Ali OTO

San Francisco– Democratic nominee for California Secretary of State Michela Alioto today sharply criticized Secretary of State Bill Jones for accepting his legislator�s salary and per diem while missing hundreds of votes on the floor of the Assembly during the 1994 legislative session.

As a member of the California Assembly in 1994, then-Assemblyman Bill Jones missed 332 floor votes during the 1994 legislative session, Assembly records show. The number of missed votes reflects Jones� 1994 floor record only (the last of the twelve years that Jones was in the Assembly) and does not include missed committee votes.

In 1994, legislators received a per diem of $101 per day once they checked in at morning roll call. The per diem payment was in addition to a legislator�s annual salary of $52,500, and legislators could opt to waive the per diem if they were conducting personal business.

Jones failed to waive his per diem on days he missed votes. In fact, Jones often claimed his per diem only to miss dozens of votes later in the day, a pattern that became more frequent in the fall of 1994 while he was in a tight race for secretary of state. For example, on August 29 Jones checked in at roll call and then missed 38 floor votes; on August 30,Jones checked in and then missed 64 votes; on August 31 he checked in at roll call and then missed 27 votes. All told, Jones missed 248 votes in August of 1994 alone, and collected a total of $5,050 in per diem pay on days that he missed votes.

“While the Assembly was holding floor votes on scores of issues, Jones was not to be seen,” Alioto said. “Jones was in a competitive race for higher office at the time. He should explain where he was and what he was doing when taxpayers were paying him to represent them.”

Over the past year, Jones has repeatedly criticized Alioto for failing to vote as a private citizen in several elections in the early to mid-1990s. In a letter recently sent to Alioto, Jones wrote “[v]oters…throughout the state have repeatedly told me that they believe voting is a critically important qualification for this constitutional office.”

“I have, and always will, take responsibility for my actions,” Alioto said. “It is time for Mr. Jones to explain why he ignored this �critically important qualification� when he was being paid by taxpayers to represent the people�s interests.”

“The public trusted Mr. Jones to carry out the duties of a member of the California Assembly, and taxpayers paid him over $60,000 in 1994 to do his job,” Alioto said. “Mr. Jones failed the people who elected him and who paid him. He took the money and ran.”