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The Top 100: Sixteen Years, Seventeen Lists
Photo by Sundry Photography. Design by Ted AngelHello everyone and welcome to the 17th edition of the Capitol Weekly Top 100.
Unlike the heroine of Janis Ian’s classic song about the cruelties life can visit upon us at such a tender age, I’m looking at the seventeenth edition of this list with a sense of optimism.
But wait, I hear you say, how in the world can you be optimistic right now? Are you not seeing everything going on? The world feels like it’s on fire and yet you’re somehow optimistic? Have you been hanging out at the dispensary again?
At first blush, that’s an understandable response. But no, I’m not stoned and nor am I being Pollyanna. Allow me to explain.
As you probably know, putting this list together every year is pretty stressful. All of us here invest a tremendous amount of time and energy into the process. As the one responsible for making the ultimate call on who is and who is not on the list, I pour over tons of information, talk to scores of folks around the Capitol and beyond and listen to just as many pitches from folks who think they (or usually a client) should be on the list. It’s a task that can be all consuming for me (my family will attest to this), and in all honesty a little mind numbing.
Years like this one are particularly tough. The ground feels like it’s constantly shifting under our feet, and for once it isn’t from one of California’s legendary earthquakes. Some days it feels like our state and the federal government are at war, with nobody sure how it is all going to play out. The future looks uncertain at best.
So then how did I come out of the process this year feeling optimistic about…anything?
Because when you take the time to really look at the large (and yet somehow still relatively small) group of folks who make our government work, you realize what a staggering number of talented, creative and energetic people we are blessed to have across the entirety of California’s Capitol ecosphere, from Sacramento to every point north, south, east and west. My initial list is in fact larger than the final 100 by an order of magnitude, and all of the folks in that first collection of possibilities are worthy of at least some consideration.
They are hard-working, resourceful, often brilliant, occasionally insufferable and always driven to succeed and to be the best at what they do. And we need every one them given the fiscal, environmental, political and societal challenges we face in the coming years. Whatever the future holds for California, I’m pretty confident that at the bare minimum we have some of the best and brightest people anywhere working right here for the benefit of this state.
Getting a list full of folks wired like that down to just 100 names is one of the hardest things I do every year. And whether you think I chose the right folks or not, we can all agree that the 100 people (actually 103 this time) contained in these pages are a stellar lot.
In that regard, we have at least a baker’s dozen of new faces this year (including three new journalists!) as well as several folks returning to the list who had been on previously but had dropped off of late. Welcome and welcome back!
We also announced our sophomore class of the Capitol Weekly Top 100 Hall of Fame, our way of honoring a few folks each year whose impact on the Capitol community has been so significant that we must permanently acknowledge and honor them for all they have accomplished in their stellar careers. Click here to find the 2025 Top 100 Hall of Fame.
I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to say a big thank you to every person who shared their time and perspectives with me in the arduous task of building and culling this list. They all offered me insights I could not have gained on my own, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Also a big shout out to the Capitol Weekly team. Executive Director Tim Foster, Office Manager Melody Gere, our intrepid in-house reporter Brian Joseph, Board Chair Molly Dugan and the rest of the Open California board – you are all the best. As I said in this space last year, I have to make the list but you make everything else around it happen, and I am indebted to you for all of your hard work and collegiality.
And that’s a wrap! See you next year.
Rich Ehisen
Editor, Capitol Weekly
How could it be anyone else in this position? Being Chief of Staff to the governor is probably the hardest job in California politics, and maybe doubly so for this governor, who is not exactly known for being a ray of sunshine. There’s a reason he goes through chiefs on the regular. In a previous incarnation, Gavin Newsom probably drove a 20-mule team across Death Valley for a living, cracking a whip the whole way. But if anyone is built to deal with tough, driven and very ambitious personalities, it is Nathan Barankin. Like his predecessor, Dana Williamson, he has been playing in sandboxes at the top level of state government for a long time. While he and Williamson are polar opposites in terms of personality, don’t let Barankin’s calmer and less confrontational demeanor lead you to think he is any kind of pushover. He previously served in many capacities for Kamala Harris, including as her Chief of Staff during her time as California’s Attorney General and later when she was in the U.S. Senate. He was Senior Advisor for her 2020 presidential campaign, and has also served in senior advisory roles for Newsom as well as folks like former Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and then-Attorney General Jerry Brown. In short, the man has been through more than his share of high-profile politics here and on the national front. That last part is critical right now given that his boss is maybe/probably/assuredly going to run for president, which means every little thing Newsom does or says takes on more meaning than ever before. Even if Newsom doesn’t run – or hasn’t decided by the time he terms out in 2026 – the next year and a half is going to be a little slice of Hell. The Trump administration has basically declared war on California, and each coming day in Newsomworld will probably feel like it. That requires a Chief of Staff Newsom implicitly trusts and who has the chops and the charm to keep things in-house calm amidst the chaos. That’s Nathan Barankin.
The budget is almost always the most important thing in any governor’s world, and in a state like this one where the budget is an annual feast or famine proposition there is a serious need for a cool, calm and collected Finance Director. Since 2022, Joe Stephenshaw has been that person. The Director of the California Department of Finance and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top budget advisor, Stephenshaw is used to working under intense pressure from both the state’s often-chaotic fiscal conditions and his demanding boss. By all accounts he handles each of those circumstances well. That has been especially necessary this year as the state dealt with a $12 billion budget deficit. This was something entirely foreign to the hordes of newbie lawmakers, but it was hardly Stephenshaw’s first rodeo. He served as Staff Director for the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee from 2017 to 2022, so he was well aware of the epic fluctuations in the state’s tax revenues. We have to think he also was well aware of his current boss’s temperament. So hey, eyes wide open and all that, right? Thankfully, his quiet, calm demeanor is the perfect balance to the perpetual rolling thunder of the governor’s office.
We thought she was out, but like Michael Corleone she just keeps getting pulled back in. For years Patterson served as Newsom’s Cabinet Secretary, essentially his top advisor on, well, everything. But this year has been one of big transitions in Newsomworld, including the ascension of Patterson’s husband Nathan Barankin to the Chief of Staff role. So exactly nobody was surprised when Patterson announced she would be leaving. Alas, she instead transitioned into a senior advisory role focusing exclusively on the recovery efforts around the devastating fires in Los Angeles. She has spent copious amounts of time on the ground there, serving as Newsom’s eyes and ears for the start of what is expected to be a years-long effort. She has also done her best to bring her replacement, Nani Coloretti, up to speed on all things Gavin-related. That alone would be a big job, never mind the fire recovery oversight, the success or failure of which could have an outsized impact on Newsom’s post-gubernatorial ambitions. And speaking of Nani Coloretti…
Ann Patterson will eventually be out, so we have to turn our focus toward her replacement. Nobody is accusing Coloretti of needing training wheels, but we have traditionally not added folks to this list who are this new to the job. That said, Coloretti’s CV is…awesome. She came to Newsomworld from D.C., where she served as Deputy Director for the Office of Budget and Management under President Joe Biden. That means she was an integral part of managing a $7 TRILLION federal budget. She had all sorts of other Big Important Jobs before that too, but perhaps none matters more to Newsom than her time as his Budget Director when he was doing the mayoral thing in San Francisco. Nobody is saying there has not been a steep learning curve – she’s still learning all the local players – but she already has something Newsom values more than anything, his trust. And as his long-term ambitions become (even) more open and obvious, that will mean a lot.
As the Secretary of Natural Resources, Wade Crowfoot leads the Newsom administration’s charge on climate change, which is a top priority for the governor. In his role, Crowfoot oversees 25,000 state employees in 26 departments, including Water Resources, Cal Fire and Fish and Wildlife. But that is just good copy for his official bio. Crowfoot’s real oomph comes from being one of Newsom’s most trusted advisors on a lot of issues, and as such he is involved in just about every project his boss dives into. And if you know this governor, you know he dives into a lot of projects. And in the course of his actual job, Crowfoot’s commitment to the environment is as deep as his state political experience. He previously led the non-profit Water Foundation and served as the West Coast Regional Director for the Environmental Defense Fund. He previously served as Gov. Jerry Brown’s Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Senior Advisor before joining the Newsom administration.
If suing the Trump administration was currency California wouldn’t have a budget deficit. When Gavin Newsom needs legal advice in his efforts to counter The Donald, he turns for guidance to his in-house lawyer, Legal Secretary Dave Sapp. Sapp oversees any litigation the governor or the state is involved in, but it isn’t just overseeing legal squabbles with D.C. where Sapp proves his worth – it is anything where Newsom needs to speak in lawyer to someone to get his point across. And we all know that is a lot. More than that, Sapp crafts legal guidance for executive branch agencies and helps Newsom with the legal implications of state legislation. He also oversees potential pardons, commutations and parole decisions. Think that last one is no big deal? Perhaps you’ve heard of the Menendez brothers. Sapp has degrees from Duke University and Stanford Law School. He has been with the governor’s office since 2019, and previous to that was an in-house lawyer for the California Department of Education and the ACLU of Southern California.
