Jones says once again: no run for governor

Denise Cardinal

Friday, May 8, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.

Despite stating on a local news radio program that she still had two weeks to decide if she wanted to run for governor, Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones says she is not entering the race.

In a taped interview to be aired next week on KNEWS, news director Fred Lewis asked Jones about the governor's race between Republican Kenny Guinn and Democrat Joe Neal of North Las Vegas.

"What happened to the the whole idea of democracy?" asked Jones, referring to the way Guinn is projected to easily win the gubernatorial race. "Where people came to the table to talk...and the public made the choices."

Lewis pointed out to Jones that if she was so disappointed in this year's race the filing deadline is May 18.

"It's not too late," he said.

"I know it's not too late," Jones said. "I've got two weeks."

Cathy Hanson, a spokeswoman for Jones, said the mayor made a "flippant remark," and that Jones would not be running for governor.

But Nevada politicos said Jones would be a viable candidate if she decided to run, even if it was relatively late in the race.

"It might become a horse race," said Dan Burdish, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party. "I know she's been asked to. But some of her biggest supporters are the same as Guinn's."

Jones already had decided not to make a bid for governor late in 1997, when Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Pappa got out of the race as the democratic candidate. At the time, Jones said she wanted to stay mayor and that she liked her family life.

Then in January she was diagnosed with breast cancer for which she is currently undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Jones previously ran for governor in 1994 losing to Gov. Bob Miller in the Democratic primary. Miller himself, however, has asked Jones to run this time. Vice President Al Gore also told Jones that she would have presidential backing if she made the decision to go for it.