It’s the political equivalent of turning lemons into lemonade.
Ellis T. “California” Jones III, the lone Republican candidate for San Diego City Council in District 3, spent 12 years in jail or prison for a series of felonies that began when he was a San Jose State University football player out of Hoover High School.
On his campaign website, Jones says he’s “personally experienced the intricacies and challenges of the criminal justice system” and in prison “dedicated his time to education, teaching computer literacy to other inmates, assisting them with filing paperwork, and helping them earn their GED.”
His bio concludes: “During this period, he gained insight into the intricate complexities of the state, witnessed the widespread ineffectiveness, observed the intentional racial divisions, and came to understand firsthand how cronyism prevails. This challenging phase of Ellis’s life ignited his passion for justice and paved the way for his journey into public service.”
So why was Jones locked up?
A spokeswoman for state corrections told Times of San Diego that in Tulare County he was sentenced May 24, 2007, to three years for conspiracy to commit second-degree robbery, second-degree commercial burglary and resisting or deterring an officer with threat or violence.
“He received 752 days of pre-sentencing credits by the court for time served while awaiting sentencing,” said the prisons rep, Alia Cruz. “On June 13, 2008, Jones was placed on parole supervision. On July 13, 2009, he was discharged from parole after completing his sentence.”
But on April 27, 2011, Jones was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in Santa Clara County for four counts of second-degree robbery, four counts of assault with a stun gun or taser, one count of attempted robbery and one count of false imprisonment with violence, she said via email.
The first conviction involved robberies of a pizza parlor and a home over two days in July 2006. The second was when he later posed as a buyer or seller of high-tech gear on Craigslist.
“He would convince his victim or victims to drive to San Jose, meet them at an agreed-upon location, persuade them to go to a secondary location offering more seclusion, and then rob them, using a handgun, a Taser stun gun, or both weapons,” said a court record.
“He did this on four separate occasions. The victims on one occasion were Jaime Gonzalez and Ajamu Collins; on another, the victim was Matthew White; on another, it was Thuan Hoang; and on another it was Mario Tabares.”
According to state prison records, Jones, now 38, was paroled June 16, 2018. He was discharged from parole supervision July 15, 2020.
Less than four years later, he’s one of three people — along with Democrats Kate Callen and Coleen Cusack —challenging incumbent Councilman Stephen Whitburn in an inland district from Mission Valley to Logan Heights and including Hillcrest and North Park.
Today, Jones says: “As someone who has served a significant amount of time in prison, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the hurt and pain I was a part of. I understand that my actions … have left deep scars.”
It’s not known whether his victims have forgiven Jones. But the one-time operator of an online site devoted to mocking football players and teams with criminal histories is hailing Jones.
Bobak Ha’Eri, a part-time law professor at the University of Minnesota, recalls how Jones was the butt of jokes when a Fulmer Cup award was named for him.
Three years ago, the message-board Reddit announced that overseers of the prankish Fulmer Cup were ending the awards after 12 years.
“For those who do not know, the Fulmer Cup is a parody award akin to the Razzies and Ig Nobel Prize, and is meant to track the criminal achievements of various college football programs during the offseason and declare a ‘winner.'”
Created in 2006 by Spencer Hall of Every Day Should Be Saturday, and run by his website for six years, the awards were handed off to r/CFB, which ran it for six more years at r/TheFulmerCup.
One of the “honors” bestowed was the Ellis T. Jones III Award.
“Prior to the summer of 2006, Ellis T. Jones III was a WR/DB of little renown, enrolled at San Jose State, a school of even less renown,” said a description. “One stun gun and double-digit felony arrests (and convictions) later, he became an EDSBS god. The Ellis T. Jones III Award is earned by the player who single-handedly earns the most points for his university. However, the ‘Ellis T. Jones III Rule’ states that no program that accumulates points based solely on the misdeeds of a single player is eligible for the Fulmer Cup.”
Bobak Ha’Eri told me that Jones humbly contacted him about the award. Not long after, the award was ditched.
“I was never totally comfortable with naming the award after him,” Ha’Eri said. “I’ve always [praised] the rehabilitation aspect of prison, you know penitentiary [root being] penitent.”
Ha’Eri said one of his idols is Malcolm X — who overcame his own criminal background.