We are close to running out of superlatives to describe SEIU California Executive Director Tia Orr. She was probably never going to repeat her epic 2023, the year it seemed the 700,000-member union she leads got everything it asked for and more, but don’t make the mistake of thinking Orr has lost her mojo. Because Big Labor is a huge player in California politics, and very few if any BIG THINGS get done without labor’s input. From PAGA to CEQA to any other alphabet issue, Orr is the preeminent voice of organized labor in this state. And while she is far from the only union chief with sway in the Capitol, Orr is the one who seems to have the most arrows in her quiver. Opponents and allies alike praise her talent, drive and determination, and her innate ability to know when to be the iron fist and when to be the velvet glove. This year’s massive budget deficit required more of both than at any time during her tenure, but once again SEIU came out okay, in great part due to Orr’s tireless efforts to make it so.
Her title is clear – Teri Holoman is the Associate Executive Director of the California Teachers Association. In theory, that means she heads up government affairs for a union that represents 310,000 engaged members who always seem ready to mobilize for a fight. We say “in theory” because that alone does not remotely do justice to the influence Holoman has in California politics. Aside from using the CTA’s enviable ground game masterfully to give the organization immense influence beyond narrowly construed education issues, she is a well-known confidante to many of the state’s most powerful players. Unions chiefs, local officials, state officials, business leaders, governors and aspiring gubernatorial candidates – i.e. the powerful and the wannabe powerful – all take her calls, which is the clearest signal that someone has juice. And yet, somehow Holoman manages to stay affable and approachable, hardly common traits among those who travel in her rarified air. Note: we are required by Top 100 law to note that Holoman is a board member of Open California, the nonprofit publisher of Capitol Weekly. She is married to lobbyist Andrew Antwih, who is No. 51 on this list.
One of Newsom’s small army of former chiefs, Jim DeBoo continues to influence public policy from his consulting firm, DeBoo Strategic Affairs, thanks to the respect he continues to wield within the governor’s orbit. In fact, you could argue he never really left Newsom, as he still acts as a sort of consigliere for the governor, running interference on disputes, gathering information and making connections within both the Legislature and third house. And don’t presume he won’t ever come back to whatever we call the governor’s domain now that the Horseshoe is rubble. Don’t tempt him! Anyway, he has also been the top consultant on several high stakes ballot measures (think last year’s Prop. 33 and 34 in particular), and undoubtedly will be in the future. He is also something of a godfather figure to a whole generation of young and upcoming lobbyists and strategists making their mark around the Capitol. His rolodex is deep, his touch deft and he acts with an integrity not often found in the cutthroat world of politics. We should note that he too is on the board of Open California.
Nearly 40 percent of all businesses in California are woman-owned, so it’s fitting that the state’s largest and most powerful business advocacy organization is run by a woman. President and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce since 2021, Jennifer Barrera is recognized for her incredible blend of grit, political smarts, team building, strategic skills and from-the-ground-up knowledge of policy and its impact on industries big and small. In short, if legislation or a ballot measure or a regulation or even a strong breeze might negatively affect the business community, Barerra and the Cal Chamber are ready. She is adept at threading the needle on complex high-stakes issues, both in policy terms and satisfying a diverse and demanding membership. She’s had some huge wins (PAGA reform comes to mind), and these days the organization is elbows-deep in the flood of AI and other tech bills circulating in the Capitol. Barerra was also quietly behind the Chamber’s rebranding its “job killers” list into the more modern “Affordability Agenda.” Who knows if it will stick, but if anyone can make it work, she can.
Jason Elliot wants to save the world. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former Deputy Chief of Staff left the administration last year to start his own consulting firm, Versus, but as with many folks who announce their intentions to leave the Newsom inner circle, the actual leaving has been hard to do. Maybe that’s because Elliot has been working alongside Newsom since the governor’s mayoral days in SF, and there is practically nobody Newsom trusts more with…well, almost everything. Which is how you would describe Elliot’s purview during his time in Newsomworld – everything from housing and the budget to artificial intelligence and land use and political campaigns (including that pesky recall). The day-to-day responsibilities of those efforts went away with his resignation, but the regular phone calls and meetings to talk strategy about any and all of them has not. Much like former Chief of Staff Jim DeBoo, Elliot has remained a pivotal figure in Newsomworld. And now he hopes to leverage that political expertise to help Silicon Valley companies use AI to solve climate change, which might be the only thing harder than working for Newsom.
Rick Rivas’s official title is Vice President, California for the American Beverage Association. As such he is not on anyone’s official Assembly org chart. But if he were, he could well be listed as “Younger Brother of Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas.” Don’t laugh – Rick is widely understood to be the Speaker’s closest confidant and top political strategist, and is involved in every major action the older Rivas takes on. It’s old news now that Rick pulled the strings on his brother’s historic takeover of the Assembly that pushed former Speaker Anthony Rendon out of office. But that level of hands-on influence has not abated, and for good reason. Rick’s political acumen is stellar, and he is widely respected for his political savvy and almost encyclopedic knowledge of campaigns. And while Robert Rivas is respected for his diplomacy and being a generally nice guy, Rick has no problem being the blunt force instrument when he feels he needs to be. His critics argue that he feels that way far more than is necessary, but you go ahead and tell him that.
