California Governor's sealIn talking with staff from executive branch state agencies and departments the past few weeks, there are some practical tips that were shared with me for those working with the staff members of the Governor’s agencies and departments.
Image by Stuart Miles via ShutterstockSen. Aisha Wahab’s Senate Bill 573 would have originally prohibited legislative staff from working for lobbying firms for two years after leaving the capitol.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: With nearly five decades of advocacy under his belt, there are only a handful of people who have lobbied in Sacramento longer than John Norwood. A lawyer as well as a lobbyist, Norwood has earned a reputation as a hard worker and a straight shooter. We asked him about the changes he’s seen, and the biggest challenges facing California.
Environmentalist Heidi Sanborn.(Photo: Screen capture via YouTube, from California insider)California recently approved three sweeping environmental laws: SB 54, SB 343, and AB 1201. Hopefully, this game-changing legislation will shape national policy about recycling, composting, plastic pollution, and human health. We have many people to thank for the recent measures to reduce plastic pollution and increase plastic recycling, but we citizens rarely know who. Heidi Sanborn is one of those people.
A sign in Yorba Linda advocating Gov. Gavin Newsom's recall. (Photo: Matt Gush.)Deeply divided California voters will go to the polls on Sept. 14 — earlier, if they vote by mail — to decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should be recalled and who should replace him. The polls are tight. A July 24-27 poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies has 47 percent of those most likely to vote wanting to boot Newsom out of office, while 50 percent want to retain him. So what helps Newsom and what doesn’t?
Chris Micheli. Photo by Tim Foster, Capitol WeeklyLongtime lobbyist Chris Micheli stops by the Capitol Weekly Podcast to talk with Tim Foster and John Howard about his new book: A Practitioner’s Guide to Lobbying and Advocacy in California.
The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: N.F. Photography) ANALYSIS: Influencing legislation is a complicated business. There is no high-tech computer model that can predict whether a bill introduced in the California Legislature will become a law and, if so, the form it will take. However, there are many, knowable influences that regularly shape state legislation in California.
David Quintana (Photo: Tim Foster)We kick off 2017 with a visit to lobbyist David Quintana, the brains behind the Back to Session Bash – the hottest political party of the season – which is on track for Thursday, Jan. 12. We get the lowdown on the origin of the bash, the best and worst moments of past Bashes, what, exactly, Coolio was buying at Rite Aid while he was supposed to be performing — and unsuccessfully dig for details about this year’s SPECIAL GUEST.(Spoiler: NOT Beyonce.) Also featuring Viviana Becerra as official BtSB fact checker!
Sutter Brown at the state Capitol. (Illustration: Judd Hertzler/Capitol Weekly. Photo: Scott Duncan/Capitol Weekly)“Lists like the one you are about to read are a lot like most hairpieces: They’re probably a bad idea, but they do get a lot of people talking,” we wrote in 2009. Eight lists later, we’re still having fun – okay, not as much as before – but we think this list has value and is becoming something of an institution. At least, that’s what people tell us.
Illustration by Chris Shary98. Shari McHugh
McHugh Koepke & Associates – made up of Shari McHugh, spouse Gavin, partner Dawn Koepke and lobbyist Naomi Padron – is a small but potent lobbying firm with a lengthy client list heavy on insurers, plus many other familiar names like UBER, CCPOA, and, as of last year, Warner Music Group. (Does