“So I just said: You know what — we’re gonna get rid of [the Jones award]. This is so stupid that we still have this name,” and noted that far worse criminals had won the award.
“We got someone at the University of Maine that got charged with murder,” he said.
Ha’Eri, who grew up in Bakersfield and attended USC (after considering UC San Diego), said Jones is a great symbol of how someone can rebuild their life after making mistakes.
“I always say I remember how stupid I was in my late teens 20s, you know, when you’re in college and sometimes you do things you deeply regret,” said Ha’Eri, 44. “Sometimes you need guidance to kind of help you with what’s right and wrong. So it’s possible for a person to turn their lives around and make something of it and I’m actually quite frankly kind of impressed that he’s made it even this far with his life.”
Though he doesn’t take sides in the council contest, Ha’Eri said: “I hope he does well. … This is a good example of sometimes a person can kind of … learn from their mistakes and turn their lives around particularly when they’re young enough to make those fixes because I do believe in the restorative value of justice.
“They’re not defined by one thing they did in their twenties,” he said.
So who is Ellis T. Jones III — beyond his felony record?
His mother is a lifelong nurse from Charleston, South Carolina, who also once worked at the Polinsky Children’s Center, the county’s emergency shelter for children who cannot remain at home as a result of abuse or neglect.
Jones’ father is from Columbus, Mississippi, and his parents met in South Carolina when his father was stationed there in the Navy. They later divorced.
“I was raised in City Heights with my mother until we were forced to move out of our apartment to make way for a shopping center,” Jones said in an email interview. “She got into some trouble and I moved in with my father during high school.”
At Hoover High, ending in 2004, Jones played football, baseball and ran track.
“My whole life I played baseball, but a crush on a cheerleader in ninth grade started me on my football journey (possibly saved my life ?).”
After graduating from Monroe Clark Middle School, he couldn’t follow some of his friends to schools like Mission Bay or University City (after they used relatives’ addresses to attend the football powers).
“There was probably more political reasons why I couldn’t go to these outside schools, but I hadn’t researched the climate during that time,” he said. “I’m sure it has to do with school choice and all of that but that’s another focus. I played football for the great Coach [Willie] Matson and Coach Rolando at Hoover before they were fired and we had two poor seasons my final two years.”
He said Hoover had 20 players considered the “ghetto team” — “but we played tough and I tried my hardest.”
Talented himself, his team lacked the resources of other schools and lost many games.
He was recruited to San Jose State by Keith Williams, who played at SDSU in the 1990s and now coaches wide receivers for the Baltimore Ravens.
“He came to Hoover and I remember showing him around the school and my neighborhood. By that week, he had brought Dr. Fitz Hill (one of the first NCAA Black head coaches) to my father’s apartment on Winona Avenue and offered me a full ride scholarship to SJSU.”
Jones “redshirted” his first year, but soon coach Hill was fired and Dick Tomey of Arizona took over.
Tomey switched Jones from wide receiver to cornerback after telling him that on defense he would most likely have a long NFL career.
“I played at 4, 5 on the depth chart my redshirt freshman year. At the time of my arrest, I was number 1 on the depth chart. (The two guys behind me ended up getting drafted in the third and sixth rounds and played in the NFL for years.)
Besides football, his favorite class in San Jose was in sociology taught by the late Patrick Macdonald.
“I didn’t earn a degree,” he said. “I was about 60% done. When you play football, the campus activities are limited to playing football. At that time, we didn’t get paid much to do anything except that. Sometimes I think that if we received opportunities for financial gain that student athletes receive now, my life would have taken a much different path.”
Jones first registered as a Republican when he got out of prison in 2018.
He says nobody “solicited” him to run for office.
“A lot of people would think that I was solicited or asked to run for office. Yes, the Republican Party sends out newsletters that sometimes ask voters ‘Do you want to run?’ But besides seeing that newsletter once and awhile, not one Republican asked me to run before I decided to run.”
He had been attending GOP meetings since 2018 — “just listening, volunteering and staying informed. In fact, when I went to a Republican Party meeting with the intention to run, I was told by someone high up that District 3 was considered ‘unwinnable.’
“I took that advice, ignored it, and started my campaign,” Jones said. “That was February 2023. I am sure that many candidates on both sides are regular citizens who get called up to run for office by their party. But I also believe that that very process creates candidates who are controlled by the party rather than the voters they seek to represent.”
After he decided to run, young Republicans such as Zack Gianino and Cynthia Kaui were “super helpful in giving me advice on the process of running for office.”
“I wouldn’t have come this far without those two believing in me. I also would subsequently fill out an endorsement form for the GOP. During the actual endorsement process, the Central Committee was also supportive, especially Chairman Paula [Whitsell].
“I was open about my past, and when I told Paula about representing myself [at] trial, I realized that we had something in common as she told me about her own legal battle with the orphanage system in South America.”
Raised an Apostolic Christian, he said: “I am close to God; however, I consider myself more spiritual than religious. Currently I am not exclusively attending any church. I am open to suggestions.”
He works for iPermit — inspecting HVAC installations.
“Next year I’ll be traveling the U.S. inspecting various utilities,” he said.
He’s said he’s also worked for scooter company Bird — though they once laid him off during the pandemic.
“Worked my way up from about minimum wage to area lead of San Diego (at the time when San Diego was one of the biggest markets in the world for Bird) until we were all laid off due to COVID. I turned around, formed an LLC and went into business with Bird as they needed a field manager to recover and operate their business during the pandemic.”
After two years, he says, he lost his contract in part due to the city’s RFP.
“I can talk about this at length at another date and explain how the city fumbled a
major transportation resource,” Jones says.
This interview was conducted via email.
Times of San Diego: Tell me the story of being awoken at 3 a.m. by drilling in your neighborhood and how it led you to explore running for office.
Ellis T. Jones III: I have videos of them drilling so I can show you better than I can tell you. However, the short story is this: My girlfriend Bethany is from the suburbs in another state; I’m from City Heights San Diego.
So while it’s perfectly normal for me to hear screams, gunshots, helicopters or other loud noises at all times through the night, my girlfriend was completely unaccustomed to it. We’ve been dealing with drilling early in the morning for months.
But one late night we heard them start drilling right outside our window. I went out there and asked the workers but was told to “call their boss.” I called the CEO instead and he answered, in the middle of the night and told me that he didn’t want his guys out there, but it was the city’s idea.
The drilling continued for months in spite of numerous complaints and emails. It was at this moment when I said to myself: “Who the heck is in charge?”
This led me to Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, but what really sealed the deal was when I researched and found that not only was the guy not from San Diego, it seemed nobody even knew much about him. And what they did know, they didn’t like.
Do you have a campaign manager, or any staff besides treasurer? Have any informal
advisers?
My campaign manager is Renee Ingram. My top two advisers are 1. Social Media and 2. Door knocking. As for informal advisors, I have quite a few who are from different parties and don’t want to be seen as “disloyal.”
What is the T in your name? How did you come to call yourself California?
The ‘T’ is kinda like [council] predecessor Christine T. Kehoe, so I’m on the right path. The T stands for whatever you want it to stand for. But on paper, it’s simply a “T.” “California” comes from the fact that I am the only one in my family born in California. My brother, father and mother are from the Deep South.
Of course now my nephew, Ellis T Jones IV, was born here as well.
You served 12 years in state prison after being convicted of assault and other charges using Craigslist to lure victims Jaime Gonzalez and Ajamu Collins; Matthew White; Thuan Hoang; and Mario Tabares. In the case of Hoang, you were slammed for a “high degree of cruelty” because you locked him in a car trunk. How have you made up for these crimes? Have you apologized to these victims?
I apologized to the victims at the time of arrest and also again at trial. However, I understand that no amount of apology can undo the past. I am committed to spending the rest of my life trying to make a positive difference and preventing others from making similar mistakes, particularly at-risk youth.
As someone who has served a significant amount of time in prison, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the hurt and pain I was a part of. I understand that my actions, particularly the extreme distress I caused by involving innocent people in dangerous situations, have left deep scars.
You propose a triage plan for channeling homeless people to needed services, but you also say: “We have to take away the option of sleeping on the street. … I want to provide certainty… You can’t do this no more. … I guarantee you, if we push that line, we’ll see a lot of people gone.” You support the Sunbreak Ranch concept, a camp that has been decried by many people. How do you expect a Democratic supermajority to back you on this?