No gubernatorial project gets off the ground without good messaging, and in Newsomworld Bob Salladay is the wordsmith who makes that happen. His official title is Senior Advisor for Communications, which really equates to “if Newsom needs to say something in public, have Bob write it.” Because few can capture the gov’s thoughts the way Salladay can, and thankfully he can do it with a bit more economy than the governor himself. That lean yet elegant writing style is a skill Salladay honed over decades as an investigative reporter and editor with news publications like the San Francisco Chronicle, L.A. Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting. Salladay also has another skill all good reporters possess – the ability to get someone to talk when they really don’t want to, and Newsom can definitely be a pill about such things. Unless of course there is a podcast mic present, but that’s another story. Additional kudos here to Izzy Gardon, who also handles a ton of the communications grunt work for Newsom.
We preach to our interns all the time that if you make a mistake, you need to own it. So we’re going to own that we biffed it badly last year by not having Dee Dee Myers on this list. Because Myers is more than just a Senior Advisor to Gavin Newsom and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). She is an integral voice in Newsomworld, one he trusts to give him unvarnished truths and the gravitas from time spent on the biggest stages in the world to have him listen. That’s not an easy task with any governor, especially this one, who believes his most valuable confidante stares back at him from the mirror each day. Whatever. Myers, the former Clinton administration Press Secretary and Hollywood executive, can and does get his attention, and she definitely has his trust. That word will get used a lot in this space because it matters almost beyond anything else with Newsom. He is in no way a transactional leader, but he does expect results, and Myers delivers.
Let’s be clear, Lorena Gonzalez is not everyone’s cup of tea. The former Assemblymember who now leads the California Federation of Labor Unions, one of the state’s most visible labor organizations, is combative, intense, blunt, aggressive, fearless, and a whole long list of other adjectives. She once famously – or infamously if you prefer – issued a simple three-word tweet (rhymes with Duck Elon Musk) that seemed to send the future co-president into a political tizzy that didn’t stop until he hit D.C. via Texas. She is also relentless – more adjectives! – in her determination to protect the interests of labor in general and the 1,300 affiliated unions that make up the Federation in specific. Those unions total over 2.3 million individual members, and when Gonzalez leads a protest at the Capitol or in the Swing Space it feels like she has brought all of them with her. Love her or hate her, and there are definitely folks in both camps, she is a force to be reckoned with at all times. Gonzalez is the first woman and first person of color to lead her organization.
Trying to assess the role of the First Partner can be challenging. Siebel Newsom is definitely not involved in the day-to-day operations of the governor’s office in the way Anne Gust Brown was for Gov. Jerry Brown, but neither is she just an ornament on her husband’s arm. She is an accomplished documentary filmmaker, and has championed any number of political and social issues and causes during her seven years in Sacramento, from gender pay equity to gender balance on corporate boards to social media addiction. She pretty much coined the term First Partner, and her influence can be felt and heard in much of her husband’s own language and terminology. Whatever his future holds, she will undoubtedly be a significant part of it from the jump. How that plays out as their time in the governor’s office winds down is TBD. But only a fool would think Gavin doesn’t value her input, particularly on issues she has shown matter to her.
This has been a brutal year for Hicks, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. Cutting off federal funding to her organization has been a dream of conservative federal lawmakers for decades, and with the election of Donald Trump that dream has become reality. Not that Hicks was unprepared – she has in fact been preparing for this possibility for years now. She has been the unquestioned leader inside the halls of the California Capitol and at the ballot box to codify abortion rights into state law and to protect state funding wherever possible, regardless of the current political environment in D.C. and the fiscal challenges in Sacramento. Hicks is not the kind to run from a fight, and there is no question she will continue to battle for the mostly low-income California women who depend on Planned Parenthood for their health care needs – abortion and beyond. Previously the Legislative Director for the National Organization for Women and a Vice President of Government Relations at the California Medical Association, Hicks is also a board member of Open California, the publisher of Capitol Weekly.
Following someone as substantial as Dr. Mark Ghaly as California’s Secretary of Health and Human Services is like being asked to pinch hit for Babe Ruth. It’s hard to find anyone around
the Capitol community as widely respected as Ghaly, but the governor didn’t just pluck Johnson off a park bench somewhere. She has a long history working at the highest levels of California’s social services networks, which matters a lot here because the job in front of her is going to be one of the toughest around. In the coming year alone she will somehow have to balance impending federal health care spending cuts with supporting her boss’s ambitious health care goals, most notably the massive changes to the state’s behavioral health care system, one of the most Byzantine in government. The state has committed billions of dollars to make it happen, but someone has to oversee it all, and that means someone has to be the one responsible for its failure if things go south. Because we already know who will claim the credit if things go well.
