Burnt Orange Report

Who Is Elizabeth Ames Jones?

By Vince Leibowitz

Guest Post By Vince Leibowitz

Am I the only one who's spent the last day or so asking "Who is Elizabeth Ames Jones?"

Maybe I am. Perhaps I am the only Texan who hadn't heard much of Ames Jones prior to her being mentioned as a Perry appointee to the Texas Railroad Commission. On the other hand, perhaps others are as curious as I am about who this seemingly anonomous member of the House Republican majority is and exactly why Rick Perry picked her for a spot on the RRC.

Sadly, I'm probably not the only one who is in the dark about Elizabeth Ames Jones. So, for the benefit of BOR readers and the politically inquisitive everywhere, I tried to do a little research on Mrs. Ames Jones.

Google turns up little. Her reports to the Texas Ethics Commission seem uneventful (unless I've missed something--anyone who personally knows the names of every energy lobbyist in Texas, feel free to browse the reports here), except for a donation back in 2000 from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry. However, she evidently maintains her own "527" group, and has given to Craddick's Stars Over Texas PAC ($1,500), and Paul Stevens campaign for Texas Supreme Court (two $500 contributions).

The biography on her House Web page notes some pretty obvious stuff and a few interesting but not terribly revealing tidbits.

First off, she's a sixth-generation Texan "born and raised in District 121." She was elected in 2000, and represnts northeastern Bexar County.

She's an Alamo Heights High School grad (if I recall, one of the more posh public high schools in Texas) and holds a journalism (???) degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Her husband is Will C. Jones, IV. I thought surely, with a name like that, he'd be officing within the oak paneled offices of one of Central Texas's more prestigious firms. Not so. He's a Commercial Escrow Officer for Stewart Title of San Antonio, (a division of a national company of the same name) according to the State Bar of Texas.

Evidently, he's dabbled in politics himself, having served as "a former City Councilman of a local community," according to his Stewart Title bio.

According to her House bio, Ames Jones' key legislative issues are "are education and health care reforms, as well as the promotion of economic development and responsible growth in her fast-growing district." Not sure where that fits in with service on the Railroad Commission, but OK.

More appropriate for RRC service include her stints on Appropriations and Committee on Energy Resources, for which she served as Chairman of Budget and Oversight during 2003. And, of importance for partisans, she was Vice Chair for the Texas House of Representatives Republican Caucus.

She's got some Texas Association of Business connections, too, having recieved a "Fighter for Free Enterprise" award from that group.

Thank God for the Texas Observer, though. TO provided a little more insight on Ames Jones, though not much.

Back in 2000, TO noted:

San Antonio Republican Bill Siebert offended his constituents by moonlighting as a lobbyist at City Hall. He lost by a 66-34 margin to Elizabeth Ames Jones, who questioned the ethics of a state rep lobbying before his hometown city council. Siebert said his legislative credentials in no way provided him with an advantage as a city hall lobbyist. He will have an opportunity to prove that next year.

Oddly enough, that same article mentions another San Antonio politician's first campaign: David Leibowitz, who was sworn in as a House member Tuesday. He lost a Democratic Primary race for Senate back in 2000.

Former Texas Observer writer Karen Olsson (who wrote one of my all-time favorite Texas Monthly articles) revealed a little more about Ames Jones when she named her "Homecoming Queen" of the Lege's "Class of 2001:"

A homemaker and freelance interior designer, Ames ousted former Republican Rep. Bill Siebert after questions were raised about his lobbying on behalf of private clients before the San Antonio City Council (a practice which is not illegal and which other current Representatives engage in, but it still smells bad). Jones resembles a slightly older Cameron Diaz, with just a touch of Cindy Brady thrown in, and she dresses way better than Siebert ever did. She says she’s a person who doesn’t take no for an answer. "I do my best to change things that I personally think are broken, sometimes to a fault. Maybe sometimes you shouldn’t send the meal back to the kitchen–at least, I’ve been harassed for that by my children before."

Though she hasn’t been professionally active in politics for some time, Jones did work for former Governor Bill Clements’ campaign in 1979 and 1980, alongside future Bush guru Karl Rove. More recently, she’s been a strong supporter of Republican Congressmen Henry Bonilla and Lamar Smith. She says she first started thinking of running for office a year and a half ago. "I thought my standards of practice would be more in keeping with good business practices," compared to those of her predecessor.

Ah HA! Some useful information: interior designer (freelance--guess she didn't like journalism), Bill Clements, Bush, Karl Rove, Henry Bonilla, Lamar Smith. For a Bexar County Republican, that'd make a heck of a Friendster entry.

As for her legislative record, Jones did author a couple of interesting bills in the last session:

In particular, as one of the House leaders on judicial reform issues, she authored a bill which would have instituted non-partisan retention elections for appointed judges (remember the short-lived judicial reform campaign of 2003?).

She also authored one of the thousands of bills one could read and immediately wonder "What the....", which related to allowing the state to produce and sell prints of work by the state artist for two-dimensional media (does Texas have an official artist for three dimensional media?).

And, finally, at long last (perhaps I should have looked here first), are some actual energy/communications/etc., regulatory issues:

HB 2956 Author: Jones, Elizabeth
Sponsor: none
Last Action: 04/30/2003 H Meeting cancelled
Relating to a franchise tax credit for oil and gas
producers that make financial contributions to institutions
of higher education.

HB 2301 Author: Jones, Elizabeth
Sponsor: Armbrister
Last Action: 05/22/2003 S Committee report printed and
distributed relating to the collection of oil-field cleanup
regulatory fees.

HB 2006 Author: Jones, Elizabeth / et al.
Sponsor: Fraser
Last Action: 06/20/2003 E Effective on 9/1/03
Relating to the construction and maintenance of utility,
common carrier, cable operator, and energy transporter
facilities along, over, under, or across a railroad
right-of-way.

In the prior session, she introduced a strange bill which would have evidently made it more difficult for communications between citizens and some public officials to be released as "open records."

All in all, it's not a terribly impressive record for someone appointed to statewide office, at least based on what I've discovered. Though she may have--at long last--broken that terrible glass celing for freelance interior decorators who allegedly look like Cameron Diaz, the jury's still out on Ames Jones.

Vince Leibowitz, an award-winning former newspaper journalist, is County Chairman of the Democratic Party of Van Zandt County.