Eric Jones’s venture capital colleagues at Dragoneer surely know what they would get in him as a member of Congress. Why don’t his would-be constituents?

By Liz Russell

When Eric Jones says he needs two to four years to learn the ropes of being a congressman, and to figure out only after he’s elected whom to meet with in the communities he wants to represent, how can voters trust him to serve our interests? Mike Thompson needed no such grace period (or $20mil in campaign funding), because he put in the work from the start. He dropped out of high school, served in the Army in wartime, and came home to earn his GED and become the first in his family to go to college. He worked as a winery mechanic, keeping the presses and bottling lines running, and from there won a seat in the state legislature while raising a family in his hometown of St. Helena. Long before he was a lawmaker, he was one of the working people Eric Jones now claims to speak for.

Consider today’s letter in the Napa Valley Register from one of Jones’s supporters, Richard Tippitt. He describes Jones as someone who grew up on food stamps, then recounts that when Jones was asked whether he’d still run if he weren’t wealthy, he said no, “at least not yet.” What does that even mean?

Many of us grew up in households facing similar economic and familial hardships (some even unspeakable), and our response wasn’t to pillage the American economy and rip off Medicare and seniors through venture capital. Nor did we then run for Congress claiming to oppose the very system that made us rich. That is hypocritical at best.

By Roberta Millstein

Recently, I’ve had people ask me why it’s so bad that the Eric Jones campaign is spending millions of out-of-district dollars.  I was surprised by the question at first, but since a few have asked it, here is my attempt to answer, with links to many of our previous Davisite articles. Please share this article to help get the word out before Nov 3.

10. It raises the bar for political spending. Jones $15M contributions to his campaign — to buy a seat in the House — are record-setting in CA and make his congressional campaign spending one of the highest in the country. It’s a waste of money that could be used on other things and makes it harder for ordinary citizens to run for office. Someone that wasteful of money and resources would not make a prudent candidate.

9. It’s carpet bagging. Jones’s direct donations are mostly large, out-of-district voters, many in high tech and finance. There is no reason to think that these donors have District 4 interests at heart.

8. Jones is supported by a Super PAC, New Leadership Now, of associates from his former firm, Dragoneer, where he was a venture capitalist (not a “businessman” as he likes to call himself) for 12 years, 8 as partner. Jones misrepresented this from the very beginning, claiming not to take corporate PAC money, but to date NLN has spent more than $5 M on Jones’s campaign. Super PACs, which are not supposed to coordinate with campaigns, are typically shady — this one, which has supported only Jones, was formed even before he declared his candidacy and while Jones was still an active partner at Dragoneer.