As secretary of state in 2001, Bill Jones moved to rid California of the type of antiquated voting machines that helped throw the presidential election into turmoil in Florida. Then last year he sponsored a successful $200-million industry-backed bond measure that gave counties money to buy high-tech replacements.
Now, the former elections chief is a paid consultant to one of the major voting machine firms vying for that business.
One of his former top aides has become a vice president for business development with the same company, Sequoia Voting Systems. Another former employee is working on Sequoia business strategies.
Voting machines -- An article in Monday's Section A about voting machine companies hiring former government officials misspelled the surname of former Sacramento mayor and state Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg as Eisenberg.
And the official who oversaw the certification of new voting machines under Jones has signed on as a competitor's California general manager.
Out of the tumultuous 2000 presidential election has come a national initiative to replace punch-card voting devices with modern optical-scanning and touch-screen systems. And in California, where 54 counties are expected to buy about $400 million in new equipment, some voting machine makers are hiring former government officials such as Jones to supply prestige, entre or expertise for a competitive edge.
There is no prohibition against former officials working for election machine companies, unless they lobby their old agency within a year of leaving. And elections officials and vendors defend their close relationships, saying that they improve election systems and benefit the public.
But Kim Alexander, president of the nonprofit California Voter Foundation, said, "The regulators and the regulated are so closely intertwined that the regulators go almost exclusively to [the vendors] for information and answers to questions."
Several major voting machine companies do more than provide technical expertise and guidance on new regulations. They spend thousands of dollars on major conferences of election officials from coast to coast. They pay for booths to display their wares. They foot the bill for hospitality suites and, sometimes, banquets, pool parties and boat outings -- even a Maine lobster bake.
In Ohio, one vendor competing for $100 million in contracts recently treated election officials to free meals, limousine rides and concert tickets. And that prompted a state ethics commission to remind county elections offices that taking gifts from vendors is illegal.
