Orange County Register

From Alan Bock

Here’s an interesting piece from the Mercury-News on the “post-politics” of Bill Jones, former Republican Assemblyman and Secretary of State Bill Jones, who has now become one of California’s biggest Welfare Queens as an entrepreneur in the subsidized world of ethanol. His family had some farmland near Madera, and for years he’s been eyeing corn likker — ethanol – as a way to maximize profits. Since retiring from politics, but using his political influence, he’s becoming a magnate, having formed Pacific Ethanol. Having pocketed $15 million from selling stock after the company went public, he’s looking for a controversial $14 million tax break from the state to build two more ethanol plants.

I remember when Bill Jones used to come in for editorial boards and talk about how he was a limited-government conservative eager to get rid of boondoggles and use taxpayers’ money responsibly. Now he’s profiting from one of the biggest boondoggles in California history. Sad case — but then he’s pocketed $15 million and I haven’t.

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