You could argue that Jason Sisney has earned two spots on this list. He is the Assembly’s top budget advisor and has been so since 2018, a role that by default would put you on the Top 100. But Sisney also publishes budget information prodigiously on his #CABudget newsletter on Substack, providing incredible insight into the budget and the process. From the start of the year through the beginning of June, he published more than 30 posts in 2025, four between June 8 and 10 alone, at the height of budget negotiations. There are journalists who aren’t as productive – which pains us to say but those are real facts, not alternative ones – and he’s doing it in his spare time, educating the public and insiders on a complex and sometimes arcane process that many claim they understand but only a few truly know inside and out. The bottom line is his expertise and importance to legislative leaders and everyone involved in putting together the state budget is impossible to understate. Sure, maybe he’s a wonk. But we mean that in the best possible way.
Chris Woods is the Capitol’s budget Yoda, the Jedi Grand Master of all things related to California’s complicated budget process. Like Yoda, he has not come upon this wisdom lightly. Woods has in fact been involved in the creation of more state budgets than the governor and all of the legislative leaders combined. How long has Woods been around? Well, he was the Budget Director for almost 16 years in the Assembly and now he has been in the same role in the Senate for just shy of eight. That is a lot of experience (though nothing compared to Yoda, who was allegedly 800 years old). Woods also boasts two degrees from UC Davis (a bachelor’s in American Studies and a law degree) that ironically have nothing to do with fiscal maneuvers. But then, balancing the budget is more than numbers – it is an exercise in the Jedi skills of diplomacy, political acumen and old-fashioned savvy, all of which Woods has in spades. And we hear he’s pretty good with a light saber.
Steve O’Mara is another of those quiet folks who just gets things done behind the scenes. Some observers call him a “policy and political smarty pants,” though we doubt that is on his CV. A well-known team builder and a genuinely nice guy, he also has nerves of steel, critical for anyone looking to thrive in an office where the actual boss might not always be the one right in front of you. O’Mara was Robert Rivas’ first Chief of Staff, and his solid relationship with the Democratic Caucus was instrumental in helping his boss get the votes needed to usurp former Speaker Anthony Rendon a few years later. He has since helped Rivas get some of his most important measures across the finish line – think Rivas’ farmworker package and the Golden State Teacher Grant program – making him the Speaker’s most trusted ally not named Rick. O’Mara suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2019, leading to a long medical leave. He roared back into the building in 2022 and went on to serve as Political Director for the Speaker and Assembly Democrats in 2023.
It has been a rough year for Randolph, Chair of the California Air Resources Board, one of the most powerful and far-reaching agencies in California government. The Trump administration came into office foaming at the mouth over California’s grand climate change mitigation plans, and shortly after Republicans took total control of Congress they blocked three of California’s federal Clean Air Act waivers, something that had never happened in the previous sixty years. But our lofty climate ambitions were already in a headbutting contest with California’s sky-high cost of living and a growing desire within the Capitol to do something about it. Most Republicans – and even a few Dems – have had their knives out for Randolph, blaming her for a whole suite of policies they say make California unaffordable. It’s hardly fair to blame all of that on Randolph, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has steadfastly had her back, but her job is probably a lot less fun these days. Nonetheless, CARB is a serious agency and Randolph is a serious player, and she will be until she chooses to ride into the sunset. Most likely in an electric vehicle.
Last time in this space we compared Senior Counselor and Deputy Chief of Staff Jamie Callahan – then a relative newbie in the enchanted land of Newsomworld – to a utility infielder for those great Yankees teams of Maris and Mantle. To stick with the baseball analogy, it looks like the horseshoe hit a home run, because Callahan has more than proven her mettle with all of the old guard. Speak to anyone close to the inner circle and they will sing her praises, unprompted. One might have thought Callahan would bug out alongside former chief of staff Dana Williamson, who essentially brought her into the fold what must feel like a million years ago now, but she did not. And good thing for Newsom that she didn’t. Because going back to her days in the Jerry Brown administration, where Callahan was the guru on external affairs, she knows how to get things done. More than that, she can do it while managing her boss’s mercurial moods, which is kind of a superpower unto itself. She has previously served as Newsom’s Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Chief of Staff for Liane Randolph at the California Air Resources Board.
If California’s Capitol was Jurassic Park and the state’s major industry associations were dinosaurs, the California Medical Association might fall somewhere between a T-Rex and a Velociraptor. Now we’re not saying the CMA or its CEO Dustin Corcoran are giant predatory lizards, but we are saying that in any kind of “survival of the fittest” atmosphere, Corcoran and the CMA can make their presence felt with the best of them. That was for sure noticed in last year’s ballot measure races, in which CMA played a big role in passing Prop. 35 – which bolsters Medi-Cal spending. He has been with CMA for nearly 21 years – with more than 15 spent in the CEO’s chair. His wife, Glenda Corcoran, is District Director for Congresswoman Doris Matsui, whose district includes the State Capitol, making them one of the Capitol community’s top power couples. You know, if you care about such things.
