Jones (R) upends Smith (D) in mayor's race (Charleston, West Virginia)

Seizing momentum as the campaign wore on, Republican Danny Jones romped to victory as Charleston’s next mayor Tuesday night, capturing more than 57 percent of the vote over Democrat Chris Smith.

Jones, energized by $75,000 worth of television ads and $17,000 in mass mailings in the last few weeks of the campaign, overcame Smith’s substantial primary campaign momentum to win.

Jones said he knew he would be victorious on election night after seeing the first precincts tabulated from the West Side, where he won handily.

He promised to stick with the job, in response to criticism that he had quit too many jobs in his checkered career.

“I know that I’ve done a lot of different things in my life, but I’ll be mayor of this town for four years,” Jones told supporters Tuesday evening. “I’ll devote all of my waking life and focus to making Charleston a better place to live.”

Smith consoled supporters and told them not to be glum. “Don’t look sad. Put a smile on your face,” he told them.

He urged his supporters to help Jones because “he needs all the support we can give him.”

He also thanked supporters and his legion of volunteers. “The volunteers have been fantastic. You’ve all worked very, very hard. It’s been a good experience. I’d do it again and do it the same way.”

Jones received 7,500 votes to Smith’s 5,470. The 12,970 votes cast — a 37 percent turnout — represented an increase over 1999’s general election total of 11,296.

The Republican predicted Monday that he would receive between 6,500 and 7,000 votes.

Outgoing Democratic Mayor Jay Goldman, who threw his support behind Jones, was there to celebrate with Jones’ supporters. “We’ve got a real mayor and not an e-mayor,” Goldman said, in a reference to Smith’s use of e-mail to communicate with reporters.

Smith had demolished Goldman, 62 percent to 38 percent, in March’s Democratic primary. One poll Smith commissioned shortly after the primary showed him with a lead of 18 percentage points over Jones.

Jones began chipping away at that perceived lead about a month ago, with a broad array of television spots. They highlighted everything from garbage collection and recycling to economic development.

The 52-year-old Republican used $100,000 of his own personal fortune to fund most of the campaign. His family made its mark in coal and other industries.

Jones outspent Smith $101,711 to $32,260 in the critical period between April 5 and May 9, latest spending reports show. Smith’s campaign gradually ran out of money, after spending $72,000 to defeat Goldman.

Jones, a former Kanawha County sheriff, House of Delegates member, restaurateur and radio talk show host, waged a controlled, media-savvy campaign.

His camp sometimes became testy at suggestions that it didn’t have the volunteer base that Smith’s effort did. Jones leaned heavily on television and mailings to get his message across, but volunteers were part of the equation, as Russell Ray would attest.

A city refuse department employee, Ray worked with Jones last summer when the mayor-to-be put in long hours picking up yard waste. Jones was the assistant city refuse chief at the time.

Ray worked the West Side Hill and the East End for Jones, passing out literature.

“He’s going to be a people’s mayor,” said Ray, who said he was one of about 20 black volunteers working for Jones, half from the refuse department.

Of Smith, Ray said, “You can’t talk about basketball all the time and the memories of the ’50s. You can’t win the mayorship like that.”

Jones, who lives in a posh house on Loudon Heights Road, has talked about a “disconnect” facing the city, between wealthier residents in Kanawha City and South Hills and their working-class counterparts on the other side of the Kanawha.

“I know that when you live up where I do, we don’t concern ourselves with some of the same things as other parts of the city,” Jones said. “Some people have gunshots ringing in their neighborhoods. These are the people we’re trying to keep safe. And we’re going to get the yard waste picked up if I have to do it myself.”

Smith and Jones waged what turned out to be a fairly contentious campaign, particularly after an April 6 debate at Stonewall Jackson Middle School. Jones alleged that Smith supporters “shouted him down” toward the end of that debate.

“I made up my mind after Stonewall,” Jones said. “We started feeling it after that.”

Smith backers said the incident was brief and prompted by Jones’ inaccurate attack. Jones put $80,000 of his own money into the campaign the day after and used it well on television. He acknowledged Tuesday that the ads played a large part in the win.

Jones accused Smith supporters of swiping hundreds of his signs. Smith countered that Jones orchestrated the whole event himself, in effect removing his own signs. He predicted that Jones would next accuse his campaign of breaking into Jones’ headquarters, though that never materialized.

As the campaign wore on, Jones and his campaign manager, Larry LaCorte, became more aggressive. A poll paid for by Jones drew Smith’s ire, because it included negative statements about the Democrat.

Smith termed the survey a “push poll,” one whose chief intent is to influence voters without collecting substantial data. Jones said the voter preference question came at the beginning of the survey, before the negative statements were read.

At any rate, it showed Jones with a lead of 9 percentage points, but with 22 percent undecided. Last week, a poll Smith commissioned, done by one of his own contributors, showed the two in a dead heat. That poll showed 25 percent of voters remained undecided.

Of the past six mayors, Jones becomes the fourth Republican to win the office in a heavily Democratic city. One, Chuck Gardner, was chosen by City Council in 1987 to fill the unexpired term of the late Mike Roark, who resigned after pleading guilty to cocaine use.

