Photo illustration: Vaclav Mach, via Shutterstock)The Safety For All campaign made a recent statement about the prevalence of gun dealers in California. It’s a colorful claim like Obama’s, but has a bit more hard data to back it up. “There are at least twice as many licensed firearm dealers in California as there are McDonald’s,” the campaign’s spokesman said in recent email.
Stockton businessman Dino Cortopassi, who is financing Proposition 53 on the Nov.8 ballot. (Photo: Scott Duncan, Capitol Weekly.)He started out with $3,000 and a VW bug. Now, he’s a multimillionaire bankrolling a November ballot initiative to dramatically change the way the California borrows money for public works.
Republican Congressman Darrel Issa of Vista. (Photo: House of Representatives)This is Darrell Issa country: The 49th Congressional District runs along the coast from southern Orange County to northern San Diego County. Its proximity to military bases such as Camp Pendleton, a substantial retirement community and other demographic factors have made the district a longtime Republican stronghold. But the nature of the district is changing and he may face a significant reelection fight this year from Democrat Doug Applegate, a retired Marine Corps officer and a lawyer.
Chamber of the state Assembly in the Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: Felix Lipov)Want to take a deep dive into the California Legislature? You may get your chance. Proposition 54 by Charles Munger Jr. and Sam Blakeslee on the November ballot would force the Legislature to record all its actions and post the video on the web for the public, except for certain proceedings. It would bar lawmakers from acting on any bill until its final form has been published online for at least 72 hours.
88. Kassy Perry Kassy Perry is President and CEO of Perry Communications Group and has been at the forefront of major initiatives undertaken by the pharmaceutical, entertainment and energy industries, as well as the housing, public health, environment and transportation communities. Her expertise includes helping clients define and manage issues of social significance, and preparing
The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)California pension funds take a bigger share of tax revenue than the national state average, a research website shows. Why the growing costs are outpacing the norm is not completely clear. A prime suspect for some would be overly generous pensions, particularly what critics say is an “unsustainable” increase for police and firefighters widely adopted to match a big increase given the Highway Patrol by SB 400 in 1999.
81. Eli Broad If money talks – and it certainly does in Sacramento — then everybody listens to Eli Broad, the billionaire L.A.-area developer. Cited as the fourth-richest person in Los Angeles, he’s bankrolled numerous causes over the years. This year, he put money into an effort to support Proposition 55, which would extend temporary tax
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
70. Fiona Hutton
There was a time when one could legitimately claim that the Top 100 was too Sacramento-centric (gasp!). That began changing years ago, and one of the first signs was the inclusion of Fiona Hutton, the Los Angeles-based communications pro who perennially now appears on this list. But she isn’t here because we
81. Sean Clegg
Veteran political strategist Sean Clegg played a key role in the decisive defeat of the attempt last year to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, one high-profile example of his campaign success. This year, he was adviser to billionaire developer Rick Caruso, a political neophyte who spread his money around and who will face