Bill Jones supports McCain's finance reform zealotry.
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A couple of other interesting subplots were brewing during this show. California's Republican Secretary of State Bill Jones (who endorsed McCain in last year's presidential primary) made an appearance, parking spokesman Alfie Charles alongside the handful of reporters huddled in the back of the ballroom. Jones is expected to make a decision about the California governor's race in one to two weeks, Charles said, and when he makes his candidacy official, campaign finance reform is sure to be one of the linchpins of his campaign pitch. CLICK HERE
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Jones attending McCain-Feingold appearance at Commonwealth Club:
I'd like to thank Bill Jones for being here, our secretary of state.
...
As Russ said, we're not doing this for Russ Feingold or John McCain. We're not doing this for any incumbent. We are doing this because young Americans...Bill Jones will tell you about a study that the secretaries of state, both Republican and Democrat, did after the 1998 election, when we had the lowest voter turnout in history of young Americans (18 to 34-year-olds).
CLICK HERE
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Jones said, "Senator McCain is clearly the Republican Party's best hope for attracting new voters and winning back the White House this November. His quest to take government out of the hands of the special interests and give it back to the American people is the right message for the Republican Party and the right message for the voters of California." CLICK HERE
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From the Associated Press:
In addition to the nod from Bauer, a conservative activist and former aide to President Reagan who left the race two weeks ago, McCain also got a nod from California Secretary of State Bill Jones, whose own election relied on independents and Democrats.
Speaking in Los Angeles, Jones said he switched to McCain because his message of campaign finance reform would reach beyond Republican stalwarts and help build the party.
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Arizona Sen. John McCain and the California electorate share one overriding point in common: both struggle mightily to enact campaign finance reform only to see their efforts routinely thwarted by the leadership of their respective parties or by court rulings of unconstitutionality.
Now backers of Proposition 25, the latest and most controversial of a decade- long series of campaign reform initiatives, hope to hitch their faltering wagon to McCain's rising star. Even if the Republican challenger puts the state on the back burner to focus his insurgency on more promising venues, he's brought their issue into the limelight, they say.
McCain's championing of campaign finance reform could be the wild card boosting Prop 25 to victory. But he could end up antagonizing some newfound allies in the process.
"He and I are soul mates on campaign finance reform," says Secretary of State Bill Jones, who recently switched his backing from George W. Bush to McCain. " But I would advise him not to come out strongly for 25."
Jones is not alone in his opposition to Prop 25. The measure, sponsored by the bipartisan duo of wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ron Unz and former Acting Secretary of State Tony Miller, has split traditional campaign reform advocacy groups, putting the League of Women Voters in the "no" camp with labor groups, the Chamber of Commerce and Gov. Gray Davis.
And while the electorate may not have fully tuned into the debate yet, no campaign measure has more alarmed and galvanized Sacramento's insiders, who live and die by their fund-raising ability. Gov. Davis, mockingly dubbed the poster boy for the "yes" campaign because he raised $13 million in last year's off-election cycle, takes Prop 25 personally, reportedly soliciting most of the $1.3 million that rolled into the campaign to defeat Prop 25 in the past month.
Davis has said he opposes Prop 25's public financing provisions, while other opponents cite its higher-than-federal contribution limits, a so-called soft money loophole, and the $55 million the legislative analyst's office has estimated the measure will cost.
However, Sen. McCain has formally endorsed the measure, with Common Cause and other prominent campaign reform advocates backing it as well.
The Recorder February 29, 2000, Tuesday
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