Jones confident race will conclude with victory lap

Mark D. Preston

Monday, June 8, 1998 | 10:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "I have never run a race I couldn't finish," a confident Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones said Saturday, fresh from a 5K jog that afternoon.

These words did not have much meaning for the hotel guests passing the mayor in the lobby of Washington's Sheraton-Carlton, but to Jones they represent the past six months of her life -- literally -- and the next six months which will determine her political future.

Jones visited the nation's capital over the weekend at the invitation of Vice President Al Gore to participate in the ninth annual National Race for the Cure benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Jones described her finish as a "very respectable 34 minutes," but the race had a more personal meaning for the mayor, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January.

Proclaiming victory against a disease that will kill about 260 Nevada women this year, the mayor is now focusing on her gubernatorial bid, a race she lost four years ago. Even though Jones is undergoing cancer treatment, she said it will have no effect on her upcoming campaign.

"I am right in the middle of treatment now and I can still run three miles," Jones said.

Jones said she decided to enter the gubernatorial race, because she "saw a Republican Party that had two years to come up with an issue and hadn't been able to find one.

"I think I have the leadership and vision that Nevada needs going into the 21st century," Jones said. "I saw a lack of leadership, and an anointment process and that isn't what Nevada is all about."

Jones said her gubernatorial campaign will cost $2 million and estimates between $250,000 to $300,000 will be spent to defeat state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, for the Democratic nomination.

Jones said she has raised about $500,000, which includes commitments, since announcing May 18 she would seek the Silver State's top elected post. Jones said her political experience more than matches Republican front-runner and Las Vegas businessman Kenny Guinn's $3 million war chest.

"He has to (raise large campaign contributions)," she said. "He doesn't have the name recognition nor the legacy to stand on. Kenny Guinn has never been elected to any office, and he is 62 years old."

Jones, who accompanied Gore and his wife, Tipper, throughout the race Saturday, said they did not discuss her political bid but said she would be "delighted" if he visited Las Vegas for a fund-raiser.

The mayor, who met Democratic Governors Association representatives Saturday, said she plans to raise most of her contributions from Silver State sources and California-based businesses that do work in Nevada, including home builders and health care companies.

Jones said she would release her complete campaign platform in "five or six weeks," but did say education -- especially increased classroom funding -- would be the main plank.

Jones said the money needed to increase classroom spending would not come from new taxes, but instead a redistribution of the current funding.

"I think what you will find is there is a tremendous amount of money going into administration in the school district that could be going into classrooms," Jones said. She declined to discuss specific details until she releases her complete platform sometime in July.

Another theme Jones said she will push is managed growth for the state, including a move toward mass transit to alleviate traffic congestion.