First let’s clarify: I have just as many questions about Sunbreak Ranch as you and others have. However, I applaud the effort and the city has an obligation to listen to ideas put forth by its residents.
My plan is simple:
- Audit the existing systems in place.
- Amend the encampment ordinance to reflect a citywide encampment ban.
- Quick-build shelter beds and increase housing options and reallocating/better
manage the resources we have. - All hands on deck approach to TTT the homeless population. (TTT is what I call Triage, Treatment and Transition plan.)
How do I expect a Democratic supermajority to back me? This plan was crafted through direct engagement with the community, reflecting the needs and wishes of the residents. It’s not a Democrat vs. Republican issue.
Given the potential drag of a Trump candidacy in November 2024 on down-ballot races (if you make the runoff), do you think Trump should be the GOP nominee? Even if Trump weren’t running, what’s your path to victory in a Democratic stronghold?
He’s a rich guy from New York City. I’m a poor kid from City Heights San Diego. President Trump and I are night and day.
This is a nonpartisan race; my path to victory is listening, responding to what the residents want, and getting it done. I can be objective. More importantly, I know how to provide a service for people. And that’s what this job is about — working for the people, responding to their issues.
The people will be my boss. I doubt if President Trump has more experience in working for others than I do. He’s always been the boss. And if you asked him, I’m sure he’d agree. He’s running for an executive position and I’m running for a representative position.
You note that you’d be the first Republican from D3 since 1986 if elected. But that district has elected gay or lesbian candidates consistently for three decades. (You even said: “They had a woman who — I think she’s still in office — Toni Atkins.”) Why should you, a heterosexual male, want to break this streak? Can you do a good job representing the LGBTQ community in D3?
Imagine telling a lesbian woman that she can’t run for City Council District 4 because she’s not Black? Believe it or not, someone told Christine Kehoe the same thing — I’m sure someone told her she can’t do it because she’s Lesbian.
Black men have been representing the LGBTQ community since the beginning. We were there at Stonewall. RuPaul is a black man from San Diego like myself and has done a fine job representing the LGBTQ community. I understand how it feels to be marginalized in a society.
I think I’ll do a great job representing the LGBTQ as well as everyone else in District 3 who either doesn’t identify as LGBT or doesn’t broadcast their personal persuasions. Also remember: We don’t all broadcast what we do behind closed doors. Many of us are just as “free.”
So I’m not trying to “break” the streak — I’m trying to add another layer to the streak.
Black Republicans are a relative rarity. But you sound some Democratic themes, such as
calling for more empathy. (You said in a podcast interview: We “need more emphatic people in the Republican Party.”) How would you channel that as D3 councilman?
What do YOU know about Black Republicans, Mr. Stone? Honest question. We aren’t as
braggadocious as our political counterparts. I can introduce you to plenty of them. The media just doesn’t care to talk about them. (Kind of like the media used to do to Black people as a whole.)
Empathy transcends party lines; it’s inherent in individuals, not ideologies. My own experiences have shaped my empathetic outlook. I’ve lived through various societal roles – from being impoverished to leading the pack, from academic excellence to facing conviction.
These experiences have given me a profound understanding of life’s diverse paths.
When I interact with people now, I see reflections of my journey in theirs. Take, for instance, the rodeo event. There I encountered someone who had previously supported my opponent, protesting the event. Curious, I asked about his reasons. His response was deeply personal and authentic.
While I may not agree with his stance, I respect his journey to that conclusion. It’s a lesson some of the older generation in the Republican Party could heed. The newer generation of young Republicans brings a blend of sensibility and understanding, but don’t get it twisted — we’re still tough. We can do both.
The county GOP has endorsed you. Have you gotten any financial support from the Republican Party? How much have you raised so far? How much has the county GOP promised you?
That’s the first thing that everyone asks me. I haven’t gotten a dime from the county Republican Party. Maybe when they see this, they’ll kick in a few bucks ????. All jokes aside, we don’t operate like that. There’s no handouts and nobody is coming to save you here.
I would liken my relationship with the county party as a support group where you can come and express yourself and ideas without being shouted down. There’s drinks and then there’s a few speakers. That’s it. We don’t all agree with each other; nor do we all like each other. We’re just regular folks with regular jobs and similar things that irritate us all.