Christina Aurre is another of those folks inside the walls of Castle Gavin that serve any number of purposes, depending on the issue of the day. Previously a staffer for lawmakers Patrick O’Donnell and then-Senate Majority Leader Robert Hertzberg, Aurre’s drive, intelligence and policy expertise have made her another razor sharp blade in Newsom’s Swiss army knife approach to staffing, meaning a lot of really smart, really loyal people who can without complaint take on whatever task needs doing. Her predominant job of course is to be the governor’s advocate with legislative leaders, which these days is about as thankless as it gets, given that the governor and said leaders have what at best could be called a frosty relationship. It hasn’t helped the Legislature that the two chambers have created so much of their own turmoil over the last year that the balance of power has swung mightily to the executive branch. Maybe that will ease as Newsom gets closer to his true lame duck year… and maybe not. Either way, Aurre will be the one making his case to lawmakers on the regular. We wish her luck.
As Chief of Staff to Attorney General Rob Bonta, Viviana Becerra can probably relate to how famed jockey Ron Turcotte felt riding the mighty Secretariat to the 1973 Triple Crown of horse racing. Wait, did we just compare Rob Bonta to a horse? Yes, but that’s beside the point. What matters is that Becerra may well be the gold standard for any Chief of Staff anywhere. The sheer totality of her daily responsibilities is staggering: she oversees several offices within the DOJ, including Communications, Native American Affairs, External Affairs, Community Awareness, Response, and Engagement, and Legislative Affairs. More important, she is Bonta’s right hand, having been with him since his days in the Legislature. And that is no easy task. The Secretariat comparison is fair with Bonta, who like Big Red never seems to run out of energy, particularly when it comes to suing the Trump administration. Becerra may not be the only one who can keep up with him, but most days she is the most important. A Sacramento native born to Mexican immigrants, Becerra holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science from UC Santa Barbara.
Erika Contreras may be the most important unelected person in California’s legislative branch. As the nonpartisan Chief Administrator and Parliamentarian of the upper house, she oversees every aspect of the institution, from human resources and accounting, to contracts and legal issues, to operations and facilities (in Sacramento buildings and in nearly 70 district office spaces), to Rules Committee and shepherding all bills, to floor session and committee policies, procedures, and politics… and much more. That’s a lot of herding cats, some of whom are pretty sure they are lions. Contreras is known to carry copies of the state constitution and the Senate’s standing rules, as she regularly must say “no” more often than she can say “yes” – a job duty that requires a thick skin, a brass backbone, an encyclopedic memory, and unassailable ethics. Born in Mexico and raised in Los Angeles County, Contreras has worked in the capitol for 22 years and was elected Secretary of the Senate in 2018. (The Senators vote on the Secretary every two years.) She is the first Latina to serve in the role and the first woman to do so since 1921.
Lia Lopez is another one of those vital Capitol aides who is anonymous to the general public but invaluable to those inside the Legislative machine. As the Chief Administrative Officer for the Assembly Rules Committee, Lopez oversees that chamber’s administrative business and assigns bills to other committees. That might sound wonky – okay, it is – but her job could very accurately be She Who Makes the Trains Run on Time. The Rules Committee decides what bills go where, but is also responsible for ensuring the business of the chamber gets done on time and with maximum efficiency, and that it plays nice with the Senate. Maybe most important of all, Lopez will be a key figure – maybe THE key figure – in getting the chamber ready to handle the unionization of legislative staff, set to happen next year. It will be a huge change for everyone, and there will no doubt be more than a few mud puddles to navigate. How well they do could hinge on how well Lopez manages this transition.
No. 29 Kristin Bertolina Faust
If Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis becomes Treasurer Eleni Kounalakis in 2026, Kristin Bertolina Faust will have certainly played a big role in the victory. A major fundraiser for Kamala Harris – she was the Vice President’s fundraising co-chair, helping the campaign raise a record $1 billion in just over 100 days – and a campaign manager for Alex Padilla, Bertolina Faust is all in on the Kounalakis campaign, serving as her top fundraiser and an advisor to the one-time gubernatorial hopeful turned aspiring Treasurer. Bertolina Faust founded BB&G, a Sacramento-based fundraising and political consulting firm in 1999, and alongside her colleagues Angie Georgoulias and Rhianon See-Barnato it has become the go-to fundraising firm for almost every major Dem heavyweight since then. In addition to Harris and Padilla, she is also without question Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top cash collector. Kounalakis may have opted out of trying to become California’s first female governor, but it sure wasn’t because she was going to fall short of money.
