Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Last year, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors passed a law that criminalized spectating at the sideshows — the wildly dangerous illegal stunt driving exhibitions that have plagued Oakland and other cities for decades. The move comes as local jurisdictions attempt to curtail the outlaw events that have real costs: damage to infrastructure, injuries to participants and spectators, and increasingly, violence. Our guest today, Oaklandside reporter Jose Fermoso joined a lawsuit led by the First Amendment Coalition to challenge Alameda County’s sideshow law.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: In September 1933, in the depths of the Depression, Dr. Francis Townsend wrote a letter to the Long Beach Press-Telegram with an idea that would end the Depression and alleviate the endemic poverty for the nation’s elderly. Two years later his idea was a bill in congress. Our guest today, Dr. Edwin Amenta is the author of When Movements Matter: The Townsend Plan and the Rise of Social Security. He tells the story of the Townsend Plan, how it became a movement and how it changed the conversation about old age pensions in America and ultimately shaped the Social Security we know today.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Our guest today, Lisa Countryman-Quiroz is the CEO of Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) – a San Francisco nonprofit that helps jobseekers gain the skills and confidence to secure high quality jobs at a living wage. Since 1973, JVS has helped more than 100,000 Californians find quality jobs and gain economic mobility. While the organization is rooted in Jewish tradition, JVS serves individuals from all backgrounds, cultures, and faiths.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Dan Dunmoyer, of the California Building Industry Association has been a regular on the Top 100 for five years, since he succeeded former CBIA President and CEO (and former state Senator) Dave Cogdill. CBIA is a major player in a state where the Housing Crisis is a top concern for most voters – and their representatives in the legislature. Dunmoyer has been on the List every year since 2019 – and he was supposed to be on this year’s edition. Hosts Rich Ehisen and Tim Foster talk about what went wrong, and chat with Dunmoyer about California housing and how California can start to course correct after decades of anti-housing policy.
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CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Hosts Rich Ehisen and Tim Foster are joined by former KQED reporter and LA Times Bureau Chief John Myers, who left journalism for communications two years ago, but still keeps a watchful eye on Golden State politics. Few political observers are more respected than Myers – one of the many reasons he was a mainstay of the Top 100 List for more than a dozen years. Myers, Ehisen and Foster discuss the broad themes that underlie the 2024 list, look at the new faces, and talk about the names on the inaugural Top 100 Hall of Fame.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: We’ll be releasing a special episode on Wednesday morning to talk about the 2024 Capitol Weekly Top 100, which will publish Tuesday night…. in the meantime we’ve got a very short episode with Who Had the Worst Week in Callifornia Politics, and talking about a Big Change coming to the Top 100 this year: The Top 100 Hall of Fame!
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Last year Chris Hannan was named President of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, which represents nearly half a million members in the construction trades. Hannan had earlier served as the Executive Secretary of the Los Angeles and Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. SBCTC is one of the biggest players in California labor politics, particularly in housing policy. President Hannan joined us to talk about the trades, about his own journey from apprentice pipe fitter to the president’s office and about the role of union construction workers in California’s future.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Political data expert Paul Mitchell has been polling Joe Biden’s support in California since the president’s disastrous debate performance on June 27. The numbers were not pretty for Dems, with Biden underperforming his 2020 results, and appearing to create a drag on support for Dem candidates across the board. Would another candidate be stronger? On Friday, that was a hypothetical question, but no more.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Today we introduce a new series of interviews with the 2026 California gubernatorial candidates. First up, California gubernatorial candidate Betty Yee. Yee boasts two decades of public service, beginning with a stint on the Board of Equalization and followed by two terms as California State Controller (2015-2023). Yee announced her candidacy for California governor in March 2019. We spoke with her in May about her campaign, about the 2024 elections, and what unique perspectives she brings to the race.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: We welcome Christy Smith, the former Democratic Assemblymember for California’s 38th Assembly District. Smith also ran three times for Congress. Today she is the Executive Director for Emerge California, the state’s arm of the national organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. She spoke with us about the likelihood that the California Legislature will achieve gender parity in the near future, and about the unique challenges that face women candidates.
Digitally altered screencap of a sideshow in Oakland, California