My campaign hasn’t raised much frankly because I haven’t asked for much. Fiscal responsibility starts at the campaign level. Do we really need $500,000 to run a campaign for a year? Most of that money is going into the pockets of consultants and political experts who do things that the candidate themselves can’t do. If the goal is to reach the voter, why pay a middleman?
The city councilmember is supposed to have a connection to the residents in their district. A lot of people don’t even know who current city councilmember Stephen Whitburn is or what he does and that’s what happens when your dollar is reaching the people in lieu of yourself.
You told podcaster Fernando Garcia (above} you wanted to “stand up to the fringe elements of the Republican Party” and “We have to step up and check some of these negative elements, wherever they are.” Can you specify the fringe or negative elements you disagree with in the GOP?
There may be some right-wingers who try to use the party to push rhetoric that is rooted in the idea of white supremacy which itself is rooted in socialism/communism if you look back far enough. There are also a few conservatives who want to use the party to push their own religious beliefs onto others.
I’m not having that and when those people see me, they either hide or back away. This is California, not Alabama. We don’t have those problems.
I’m tired of politicians crying about laws that have already been put on the books without any reasonable way to counteract them. It makes us look “anti.”
You say you’ve supported Donald Trump in the past, but not now. Why?
When he ran in 2016, Trump took a lot of issues that Americans were complaining about and brought them to the forefront. He was a true political outsider.
Now that has changed. I would love to see him be more inclusive so that he can get everyone
on board. With all due respect, at some point the guy was a registered Democrat so we know he got it in him to campaign from the center.
He’s also said some things that he needs to clarify or apologize for. Then of course there are the court cases. However, I believe everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Outside of politics, in my personal opinion I think humbleness will go a long way. It sucks, but sometimes you gotta get over the ego if you want to be the true leader of the country. With all that said, if it’s him vs. Biden, I’m definitely NOT voting for “Vote for Me or You Ain’t Black” Biden.
You appear to identify with the “sovereignty movement.” Is this the same as the sovereign citizen movement? If this appeals to you, why?
I don’t identify with it. But the idea that each American is a sovereign has its roots in the
country’s origins, so there’s a lot of truth to it. I believe all beings have sovereignty — no
government GIVES you rights, you already have them.
Governments respect our rights, and in some cases they don’t. You can give a government a reason not to respect certain rights (such as a prisoner not having access to a gun) but I believe that some rights are inalienable (such as a woman’s right of choice).
You support the idea of a city-owned utility to compete with SDG&E. You said: “SDG&E has to get their mailers ready for me” to oppose your election. You joked about their cutting your power off. How is this different from San Diego Community Power?
It’s really not different, except a city-owned utility would also own the grid, right?
You discussed crime with Dolores Williams and also have said you support “physical barriers” to prevent mass retail theft and more undercover police and cops on the street. Would you boost the police budget to pay for this? Would you subsidize barriers at retail stores?
Not boosting the police budget. They need to figure out a way to do what a lot of San Diegans are doing now — and that’s to do more with less. We all struggle together. Nobody is special. As city councilmember I would first choose reallocating existing funds over subsidizing small businesses. We spend a lot of money on services and we need to start asking more of them as well.
You said: “We have the best police.” What’s your reaction to recent accusations of the
SDPD having a “culture of anti-Black racism”?
Recruit more Black cops.
You also said you’re for police using more technology but are against streetlight cameras. What technology should police use? Drones? Facial recognition?
By technology, I may have been trying to say the police need to be more modernized. I’m not a cop, and my ride-along request has never been answered, so it’s hard to get a good take on what they have going on and how it could be better. As city councilmember, that’s something I’d look into as well — fully auditing the police department.
Having been on the other side of the law, I think I’d have unique insights as to how to better interact and solve crimes BEFORE they happen.
You mock incumbent Stephen Whitburn and Mayor Gloria for seeking more bike transit and bike lanes. But these are efforts that align with the city’s Climate Action Plan. Do you support the CAP? If not, what would you do to combat the climate crisis?
FYI, I “mocked” them by putting their faces on Lance Armstrong — a liar and cheat. Just making sure you got the message.
