Backers credit Jones as leader ‘concerned about ordinary people’

Scott Reeder

Sunday, Oct. 25, 1998 | 9:23 a.m.

As Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones walked to the podium at the New Frontier hotel-casino, a roar rolled through the conference room as AFL-CIO delegates rose and cheered.

Arms marked with tattoos and hands bearing calluses lifted the "Jan Jones for Governor" signs even higher.

The city's attractive mayor scanned the faces and saw what she hopes will be a significant constituency: organized labor.

"Sure she is wealthy," said Charlie Cox, president of a United Auto Workers local in Reno. "That's America -- making money. I won't begrudge anyone that. It is what someone believes that is important. The last time I checked, (Sen.) Ted Kennedy had a few bucks in the bank. But he is one of the biggest friends the working person has.

"I don't know her background, but somewhere she learned to be concerned about ordinary people."

In fact, she tells a story about her grandfather being forced to drop out of school and sell tea door-to-door to support his family in the Pittsburgh area. He eventually founded what became a successful grocery-store chain in the Los Angeles area, Thriftimart Inc.

Jones, 49, has made a fortune through the grocery chain, which was owned by her family, and a chain of auto dealerships run by her ex-husband's family.

She was vice president for research and development of Thriftimart for 12 years and president of Fletcher Jones Management Co., the auto dealership, for five years.

Jones' father, Roger Laverty, said he made a point of making sure his children developed a strong work ethic as they were raised in southern California.

"When she was 16, she worked as a checker in the store (in Conoga Park, Calif.). She has always been a worker. She worked all the way through college too."

She received a bachelor's degree in English and psychology from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

The mayor has earned a reputation for having a bit of a short fuse.

"Well, she's Irish. God bless the Irish, she has a temper on her. But she gets over it quickly," City Councilman Arnie Adamsen said.

Gov. Bob Miller, who was challenged by Jones in the Democratic primary four years ago, has nothing but good things to say about Jones. For that matter, he has nothing but good to say about her GOP opponent, Kenny Guinn.

"Jan is an incredibly detail-oriented person. When she ran against me, she came with these incredibly long position statements," Miller said. "They were almost treatises on things like law enforcement and education. They were so long, I don't think the average voter could read all the way through it."

Miller said he is supporting Jones, a fellow Democrat, but quickly adds, "I think the state of Nevada would be in good hands with either Kenny Guinn or Jan Jones."

Her friends describe her as someone who is a sucker for a sob story.

"If she hears a sad story from someone and thinks she can help, she'll give them the shirt off her back," longtime friend Marsha Miller says.

Her mother, Joan Laverty, remembers her daughter raising pigeons when she was 10.

"One time a raccoon got into the cage and killed a pigeon. We found Jan out there giving the bird mouth-to-mouth resuscitation -- that's how giving a person she is."

That's not to say Jones' life hasn't been without serious challenges.

She's been married three times and is fighting a battle against breast cancer.

Her physician, Joseph Quagliana, reports that she is in good health, but the chemotherapy has taken its toll.

She often looks tired.

"One thing I have had to learn is to rest more. That was something difficult to learn," Jones said.

Her friend, Marsha Miller, says the illness may have spurred her to run for governor.

"One thing you have got to understand about Jan is that she is a fighter. She doesn't let an illness get her down," Miller said. "I've never known her to take a day off work for the flu or anything else. In fact, I remember her walking around one day and the doctor had just told her she had pneumonia."

During her speech at the AFL-CIO convention, Jones called for allowing state workers to collectively bargain and for making the health-care bureaucracy easier for patients to navigate.

On other issues, such as whether to raise the state gaming tax, she sounds quite conservative.

"It doesn't make any sense to tax that industry any heavier than we already are. The difference between Nevada and other states where the tax is higher is that generally casinos have near-monopoly operations in those states. But here they are in a very competitive situation."

About 20 percent of the first $800,000 in campaign money Jones raised came from the gaming industry, said Denise Cardinal, a spokesperson for the campaign. That figure is based on the most recent campaign disclosure filed Aug. 24.

The mayor says she anticipates spending some of her own money on her campaign, but she has not said how much.

"Does that bother me?" Jones asked rhetorically. "Well, wouldn't it bother you if you were spending your own money?"

Much of campaign has centered around reforming Nevada schools.

Jones calls for giving teachers more power to remove disruptive children from classrooms and place them in an alternative disciplinary setting. Her plan also calls for zero tolerance for students who bring weapons or drugs to school.

She also wants to reduce class sizes through increasing state funding for school construction and teacher hiring. She also believes the state needs to spend more on building schools in the northern part of the state.

On social issues Jones is quite liberal.

She supports abortion rights and the medicinal use of marijuana and opposes legislative efforts to close the state's legal brothels.

"Nevada really doesn't have a prostitution problem," Jones said. "It's not legal here in Clark County. In rural areas, it is something to be addressed on a local level. It's really not a state issue."

Jones also supports Nevada sanctioning gay marriages, but she adds this will not be one of her top legislative priorities.

"I've always believed that if two people love each other, they should be able to get married."