Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly72. Sue Parker
Breaking barriers isn’t new to Sue Parker, the Chief Clerk of the Assembly. In 2020, she became the first woman to ever hold that position in California, and previous to that she was the first female to be the Assistant Chief Clerk. Before that, she was the Assembly’s first female Reading Clerk.
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly72. Danny Curtin
Danny Curtin heads the California Conference of Carpenters, which has emerged as key player in the state’s ongoing debates over housing. Curtin and crew have staked out nuanced positions that have put them at odds with their labor comrades the State Building and Construction Trades Council. But that suits Curtin just fine;
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly97. Marie Liu
It says a lot when someone who should know calls you “the Kip Lipper” of what you do, but that’s exactly how a lot of people see Marie Liu. For more than two decades, Liu was a policy consultant to leadership in both chambers, most recently as the top environmental policy advisor
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly90. Ashley Zavala
Ashley Zavala debuted on this list last year when we dubbed her the “Oh, sh*t” reporter in the Capitol Press Corps. She earned that moniker based on the reaction she gets when lawmakers see her coming their way. And perhaps rightly so, because Zavala is not there to play nice. She regularly
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly48. Melanie Moreno
As staff director of the Senate Health Committee, Melanie Moreno has a hand in pretty much any health bill that lands in the Senate. Health care is always a huge issue in the Legislature, and lawmakers have long relied on her attention to the little details to get bills right. That sway
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly69. BearStar Strategies
One of the conundrums we run into every year is how to determine which one, two or three folks from a powerhouse organization to put on this list (also known as the Aaron Read & Associates Dilemma). Such is the case with Bearstar Strategies, which features three of the most powerful and
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly81. Yvonne Wheeler
Wheeler last year became the first Black woman elected president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO (LA Fed), an organization with over 300 affiliated unions representing more than 800,000 members, making it the second largest central labor body in America. She was also elected to the executive council of
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly56. Soyla Fernandez
The daughter of migrant workers from Mexico, Soyla Fernandez spent time in her childhood working the same agricultural fields they did. Motivated for a better life, she earned a degree in politics from UC Santa Cruz, a path that eventually led her to open Fernández Government Solutions in 2004, the first lobbying
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly50. Josh Fryday
Relatively unknown to many in the Capitol community, Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday is the man tasked with overseeing one of Gavin Newsom’s passion programs – California Volunteers. But that’s not all. Underneath that umbrella are also #CaliforniansForAll Youth Corps, AmeriCorps California and Californians ForAll College Corps, which collectively will soon be
Illustration by Chris Shary, for Capitol Weekly61. Yana Garcia
Another newbie to the list, Yana Garcia is the first Latina to ever lead the California Environmental Protection Agency. A native of Oakland, Garcia lived in Mexico during the heyday of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), where she developed a passion for advocating for environmental justice. And her power to