Roger Niello in his office. Photo by Scott Duncan, Capitol WeeklyWhen Roger Niello left the California Assembly in 2010, he figured his time in elected office had run its course. After all, the year before he had committed the most unforgivable of sins for a Republican of the day: He was among six of his fellow GOP colleagues who voted for a budget that included tax hikes, drawing the wrath of his party’s most vocal anti-tax contingent.
John Burton smiles as he chats with reporters in 2004 as he leaves the state Senate because of term limits. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)To say that John Burton is wrapped up in politics is a bit like saying the Pacific Ocean is a large body of water. Few California political figures can match his decades of back-and-forth between Washington and Sacramento. Burton was elected to the Assembly in 1965 and served there until 1974; then he served in the House from 1974 until 1983; then he was back in the Assembly from 1988 until 1996; then he was in the state Senate from 1996 until 2004, serving as Senate leader from 1998 until term limits forced him out.