If Whitburn and the mayor really supported climate action, they wouldn’t have banned electronic scooters that significantly reduced greenhouse gases. I love bikes, scooters, go-karts, trams, trolleys, all of that. But Whitburn should not force underutilized pet projects on us all just so he can receive campaign kickbacks.
Also, at the mayor’s annual speech at the Balboa Theater, the ONLY people I saw arrive on bikes where cops. And they didn’t use the bike lane. As for MTS, if we were to judge his term by the quality of the transit system, Councilmember Whitburn has shown to be a terrible director/chair.
How would I combat the climate crisis? I really wish I were strong enough to save the earth, but I am not. I don’t think San Diego city is either. The earth is huge. It’s a federal problem at the least, not ours to solve.
You oppose SB 10, which makes it possible for multi-unit housing units to be built in residential areas. You’re sympathetic to property rights and call the issue “tricky.” But you propose letting neighbors vote on whether to allow a nearby property owner to build under SB 10. How would you pitch this to your fellow council members?
I want to see more housing, but I opposed SB 10 for the following reasons:
- Community needs more communication and input in what’s being built in their neighborhoods.
- It won’t solve the affordable housing crisis because the majority of the “affordable” housing will go to college students and people making $90,000+ a year.
- It was being promoted with the insinuation that it will help solve the homeless issue and the lack of housing opportunities for people of color when in reality the only “homeless” and persons of color that it will help are students from wealthy colleges that don’t live in San Diego and that (by the numbers) don’t usually stay in San Diego after they graduate.
- It forces developers to forego parking without the developers guaranteeing that its tenants will not have cars. This causes a problem as theory doesn’t reflect reality and the tenants end up having to compete with existing residents, businesses and patrons for parking while the city gets more aggressive on parking enforcement. In the streets, drug dealers do the same thing — they control the market, then lessen supply. It’s resembling an extortion racket.
It’s up to the community to come up with their process for building in their neighborhoods and the city councilmember should actively engage with them to figure out the best way. This top-down approach where San Francisco and Los Angeles politicians in Sacramento give us the playbook to run doesn’t fit in with the city of San Diego and our culture.
Have you seen the traffic in LA? Have you’ve witnessed what has happened to San Francisco? Remember that movie “Homeward Bound”? Chance, Shadow & Sassy would never risk that journey back to San Francisco today. It wouldn’t be worth it!
San Diego looks and feels different from those cities and I believe we shouldn’t be listening to a failed city representative tell us how to build in ours.
As a former football star, what did you think of how the city handled the San Diego Chargers? Can you see the team returning to San Diego? What might the City Council do to persuade owner Dean Spanos to come back?
I have never met Dean Spanos, but as a lifelong Chargers fan I didn’t like the way he ran the organization. But again, I don’t know him nor do I claim to understand the complexities of running a sports franchise.
With that said, I would actively solicit other organizations as well as the Chargers to consider coming to San Diego. From my days playing ball, I know for a fact that coaches would find any reason to get to places like San Diego or Miami. I haven’t had a need to dive into my football contacts, but if you did a simple research, I’m sure you’ll realize that I have quite of few connections in the NFL. I would start there.
Anything else readers should know about you and your stands?
I would like to thank you for your thoughtful inquiries. Your attention to detail and depth in research is commendable. I also wish to stress the importance of unbiased journalism, especially in cases involving individuals accused of crimes. The media wields significant influence and is often perceived as a beacon of truth.
It’s crucial for journalists to maintain a commitment to impartiality, providing equal coverage to all subjects. Oftentimes, those accused find their voices overshadowed, leaving the narrative in the hands of the media. That goes for those accused of high crimes as well as those accused of being racist, antisemitic or anti-whatever.
We are too quick to jump to assumptions of a persons character based off of so little and it’s often only those with money that are able to properly defend themselves in the court of public opinion.
Journalists, therefore, bear a critical responsibility to ensure fair and balanced reporting. We must all be cognizant of this, recognizing the power of the press in shaping public perception and the importance of presenting all sides of a story equitably. This ethical journalism is vital for maintaining the public’s trust and upholding the integrity of our information sources.
Updated at 9:18 p.m. Feb. 6, 2024, to fix format issues.
