Vernon Jones

During his 2008 Senate campaign, Jones described himself as a "conservative Democrat" who favors "tough immigration laws and fiscal responsibility" as well as "supporter of gun rights and a staunch environmental advocate".[11] During his 2008 campaign, he stated that he opposed same-sex marriage.[12] OnTheIssues.org rated Jones as a "Moderate Libertarian Conservative".[13] Jones stated that he voted for George W. Bush in 2004, and supported Barack Obama in 2008.[14] Jones donated $2,464 in two separate donations to the Georgia Republican Party in 2001.[15][16] In a 2014 press release, Jones characterized himself as an "advocate for limited government, security and protections for all citizens, balanced budgeting, ethical and efficient elections, [and] job creation".[17] Jones was the only Democratic cosponsor of the bill to legalize the concealed carry of firearms on Georgia's college campuses.[18]

Jones was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1992, representing District SH 071, succeeding Sidney Pope Jones, Jr.[19] Jones served from 1993 to 2001, during which time he was a member of the Appropriations Committee, the Insurance Committee, and the Health & Ecology Committee,[20] as well as the Banking Committee, and a special Judiciary Committee.[11] Jones also chaired the Chairman of the Health Professions Subcommittee. Among the proposals Jones sponsored or co-sponsored in the Georgia House was a bill to remove the Confederate battle flag emblem from Georgia State flag, and a bill that would have banned minors from purchasing music with explicit lyrics.[8] Jones did not stand for reelection in 2000, instead running for DeKalb County CEO, and was succeeded in the Georgia House by Ron Sailor.[21]

Jones was elected as chief executive officer of Dekalb County, Georgia, in 2000, winning 64% of the vote, and was re-elected in 2004 with 54% of the vote. Jones is the first African American to serve as CEO of the county, and the youngest ever elected in the county.[7] In April 2001, shortly after Jones became CEO, he voted, along with five other DeKalb County Commissioners, to offer life and health insurance benefits to the domestic partners of gay and unmarried County employees. DeKalb was the first county in Georgia to offer such benefits.[22] During his administration, Dekalb County established the first local Homeland Security Office in 2001.[23] Under Jones, DeKalb County approved creation of a new senior center, increased funding for roads, libraries, and park improvements while maintaining a balanced budget, and increasing the county's credit rating to AAA. As CEO, Jones promoted and achieved passage of a $125 million bond referendum that allowed for the acquisition of 2,735 acre expansion of the DeKalb County's green space, increasing the county's parks and green space by 70%.[7][23] He requested and received Congressional designation of Arabia Mountain as a National Heritage Area.[7] Jones was also primarily responsible for creation of Dekalb County's first economic development department, which generated $4 billion in new investments.[8]

However, Jones' term as DeKalb County CEO was also known for controversies and accusations of improprieties. Shortly after taking office Jones went back on his campaign pledge to keep the homestead exemption sales tax in place.[24] He was criticized for vetoing pay raises for police officers.[25] In January 2005, the Georgia State Ethics Commission sanctioned Jones for campaign contribution limit violations in his 2004 reelection campaign. Under a Consent Order, Jones returned all excess contributions and personally paid a $7,500 civil penalty.[26] Jones apologized and stated that changes in campaign finance laws between the initial election and the run-off election were the reason for his acceptance of nineteen improper campaign contributions.[8] He was initially accused of illegally using campaign funds to promote the 2005 bond referendum, but the State Ethics Commission "found no reasonable grounds" for the complaint.[27]

Jones ran for the U.S. Senate in 2008, but was defeated 60% to 40% in the 2008 run-off for Georgia's Democratic U.S. Senate primary.[3]

On March 23, 2007, Jones announced he was running for the United States Senate against incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss. Jones was criticized by his chief rival Jim Martin over his more conservative politics and past support for George W. Bush.[14] Jones' campaign was also marred by two new controversies. Jones sent out a flier in which he appeared in a digitally altered picture next to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with the words "Yes We Can." However, Obama himself stated he not only never posed with Jones, he did not endorse Jones or any other candidate for the Democratic nomination for Senate.[28] In response, Jones blamed his "liberal opponents backed by the liberal media" for trying to ruin his campaign.[29] Jones also received criticism for the appearance of the tagline "Vote Vernon Jones for GA Senate" on tickets, produced using county funds, for the Dekalb County Blues and Jazz Festival. The company who printed the tickets, supporters of Jones' campaign, took responsibility for the incident; saying that they were unaware campaign finance laws made such an action illegal.[30]

In the July 15, 2008 Democratic primary election, Jones won a plurality of votes in the Democratic primary. However, Georgia law requires a majority; if no majority is reached by a candidate, the two top vote-getters must face one another in a runoff. On August 5, 2008, Jones lost the run-off election to Jim Martin by a margin of 20 points. Jones unexpectedly lost to Martin in his home base of Dekalb County.[31] Jones had lost support within the black community before the runoff election, and only captured two-thirds of the black vote in the head to head match up against Martin. The black turnout in the run-off was also substantially lower than the initial primary election, further hurting Vernon Jones' chances in the runoff.[32]