Son Zak and sister Laura Patterson accompanied Jones at the victory podium Tuesday. Jones has always been single.

Afternoon paper update (Yes, amazingly, Charleston still supports two daily papers):

Charleston Daily Mail

Jones took unlikely path

What began on garbage truck
ends with easy victory

Josh Hafenbrack <jhafenbrack@dailymail.com>
Daily Mail Staff

Danny Jones

Photo: Chip Ellis

Danny Jones

Danny Jones, the new mayor-elect of Charleston, lifts up the shoes he wore during a stint as the city's assistant refuse collector. Jones said his stint on the back of a garbage truck gave him a direct view of all of Charleston's neighborhoods. "When you go through every alley and through every street, you realize how diverse Charleston is," he said.

Wednesday May 21, 2003; 10:30 AM

Danny Jones climbed off the back of a garbage truck and into the mayor's office.

The genesis of the Republican's campaign for mayor, which culminated with a commanding victory Tuesday over Democrat Chris Smith, was the stint last summer he spent as assistant refuse director, mingling among Charleston residents and picking up yard waste.

It's an unusual way to kick off a political campaign, but Jones said seeing the town one garbage pail at a time strengthened his resolve to run for mayor.

"This really did start on a garbage truck," Jones, 52, told a group of more than 100 supporters crammed into his Lee Street campaign headquarters. "I really got to know this city. When you go through every alley and through every street, you realize how diverse Charleston is."

The path his campaign took might have started in an unusual spot, but Jones swept to his surprisingly easy victory with some old-fashioned politics: a flood of television commercials and an intensive get-out-the-vote effort.

Claiming 40 of the city's 55 precincts, Jones garnered 7,500 votes to Smith's 5,470, a 58-to-42 percent margin of victory. Jones dominated South Hills and the East End, winning every precinct in those areas.

A warm, overcast day yielded a higher-than-expected voter turnout. About 37 percent -- 13,153 -- of Charleston's 35,361 registered voters went to the polls to choose a mayor, treasurer, municipal judge and 27 City Council members.

A former Kanawha County sheriff and state legislator, Jones poured $100,000 of his own money into his campaign. He used it mostly on a TV advertising effort that he credited as the driving force behind his victory.

"TV was it," Jones said. "That's how we put our message out. Chris let the ads go on too long unanswered."

Among the specifics enumerated in the ads: revamping the city's recycling and trash collection system, using inmate labor, providing tax incentives to attract new businesses and using civil injunctions to pester prostitutes and graffiti vandals.

Jones, who will take the reins of City Hall after the June 16 council meeting, vowed to address what he calls a disconnect between different parts of the city and to clean up trash.

"We're going to get the yard waste picked up if I have to go out there and pick it up myself," he said to rousing applause.

Striking a common campaign theme, Jones, a millionaire who lives in affluent South Hills, said he wants to represent everyone in the city. He said, for example, he wants to focus law enforcement protection in areas where "gunfire goes ripping through neighborhoods."

"I know that when you live up where I do, that's not a concern," he said.

While he is a seasoned politician, Jones isn't exactly a prototype mayor. A lifelong bachelor, Jones attended Marshall University for one year before deciding college wasn't for him.

Among the more than two dozen jobs he has held, Jones first earned a bit of local fame through restaurants he owned that featured his homemade barbecue sauce. He also was a local talk radio personality throughout most of the 1990s.

Many City Hall insiders thought Jones would have a difficult time overcoming the base of volunteers amassed by Smith, but the night belonged to Jones.

By 9 p.m., Jones already had corralled a 2,333-to-1,762 vote margin with 17 precincts reporting.

The race was over.

Larry LaCorte, Jones' campaign manager, said his candidate's layered message, with a myriad of specific policy proposals, made the difference.

"The voters weren't willing to accept someone who just said, 'I'm a nice guy.' They want a nice guy, but they also want someone with a message," LaCorte said. "That's the component (Smith) lacked."

By 9:30 p.m., Smith took a lonely stroll along darkened downtown streets to Jones' campaign headquarters. The Democratic city treasurer fought through a crowd of TV cameras and congratulated Jones.

"It's really classy of you to come over here," Jones told him.

Minutes later, Mayor Jay Goldman, who was knocked out of office by Smith in the Democratic primary, took the podium to introduce Jones, whom he had backed despite the differing party affiliations.

"Tonight is a great night for the city of Charleston," Goldman said. "We got a real mayor instead of an e-mayor," referring to Smith's decision to respond to reporters' inquiries via e-mail for a few weeks early in the election.

Goldman added, "We've got a new sheriff in town, who is also the mayor."

Jones praised Goldman's "disciplined leadership" and said the outgoing mayor is leaving him with a nearly $2 million budget surplus.

The party at Jones' campaign headquarters continued into this morning.

Election day was long for Jones, who cast his own ballot at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday. And not only was the day profitable, netting him the $80,000-a-year job, but it also proved his prophetic abilities.

At 7 a.m. Tuesday, Jones predicted the exact 58-to-42 percent margin of victory in response to a reporter's question.

"It's just something you feel," he said. "You feel it by the parts of the city that you are least strong in -- and you've still got some juice. I had some juice."

Writer Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at 348-4810.

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