Is Sacramento’s Dave Jones an educator? State ballot title raises questions

State Senate candidate Dave Jones has a lengthy resume. He’s a former insurance commissioner, assemblyman and Sacramento City Council member.

But in his campaign filing with the California Secretary of State’s Office, Jones lists his occupation as “environmental advocate/educator.” That’s the description local voters will see when they mark their ballots for the upcoming June primary.

Jones, a Democrat, is running in a hotly contested Senate District 8 race against union representative Rafa Garcia and Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, both also Democrats.

His campaign says his title reflects his work as director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley School of Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, a job he took in 2019.

Ashby’s campaign says his ballot designation is misleading.

“Over the last two years, educators have been on the front lines teaching our children during the COVID pandemic,” said Katie Hanzlik, spokeswoman for the Ashby campaign. “Those educators have earned that title, and voters deserve not to be misled as they consider candidates to support on June 7.”

Jones spokesman Michael Soneff said he has ample reason to describe himself in that way.

“As an educator, Dave has undertaken research, co-authored and published papers, convened educational conferences, spoken as an academic expert on numerous panels and at conferences, advised students, and lectured. Dave is not a teacher, and he has never claimed to be a teacher,” he said. “Dave is an environmental advocate and educator who works to educate the public, policymakers, regulators, other academics, and students, about climate related risks and policies to address those risks.”

Jones is not the only candidate to list his profession as educator, a term likely to engender trust from voters. A Bee review of Secretary of State candidate filings for the June 7 primary found that 23 candidates for office listed their occupation as educator.

“These ballot titles, the less information there is in a race, the less information that voters have, the more important these ballot titles are because they become in some cases the only other information that a voter may have about somebody,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican campaign strategist.

Stutzman said that a ballot designation is less important in a race for state Senate, where there is likely an abundance of candidate information to be had, but it still could matter to some voters, particularly Democratic primary voters who are likely to have a strong affinity for educators.

“It’s something that’s always coveted or sought after,” Stutzman said.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber accepted Jones’ educator designation, and the Ashby campaign hasn’t challenged it in court.

The Secretary of State’s Office prohibits the use of “former” in candidate occupation designations. If Jones had used “former insurance commissioner” as his designation, it likely would have been rejected.

Teachers’ groups are on Jones’ side.

Jones has the support of both the California Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Association, as well as the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers.

“Dave Jones is an educator. He is deeply engaged with academic research, writing and publication around the risks associated with climate change, and he works to share that knowledge with the world, said Jason Newman, president of the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers. “In his role at UC Berkeley School of Law, Dave is educating others and doing the work of an educator.”

Kelly Franklin, spokeswoman for UC Berkeley School of Law, confirmed in an email that Jones has not taught classes there. But she said the user of the term “educator” is broader.

“Dave has not taught classes here, but being an ‘educator’ does not necessarily mean teaching classes. He is a center director and that is also an educational role,” she said.

This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Is Sacramento’s Dave Jones an educator? State ballot title raises questions."