No. 73: Capitol Weekly’s Top 100

73. Dan Walters
Dan Walters doesn’t have much patience with California politicians.  With more than 50 years of experience writing about California politics and people (at age 22, he was the youngest daily newspaper editor in the nation) he has a super-sensitive BS antenna. And when he vents, it resonates — his Sacramento Bee column appears in 50-plus California newspapers, more than any other California columnist. Walters is one of the few people who can wax enthusiastically and at length on the arcane and wonkish workings of California public policy.  He is crusty, knowledgeable, and, perhaps to the surprise of some, idealistic about what ought to be happening in California politics, but too often isn’t. He has never been known to be shy about telling readers, or listeners, what’s what on the California political scene.  Walters does not confine himself to short bursts in his column; he is the co-author, with the late Jay Michaels, of “The Third House:  Lobbyists, Money and Power in Sacramento.”  He was also the founding editor of “The California Political Almanac.”

Updated Aug. 9, 2016