Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Ana Matosantos

2. Ana Matosantos

Cabinet Secretary Ana Matosantos is a familiar name on this list, and for good reason. She headed the most important single office in the government, the Department of Finance, which has the task of writing a governor’s budgets and giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to money requests from the agencies. She held the post under Hollywood mega-star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sacramento mega-cheapskate Jerry Brown, so she has appeared here frequently and she knows how government works. As cabinet secretary, Matosantos is responsible for riding herd on California’s vast bureaucracy, among other chores. With a state budget this year exceeding $300 billion, her fiefdom would seem pretty solid compared with the lean years she’s slogged through. But this may be the last time you see her on our list: She announced that she’ll be leaving on August 31. She’ll be missed.

(Updated August 9, 2022)