No. 80: Capitol Weekly’s Top 100

80 Susan Jordan
Susan Jordan is a veteran Santa Barbara-based environmentalist and director of the California Coastal Protection Network. Jordan is no stranger to political combat: She ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly in 2010 in a race that fractured Democrats, but she has long experience in state and local politics and good political chops. After the Coastal Commission fired executive director Charles Lester, L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez asked Jordan for her response. “Disgraceful!” she snapped. A single word from one advocate hardly seems adequate, but when it comes to coastal conservation, Jordan is one of the environmentalists’ most effective surrogates. People listen to her. As the wife of Pedro Nava, the chair of the Little Hoover Commission and a former Assembly member, Jordan knows the Legislature and uses that knowledge to push environmental causes. Jordan has had a passion for the California coast since she moved here in the late ’80s, and she doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Updated August 9, 2016