Podcast
Republican political strategist Jon Fleischman has been a significant voice in California conservative circles for well over a decade; he formerly served as the Executive Director of the state GOP and his Flash Report blog, founded in 2005, was one of the first (and for a time, perhaps the most influential) insider political blogs in the state. He joined John Howard and Tim Foster for a wide-ranging conversation covering President Trump, the state of the GOP, pending legislation, Steve Bannon’s arrest – and who he voted for in the 2016 presidential election.
Podcast
August saw dramatic developments in the ongoing Dynamex/AB5/gig economy saga: following the August 13 ruling that confirmed an August 20 deadline for Uber and Lyft to reclassify their workers as employees, the two companies announced that they planned to cease operations in California rather than comply. John Howard and Tim Foster of the Capitol Weekly Podcast reached out to Steve Smith of the California Labor Federation, one of the leading opponents of Proposition 22, to chat about this wild week and the issues behind AB5 and Proposition 22.
Podcast
Lobbyist Aaron Read is the definiton of “venerable” in Sacramento’s Capitol Community: he began his lobbying career advocating for California state employees while Reagan was governor and Willie Brown was still just the Assemblyman from the 13th District. Read formed Aaron Read and Associates in 1978 and has been a major force in Sacramento ever since. He has a bevy of clients, many of whom have been with him for decades. He joined us this week to talk about his long career, and about the issues he’s working as the legislative session heats up this month.
Podcast
It’s that time of year: Capitol Weekly’s Top 100 is upon us! Once again, we take our annual stab at outlining the semi-visible UN-elected power structure that surrounds the elected officials who make legislation, regulations, etc — the lobbyists, staffers, donors, lawyers, activists, campaign strategists, labor and business leaders and even journalists who play a HUGE role in the development of public policy and election results.
Podcast
Dr. Barbara O’Connor is chair of the California Emerging Technology Fund; the pandemic is highlighting the need for one of the group’s priorities: getting good, reliable internet to all Californians. Their proposal – the California Network – is being discussed at the Capitol this week.
Podcast
Mark Guillen, the West Region public affairs manager for Crown Castle, a large telecommunications infrastructure provider, joins us to talk about the challenge of providing more robust and widespread internet access – and how long it might take.
Podcast
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented heretofore-unseen challenges to students and teachers who have suddenly found themselves the “guinea pigs” in a massive distance learning experiment. California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd joins Capitol Weekly’s Tim Foster and John Howard to give an update on expectations for the upcoming school year and discusses another big CTA priority: passing Prop. 15, the “Split Roll” initiative that would decouple large commercial properties from Prop. 13.
Podcast
California’s Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission is generally regarded as a model of its kind, achieving balance and representation through a carefully constructed mix of quotas, political gamesmanship and random selection. How then, did the first round of new commissioners selected on July 2 (eight of a total of 14) fail to include a single Latino, the state’s largest ethnic group?
Podcast
Senator Kamala Harris looms large on Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s list of potential VP picks – he has said that he will pick a woman as running mate, and Harris is leading the ‘pundit polls’ as the most likely choice. If Harris is selected, and the Biden/Harris ticket goes on to win the November election, who would Governor Gavin Newsom appoint as her successor?
Podcast
Longtime Clean Air activist Bill Magavern joins us to chat, and brings some welcome good news: with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people out of their cars, many areas of California have seen a decrease in air pollution.
