him hard to dislike. Gentlemanly and affable, he’s the guy who’d be flipping the burgers at a Sunday cookout. It’s easy to picture him herding cattle back on his family’s ranch west of Fresno, where he grew up.

“He is one of the most responsible, genuine and thinking officeholders I’ve ever known,” says lobbyist Charles Bader, who sat next to Jones when both served in the Assembly. “And he’s a guy who is guided by his conscience.”

Jones says it was his conscience that nagged and nagged and finally persuaded him to dump Bush and embrace McCain. He disliked the negative tone of the Bush campaign in South Carolina, and resented the Texas governor’s efforts to dissuade Democrat and independent voters from siding with McCain.

“It’s just the wrong message to send, and it’s so contrary to what I’ve been trying to do here” as secretary of state, encouraging as many people as possible to vote, Jones says. “Our party ought to welcome everybody. John understands that.”

History also guided his decision to switch. Jones was Republican leader in the Assembly in 1992, when then-President George Bush abandoned California in his losing campaign against Bill Clinton. By dousing enthusiasm among GOP voters in the state, that move wounded Republicans in legislative races here, he recalled.

Next came former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole’s loss in the 1996 presidential race, and Dan Lungren’s trouncing by Gov. Gray Davis in 1998.

“I’ve been there when people said, ‘Well, we all got on this horse, and we’ve got to win with this horse,’ ” Jones says. “But now I have an obligation to say, ‘Hey, it’s time to do something else.’ ”

The Jones defection has drawn widespread attention because of his status as the state’s top elected Republican. The GOP’s only other statewide officeholder is Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, who remains with Bush, as do nearly all the Republicans in the Legislature.

While by no means a maverick, Jones has worn the loner’s hat before. Thirty years ago, as a student government leader at Fresno State, he was a conservative among liberals, working to reelect Nixon while others protested the Vietnam War.

And as secretary of state, he has promoted the open primary despite opposition from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Ken Khachigian, a McCain advisor and veteran strategist from California, says the Jones endorsement matters because it underscores the senator’s momentum: “You wouldn’t expect somebody to leave the winning cause for a losing cause if he thought it would stay a losing cause,” he says.

McCain himself called Jones and another recent endorser, Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Newport Beach) “profiles in courage” during a campaign stop in Sacramento. Another time, he offered to “get someone to start [Jones’] car in the morning,” a joking reference to the enmity the endorsement reversal has spawned.

While his car has not yet been blown up, Jones has been widely scorned, with many Republicans predicting that unless McCain wins in November, the secretary of state may be toast in California politics.

State Sen. Chuck Poochigian, a Fresno Republican who has known Jones for 30 years, says that by withdrawing his endorsement of Bush, Jones sacrificed the politician’s most vital asset: a reputation for loyalty. That’s something Republicans--whose party symbol is the elephant--won’t forget, he predicts: “Elephants have very long memories.”

Numerous motives have been attached to Jones’ defection. One suggests he did it to attract attention leading up to a run for governor, a job he covets. Another theory holds that Jones decided Gov. Davis would be impossible to beat in 2002 and has decided his future is in Washington. As a rare McCain supporter in a crucial state, he’d be in good shape to win a key appointment if the Arizona senator becomes president. (Bush, by contrast, has a huge coterie of loyalists awaiting White House jobs, diluting Jones’ chances.)

Jones chuckles good-naturedly over all the conspiracy talk, and wonders why people won’t just take him at his word.

“Maybe they should just believe what I told them,” Jones says. “It has nothing to do with opportunism, it’s about what’s best for California. I just can’t worry about what it all means for me down the road.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ad Watch: A Look at the Candidates’ Commercials

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