In 2010, Jones launched an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Congress in Georgia's 4th congressional district.[35] In 2014, Jones ran unsuccessfully for Sheriff of DeKalb County, GA. He lost to incumbent Sheriff Jeff Mann, 76% to 24%.[36]

In March 2016, Jones filed to run for Georgia House of Representatives, this time in House District 91, an open seat vacated by Dee Dawkins-Haigler.[37] In the May 2016 Democratic primary election, Jones came within sixty votes of an outright victory, but was forced into a runoff election with Rhonda Taylor.[38] Jones won the July runoff election[39] and in November 2016, once again won election to the Georgia House, defeating Republican Carl Anuszczyk.[4]

On April 14, 2020, Jones became the first state elected Democratic official in Georgia to endorse President Donald Trump's re-election bid.[40] Jones said he had no plans to switch political parties and gave his reasons for the endorsement by saying "It’s very simple to me. President Trump’s handling of the economy, his support for historically black colleges and his criminal justice initiatives drew me to endorse his campaign."[41] Due to backlash from his endorsement of Trump, he announced his resignation from the Georgia House of Representatives on April 22, 2020.[5] On April 23, 2020, Jones announced on his Twitter account that he was in fact not resigning.[42]

On August 24, 2020, Jones addressed the 2020 Republican National Convention and reiterated his endorsement of Trump.[43] On October 16, 2020, Jones spoke at a Trump rally in Macon, Georgia and crowd surfed afterwards, which drew criticism as it occurred in the middle of a pandemic with a mostly maskless crowd.[44]

Jones said that the election in Georgia has been "tainted" after the 2020 United States presidential election.[45][46]

Jones had lost his last election and his term ended on January 11, 2021. On January 6, 2021, he attended the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol where he spoke to the crowd, stating that he stands “firm for President Donald J. Trump” and “they don’t know they have awakened a sleeping giant.” He then again announced that he was changing his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican amid cheers from the audience.[47][48][49][50]

In 2003, Jones was initially accused of excessive spending after a news article highlighted his annual budget of $250,000 "that went towards the salary and overtime pay of his 5 member security detail". Two separate county grand juries concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing, but the security detail should be decreased.[8]

On August 24, 2004, two current (Michael Bryant, John Drake) and two former (Becky Kelley, Herbert Lowe) senior employees of the Parks Department at the time filed suit against DeKalb County, Vernon Jones (as CEO of the county), and three of Jones' subordinates (Marilyn Boyd Drew, Richard Stogner, and Morris Williams), alleging racial discrimination, or in the case of Lowe, "retaliation for refusing to assist in racial discrimination". Kelly, Bryant, and Drake were white, while Lowe was black.[51]

Attorneys for the DeKalb County defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds of qualified immunity as state officials. On November 10, 2006, District Court Judge William Duffey rejected their summary judgment petition, holding that the law does not allow "a public official defendant to engage in calculated racial discrimination costumed in a racially neutral garb of administrative actions so it can masquerade as a qualified immunity defense".[51] On November 21, 2006, Duffey ruled that the case could go forward to a jury trial.[52] Jones and his fellow defendants then appealed the denial of their summary judgement motion. On July 31, 2009, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the District Court judge's rejection of the Defendants' motion for summary judgment on the grounds of qualified immunity. Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat, writing for the court, stated in the ruling that "DeKalb County, Georgia [had] embarked on a wholesale plan to replace its white county managers with African Americans" and that Vernon Jones had "devised the plan and monitored its execution".[51]

In March 2010, the case was finally heard by a jury. During the trial plaintiffs' attorneys called witnesses from across county government in an attempt to demonstrate a countywide policy of discrimination. Jones denied any discrimination against white employees. He testified that "I wanted the best and the brightest. That meant blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, gay, straight, anybody who wanted to work for DeKalb County. I wanted everybody to have a seat at the table".[53] Other testimony revealed that during the first five years of Jones' term in office, the number of white senior county managers had dropped from 61 to 57, and the number of African-American senior county managers had risen from 33 to 61.[54]

On April 2, 2010, the jury awarded damages to two of the four plaintiffs and cleared Jones of any racial discrimination while Dekalb County was found liable. Michael Bryant, who died before the trial, and John Drake. The jurors found that Jones, his former executive assistant, Richard Stogner, and former parks director Marilyn Boyd Drew, were liable only for $185,000 in damages, substantially lower than the $2 million requested by plaintiffs. However, Jones was still found to have "created and maintained a hostile work environment".[53] Jones was ordered to personally pay $27,750[55] of the damages, which was covered by the DeKalb County's $50,000 liability insurance policy on its employees.[56]

While the verdict was initially hailed as a victory for Jones, the judge later awarded the plaintiffs an additional $1.9 million in legal fees.[56] DeKalb County ultimately agreed to pay the plaintiffs a total of $1.3 million for legal fees and damages on the April 19th, 2011, post-trial settlement.[57]