News
Dana Williamson, Gov. Newsom’s former Chief of Staff, who stepped down in December last year, was indicted by federal officials today, charged with corruption. Also cited in the indictment were Democratic consultant Greg Campbell, Sean McCluskie, former Chief of Staff to Xavier Becerra, McCluskie’s spouse, and an unnamed former public official, identified by Calmatters as Alexis Podesta, a former secretary at the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency.
Micheli Minute
Lobbyist, author and McGeorge law professor Chris Micheli offers a quick look at what’s coming up this week under the Capitol Dome.
Micheli Files
In talking with both houses’ budget committee staff over the past few weeks, there are some practical tips that were shared with me for those working with these staff members.
Analysis
The race to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress, once the nation’s most powerful political woman, has scrambled the future of a proposal to create a $23 billion California version of the National Institutes of Health. However, the situation may augur well for the $12 billion California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), whose fate will also be tied to the Golden State’s ballot box a few years down the road.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: After a lightning speed rollout and campaign, Proposition 50 passed decisively last week, with voters approving a partisan temporary gerrymander of the state’s congressional districts – and handing California Democrats a major win. The new maps will shift district lines and upend the seats of five Republican members of Congress, throwing them into distinctly less friendly territory – if Prop. 50 survives the GOP legal challenge filed the day after the election. Our guests today are two of the state’s foremost redistricting experts, Matt Rexroad and Paul Mitchell. Rexroad is a former Yolo County Supervisor and longtime GOP consultant. Mitchell, a lifelong Democrat, is the state’s best-known political data expert, and led the team that created Prop. 50’s maps.
Capitol Spotlight
For Lourdes Ayon, lobbyist by day and a comedian by night, “the policy brain and the comedy brain are totally different.” She’s found a way to conquer both.
Analysis
Special interests, AKA “lobbyist employers” as the California Secretary of State calls them, paid lobbying firms more than $91 million to lobby state government in the third quarter of 2025, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.
Micheli Minute
Lobbyist, author and McGeorge law professor Chris Micheli offers a quick look at what’s coming up this week under the Capitol Dome.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Adam Silver was appointed Chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission in March 2024. The FPPC was created in 1974 when California voters approved Proposition 9, The Political Reform Act, in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Five decades later, the FFPC is plenty busy. Silver joined us to talk about the Commission’s work, the challenges posed by Cryptocurrencies and his path to the Chairmanship.
Micheli Files
During his recent review of the more than 900 bills sent to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom, intrepid McGeorge law professor, Capitol lobbyist and regular Capitol Weekly contributor Chris Micheli compiled a number of legislative drafting notes and decided to share them with our readers.
Dana Williamson, former Chief of Staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom
