Face The State Staff Report
Despite a few recent disappointments, former state Sen. Ed Jones of El Paso County has not given up on his lifelong fight for civil rights.
JonesFTS File Photo
A spokesman for 2008's Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, titled Amendment 46 on the November ballot, the black Republican was passionate about the campaign's attempt to prohibit the consideration of race or gender in public hiring, contracting, and education. On a crowded ballot, Colorado's second longest ever, the initiative fell short with 50.6 of voters saying no.
As Jones tells it, the campaign was part of a larger personal crusade to fight the stereotype that minorities can't succeed without receiving special help from government.
Born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Jones recalls watching members of the Ku Klux Klan marching the streets of his hometown during the 1940's and 50's. It was his mother that gave him the courage to get an education and leave Mississippi. "My mom used to warn me I was going to get knocked down a lot in my life," he said. "She would tell me to at least fall on my back, so that way I was still looking up." She passed away last fall.
While serving in the Army in 1963, Jones came through Colorado Springs and decided to stay. In 2002, he was elected to the state Senate and became the only black Republican to serve in the Senate during his tenure in the chamber. He owed part of his success to black Democrats that crossed party lines to vote for him. But bi-partisan support was short lived. In 2003, he sponsored a bill that sought to abolish racial preference programs in state government. The measure was defeated, and Jones said in hindsight that the decision was one that should be made by the people of Colorado.
Jones said he was vilified by black leaders in Colorado Springs and Denver because of his bill. "I started to call those people gospel pimps," he said.
The 2006 election cycle was devastating for Republicans, who fell deeper into the minority in the General Assembly. Jones was among those who lost re-election, with his loss attributed to larger anti-Republican sentiment as well as organized opposition from black activists. Democrat John Morse defeated Jones, garnering 60 percent of the vote.
"Ed has always been a very principled person, and he felt like affirmative action laws are detrimental to those in his race," said former Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs. "I think that [his efforts were] misunderstood by the black ministerial alliance which opposed him for re-election."
Despite his own defeat and Amendment 46's loss, Jones is pressing on. He now travels around the country speaking out on the politics of race. “Lots of minorities look at me as a threat, but I would sure like to talk to them if they’ll listen,” he said. “There are lots of blacks with conservative ideas. Black churches are very traditional on family issues. I encourage people to really look at what affirmative action has really done for us. It hasn’t done anything for us. It sends a bad stigma to our young. It tells them they can’t make it unless they are given preference. That stigmatizes them so they can never get out of that crutch.”
Jones also encourages his white friends to speak out against race preferences. "Whites tell me they can't say what I say because then they get called racist," he said. "Only you know whether you are racist or not."
According to Amendment 46 campaign manager Jessica Peck Corry, Jones represents an essential voice in the Republican Party. "Ed can look guilty white guys in the eye and say, 'quit insisting that blacks must be victims.' His own personal story and his tireless perseverance for justice are an inspiration to people of every race."
Full disclosure: Corry also serves as an editorial contributor to Face The State.
The full story from 2002 - which Jones wants forgotten...
On April 21st, 2009 Socrates says:
County Commissioner Ed Jones, a Republican running for state Senate, watched at least one drug deal go down at a Colorado Springs bar where he was a regular patron, an informer told police two years ago.
"Ed sat right there and saw every bit of it," the informer, Randall Smith, told police after he allegedly observed the drug deal -- in the middle of a business day at Leonard's Bar II on East Platte Avenue -- during an undercover investigation in the fall of 2000. Smith's remark was recorded on a police surveillance audiotape, a copy of which was obtained by the Independent along with other tapes.
Moreover, the detective in charge of the investigation told prosecutors that Jones had been sitting with him and Smith on at least one occasion when the detective and Smith purchased cocaine openly across the bar, according to former Deputy District Attorney David Foley.
Foley, the lead prosecutor in the case, was concerned enough about the statements that he asked his boss, District Attorney Jeanne Smith, to review the information and determine whether charges should be filed against Jones. However, Foley says there was insufficient evidence to charge Jones.
Jones, who did not return calls seeking comment for this story, has publicly denied knowing anything about drug deals at Leonard's Bar II.
Right in front of him
As initially reported in the Independent on Oct. 10, Jones -- who is in a close state Senate race against Democrat Tony Marino -- was a regular patron at Leonard's Bar II and a close friend of the bar's owner, Leonard Carlo.
The now-closed notorious bar was littered with prominently displayed signs containing the words "f***" and "c***," which in 1999 were confiscated by state liquor agents, though Carlo went to court and won his signs back.
A subsequent drug investigation led to 20 criminal charges against Carlo, ranging from robbery to racketeering and drug distribution. However, Carlo pleaded guilty and was convicted of just one count of possessing cocaine. He denies having committed any crimes and accuses police and prosecutors of lying. Several of his bartenders, however, pleaded guilty to selling cocaine.
Police had launched the drug investigation after being tipped off by Randall Smith, a career criminal who was also a longtime friend of Jones. Randall Smith and an undercover detective, Richard "Dusty" DuVall, proceeded to purchase cocaine at the bar on several occasions.
As previously reported, DuVall told the Independent that Jones was in the bar on at least four of those occasions. DuVall declined to speculate publicly on whether Jones knew about the drug deals.
But Foley says DuVall told him Jones must have known.
"He told us that Ed Jones was sitting right there at the bar with him when the transaction took place," Foley said. "And we asked him if Ed Jones knew what was going on. He said, 'I don't know how he could not have known. It was right in front of him.'"
The smell test
Surveillance tapes from the investigation also indicate that on several occasions when Randall Smith and DuVall bought cocaine in the bar, Jones was in close proximity to Randall Smith, who wore a concealed transmitting device. In the audiotapes, Jones can be heard chatting with Randall Smith.
And following one alleged drug transaction, Randall Smith can be heard talking to police after he has left the bar. He describes how bar staff conducted a drug deal "while I was sitting there talking to Ed."
He continues, "Ed sat right there and saw every bit of it -- and says he don't know what's going on. Yeah, shit, Ed -- you ain't blind."
The undercover operation ended abruptly when police raided the bar on Oct. 20, 2000, after Carlo found out Randall Smith was an informer.
Jeanne Smith, the district attorney, spoke with Jones in her office two days after reviewing the surveillance tapes, Foley says. However, Foley says he doesn't know what the two talked about.
Smith, who has contributed $100 to Jones' election campaign, did not return phone calls requesting comment for this story. However, in a fax message, she denied having summoned Jones to her office to discuss the drug case.
Foley says he believes his former boss handled the case appropriately, adding that he, Jeanne Smith and another deputy district attorney all felt there was insufficient evidence to charge Jones.
Still, Foley says he doubts Jones' claims that he had no idea what was going on. "It didn't pass the smell test. I mean, he's saying he knew nothing about it, but the detective is telling us he's sitting right there."
Socrates
Why should anyone listen....
On April 21st, 2009 Socrates says:
....to a man who, while a county commissioner and on county time, sits in a bar getting drunk and watching a cocaine deal being conducted - and laughing at it? And the same man dodged paying his taxes for.....what was it? Ten years or so?
Ed "Cocaine Deal" Jones ought to just slink away into well-deserved obscurity. Instead, his handlers just pushing him out there as the face of black Republicans. It's pathetic. Go away, Ed. Just go away and live off all of that state retirement money you've already got by virtue of sitting in elected office for years doing nothing of consequence.
Socrates