Jason Kinney gets most of the attention for the meteoric rise of Axiom Advisors, but he’ll be the first to tell you that nobody deserves more credit than his business partner, Cassie Gilson. With Kinney and partner Kevin Schmidt, Gilson has taken the firm from its founding in 2019 to being one of the top lobbying firms in the Capitol world. Though her passion is environmental issues, she is widely respected for her understanding of policy in areas as disparate as technology and women’s advocacy non-profits. But a lot of lobbyists can walk and chew gum at the same time. Yawn. Gilson stands out for her calmness, pragmatism, strategic thinking and a balanced worldview that guides her toward win-win results over the “ha, ha I kicked your ass” mantra some third house folks thrive on. Which is why she always has a head-of-table seat at every major California housing policy discussion, including this year’s historic CEQA reform efforts. So be smart and don’t take her quiet demeanor as a weakness or a sign that she is a pushover. Because she most definitely is not.
Good luck finding someone more plugged into the Capitol than Jason Kinney, who is on a first name basis with every major Democrat in this state. And yes, that includes his friendship with Gov. Gavin Newsom, but to stop there would really be losing the plot on why he is as influential as he is. Once considered the Capitol’s “Boy Wonder,” this insider’s insider has been in the middle of every major political fight on one side or another (or both) since he left California’s largest public affairs firm (California Strategies) to launch what has become the state’s fastest growing lobby firm (Axiom Advisors) in 2019. Today, when not being the gov’s political sensei he can be found co-quarterbacking Axiom, which partnered last year with a Chicago-based private equity firm to fuel its expansion to other cities and practice areas. Oh, and shaping message and making moves for venture capital powerhouse Andreesen Horowitz, Fanatics, the California Medical Association, the California Forever project and the National Football League, which is hosting the next two Super Bowls in California. In other words, Axiom doesn’t rake in all that dough because Kinney is good at pinochle.
The Capitol might have more than its share of loud voices and shameless self-promoters, but the soft spoken and even-keeled Myesha Jackson, Policy Director for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, is definitely neither of those. She is, however, one of the Capitol’s most indispensable aides, recognized by everyone for her seemingly endless knowledge of a vast array of policy issues. She is the go-to staffer not only for the Speaker, but for just about everyone in his sphere who needs honest, reliable information about what a bill proposal does and does not do. Her institutional memory is the gold standard for the Capitol, and we can all agree her demeanor should be. Some might scoff at the thought of a quiet insider like her being on this list, but if you’re busting your hump trying to get the Speaker’s attention on your bill, you damn sure want her coming down on your side. ‘Nuff said.
Carmela Coyle is the President and CEO of the California Hospital Association, which represents more than 400 hospitals throughout the Golden State. Given massive impending cuts to federal Medicaid spending, the state’s seemingly constant lack of health care workers and the never-ending fiscal distress of rural hospitals, it is a job that should come with a lifetime supply of antacids. She was a big player in last year’s Prop. 35 ballot measure victory, which ensured that somewhere between $2 billion and $5 billion of annual special tax revenue will go to Medi-Cal. On the flip side, she led the fight last spring against the effort to cap health industry spending increases, limiting growth to 3 percent by 2029. Alas, the California Office of Health Care Affordability approved the cap, proving that even she can’t win them all. Coyle is nonetheless a fierce and adept warrior for the state’s hospitals, and a force to be reckoned with at all times. She has led CHA since 2017 and previously headed the Maryland Hospital Association.
No. 34 Alice Busching Reynolds
In her role as President of the California Public Utilities Commission, Alice Busching Reynolds leads and is the public face of the agency that regulates private utilities, natural gas operators, railroads, telecommunications and private water companies…all entities that have a profound impact on our everyday lives. Oh, and most solar energy companies. And that limo you rented for your high schooler’s prom? The CPUC regulates limo companies too. The rideshare you took home after that great going away party for your colleague? The self-driving car you saw in San Francisco? All regulated by the CPUC. It’s a brutally tough job, and one that is not likely to win you many friends. Reynolds knows this as she is regularly called to testify before lawmakers over the scores of rate hikes it has approved for PG&E, or increasing criticism that her agency is too cozy with the entities it regulates. Fair criticisms, but she could also counter that her agency has also fined the hell out of PG&E over its role in some of California’s historic fires. Like we said, it’s a brutally tough job.
Players like Janus Norman can be really hard to assess unless there is major legislation or a ballot measure fight that puts them out front and center. As with several of the folks on this list, he prefers to play the quiet game rather than being in the news all day. But bills or ballots aside, as President of CalBroadband (formerly the California Cable Association) Norman is THE voice for broadband and internet access in this state. Since coming over from the California Medical Association a few years back, he has been the lead stakeholder on every major piece of broadband policy in the Capitol, and has smoothly guided his organization’s rebranding from “cable” to “internet provider.” He’s also the point person on Gavin Newsom’s Broadband for All Initiatives, which means he can handle a lot of pressure. And let’s really get down to it – CalBroadband has a lot of money to spend around the Capitol, and they aren’t shy about doing so. Which means when Janus Norman calls, everyone picks up.
