Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Joe Lang

52. Joe Lang

Joe Lang is the Lang in Lang, Hansen, Giroux and Kidane, one of Sacramento’s top lobbying firms, with clients that include E&J Gallo Winery, the Hilmar Cheese Company, the Hollywood Park Casino, the International Union of Painter and Allied Trades, the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association and, oh yeah, the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams. Lang’s shop is small for the number of clients it has; it only employs three lobbyists, of whom Lang himself is one. But that just means he is living proof that good things come in threes. Or is that celebrity deaths? In any case, Lang is not just a rainmaker who lets his crew do the heavy lifting; there is practically no major issue around the Capitol he doesn’t have a hand in. But Lang and partners Bob Giroux and Awet Kidane prefer to handle business in the background, where the bulk of the real work gets done. Lang’s political career began on the staff of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee; he was the principal consultant who oversaw major legislation reorganizing the Health Services Agency and restructuring horseracing in California.

Updated Aug. 26, 2025