Swimming Pools and Wildfires: the John Norwood Story

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: With nearly five decades of advocacy under his belt, there are only a handful of people who have lobbied in Sacramento longer than John Norwood. He entered the business in 1974, shortly after graduating from Sac State. To put that in context: Richard Nixon was president, Ronald Reagan was governor and Gavin Newsom was in elementary school. Future senator Alex Padilla was still in diapers.

A lawyer as well as a lobbyist, Norwood has earned a reputation as a hard worker and a straight shooter. In 1980, the California Journal called him, “one of the rising stars in the lobbying business;” Three decades later he was named the “Most Trustworthy” lobbyist in a Capitol Weekly poll of legislators and staff.

We asked John about the changes he’s seen, and the biggest challenges facing California. (Top of his list: Wildfires.) Plus, who had The Worst Week in California Politics.

Show Notes:

:21 Sacramento, 1974

1:35 Sac State – STINGERS UP!

2:46 What are the biggest changes?

4:42 Term limits

11:12 “Every industry is one newspaper headline… from a bill that’s gonna cost them a lot of money”

12:23 Wildfires – “The number one problem in the state”

21:20 The impact of partisanship

22:47 Swimming pools and drought

26:26 A random pool story

27:22 Should we be worried about the budget?

29:51 #WWCA