Posts Tagged: Willie Brown

News

Shifting politics pushes mental health care onto the agenda

Laura Wilcox, whose shooting death in Nevada County inspired "Laura's Law." (Family photo)

Ever since Ronald Reagan signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act in 1967 granting people with severe mental illness greater rights and speeding the emptying of state asylums, governors have been sidestepping the issue, until now. Unlike governors before him in this state or perhaps any other, Newsom is confronting the issue of untreated mental illness.

Podcast

Remembering Phil Isenberg; And politics update

Phil Isenberg, screencapture of a video.

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Former legislator Phil Isenberg died last week after a brief illness. Isenberg wore many hats: Mayor of Sacramento, Assemblymember, Vice Chair of the Delta Stewardship Council, and husband to Marilyn Araki Isenberg. Dan Morain covered Isenberg for decades and joined us to look at Isenberg’s career and his impact on California.

News

Phil Isenberg: 1939-2023

Phil Isenberg, photo courtesy of the Public Policy Institute of California

Phil Isenberg, a former Sacramento mayor and one of the most influential Democratic members of the Assembly in the 1980s and 1990s, died Thursday after a short illness. He was 84.

Opinion

Snark has been around for a while

Social media snark! Image by Brian A Jackson

OPINION: It is comical to listen to people complain about the loss of reverence in the Legislature, how things were better once upon a time, and how things are so much worse now than they were “back when I was a staffer.”  People seem to think that political snark is something new and exciting. It is not. Snark has existed for a long time.

Experts Expound

Experts Expound: The race to replace DiFi

Reps. Barbara Lee, Adam Schiff, Katie Porter. Photo courtesy of the U.S. House of Representatives

Dianne Feinstein’s announcement she will not seek another term has sparked a furious three-way battle for the Democratic nomination to replace her. But is there a Republican dark horse in the mix? Or maybe even California Gov. Gavin Newsom? We asked our experts to weigh in.

News

The complicated birth of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act

Frank Lanterman, photo courtesy of the Frank D. Lanterman Political Papers, Lanterman House Archives

For more than five decades, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act has been the foundation for how California treats or fails to treat people with severe mental illness. Now, legislators from both parties seek to overhaul it in ways that reflect advances in medicine, and a better understanding of its failings.

Analysis

Battered, California GOP struggles to maintain toehold

Republicans show support for Donald Trump at a rally at the Anaheim Convention Center. (Photo: mikeledray, via Shutterstock)

Not long ago, California Republicans slugged it out with Democrats in competitive statewide campaigns and threw considerable weight into legislative policy debates. But today, after a quarter-century slide into irrelevancy and dogma, it’s reasonable to consider if the state party still has a pulse and if its future includes a revival.

News

CW Interview: The odyssey of Tom Ammiano — and a memoir

Tom Ammiano at a gay rights rally in 2011. (Photo: Pax Ahimsa Gethen, Wikipedia Commons)

Tom Ammiano is a San Francisco icon. The first openly gay teacher in San Francisco, he served on the board of San Francisco Unified School District and in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, with future mayor, lieutenant governor and governor Gavin Newsom. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor several times and made his way to Sacramento, where he served in the Assembly from 2008 to 2014.

Podcast

Capitol Weekly Podcast: Senatorial Speculation

Senator Kamala Harris looms large on Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s list of potential VP picks – he has said that he will pick a woman as running mate, and Harris is leading the ‘pundit polls’ as the most likely choice. If Harris is selected, and the Biden/Harris ticket goes on to win the November election, who would Governor Gavin Newsom appoint as her successor?

News

Gavin Newsom: Complex and connected

Gavin Newsom, then a candidate for governor, addresses a group last year during a campaign stop. (Photo: Associated Press)

Gavin Christopher Newsom is tall and handsome, with a beautiful wife and four adorable children. He’d like to be California’s next governor, and, if the polls are correct, he’ll get his wish. But the golden-boy image attached to the lieutenant governor isn’t the whole picture. Newsom’s life has had its dark times.

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