Dan Walters Marks Fifty Years Covering the Capitol

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Longtime political columnist Dan Walters joins us to talk about his fifty years covering state capitol politics. Walters began covering politics in 1975 – just months after Jerry Brown was sworn in for his first term as Governor – and hasn’t stopped since. He began writing his column for the Sacramento Union in 1981 and continued when he moved to the Union’s crosstown rival The Sacramento Bee in 1984. He has been with CalMatters since 2017. Walters spoke with us about how the capitol has changed in the half century he has been covering it, shared his favorite Jerry Brown story, and finally came clean about how he scooped the rest of the press corp on the state Budget story, over and over again. Plus – Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics?

:58 A viral story

2:16 Capitol Insiders Survey

3:44 California Insurance Crisis

4:45 Welcome Dan Walters

5:32 most notable changes in 50 years?

8:22 Vic Pollard

12:40 The two groups who came out of nowhere

13:21 The Third House

15:33 How DID you get the Budget in advance?

17:36 “All hell broke loose”

20:15 Down at David’s Brass Rail

21:40 Apocalypse Right Now

27:28 Thoughts on “This is Gavin Newsom”

31:36 The Great Mentioners

34:39 #WWCA