Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: April Manatt

No. 99 April Manatt

Bipartisanship in the Legislature is like the probably apocryphal line credited to Mark Twain: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Well, you can’t say that about April Manatt, who is most definitely doing something about fostering more bipartisanship in the Legislature via her role as Executive Director of the California Problem Solvers Foundation, whose mission is “to educate elected officials, legislative staff, and members of the public on policy issues and to encourage political leadership that puts the public good above partisan political ideology.” Testify! Because fostering collaboration and cooperation in time like these feels like a sacred mission. And if nothing else, the members of the Problem Solvers Caucus at least will acknowledge they exist, unlike some other allegedly moderate caucus where the alleged members won’t even admit in public they are part of the alleged caucus. Allegedly. In contrast, the Problem Solvers Caucus has 21 members now, and all of them acknowledge it! That unto itself shows the promise of the group, and the influence Manatt wields in her leadership of the Foundation.