It’s not always easy being the child of a Capitol titan, but Brian Brokaw (son of Barry, a regular on this list for years) long ago broke out of the old man’s shadow and established himself as a major power player in his own right. How major? Well, for one he’s a close confidant of Gov. Gavin Newsom, and has been the man’s Senior Advisor on all three of Newsom’s successful gubernatorial campaigns – 2018, the 2021 recall and the gov’s 2022 re-election effort. But let’s not stop there. Brokaw also directed Kamala Harris’s winning campaigns for both Attorney General and the U.S. Senate. He also ran a super PAC for her 2020 presidential campaign, but come on now – nobody wins them all. Oh, and we haven’t even mentioned the numerous successful ballot measures and local election campaigns he has run all over California. In short, he is super connected from Sacramento to D.C. and back again, and will almost certainly remain a trusted and highly influential advisor to Newsom, Harris and any number of other Dems for years to come. We should mention here he also serves on the board of Open California, the publisher of Capitol Weekly.
Capitol Advocacy, the lobbying firm John Latimer founded, is a monster. Its list of current clients tops 95 entries, including (ahem) the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the California Retailers Association, DoorDash, HP, Jack in the Box, Los Angeles County, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, PG&E, T-Mobile, the Universal Music Group, Yahoo!, Yum! Brands (which includes KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and the Habit Burger) and Zoom. So yeah, Latimer’s a powerhouse of the third house, to say nothing of the owner of an incredible political resume that includes stints a legislative Chief of Staff, manager of political campaigns and even a candidate for the Assembly in 1998. He didn’t win that race, but we think he’s done just fine for himself regardless. There’s no doubt this list can sometimes give lobbyists too much credit. Absolutely not so with John Latimer.
Once upon a time AT&T was just a phone company. These days it is as much an all-around tech company as any in the Silicon Valley, which gives it big time oomph around the Capitol, and especially with this governor. Much credit for this goes to its new President, AT&T California and Nevada, Susan Santana, who oversees AT&T’s 500-pound gorilla lobbying presence in the Capitol. We say new only in that she ascended to her current role in April, but she was the V.P. for several years prior. And titles most definitely do matter, as she is the first Latina to ever serve in this role for her company. As a grade schooler she briefly entertained thoughts of becoming a hairdresser, but a fortuitous Career Day visit by a lawyer turned her vision away from curls and cuts and toward the legal profession. Lucky for AT&T! She first joined the company in 2007 and lobbied for them for a decade in Washington, D.C. before coming to Sacramento. She’s the past President of the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C. and the Hispanic Lobbyists Association also in D.C.
Of course Rusty Hicks is in the Top 100 – he’s Chair of The California Democratic Party. It would be crazy to not have him on the list in a state this deep blue. But let’s face it – while Dems are still on top here, the road ahead has some potholes. Dems flipped three GOP Congressional seats in the last election, but they also lost three state legislative seats. That’s hardly a kick to the giblets as Dems still hold a supermajority in both chambers, but momentum can be a funny thing. Donald Trump may have lost handily to Kamala Harris in California in 2024, but he improved his voter share in 45 of our 58 counties, and Republicans took total control of Congress. They have been shut out in statewide races since 2006, but California Republicans suddenly feel like they have a chance to break the Dems’ stranglehold on the Legislature. And maybe they are right, given that Dems are struggling so mightily to redefine their party. Hicks will be a big part of figuring it out heading into the 2026 Congressional mid-terms.
Ramona “Monie” Prieto leads Uber’s political efforts in California, and while she’s lesser known than others on this list, her influence is not to be underestimated. As the rideshare giant’s Head of Public Policy & Communications, Western Region, Prieto controls the company’s independent expenditures through the Uber Innovation Fund, which got an infusion of $30 million last year. In other words, Prieto has a lot of what Jess Unruh famously called “the mother’s milk of politics” and she is very adept at using it. If you doubt this, check on how many ducats Prieto spent to support pro-business Dems in last year’s races. Big Tech has been on the rise in general around the Capitol in recent years, and might actually be pulling close to the influence of Big Labor with the Dem supermajority. That is only likely to grow, especially if legislative efforts to allow rideshare drivers to unionize keeps marching through the Capitol. Who knows if Newsom would sign it – after all, Newsom loves him some Big Tech – but if he does, can a well-funded ballot measure to overturn the law be far behind?
This will be remembered as the year of the most significant CEQA reform in the law’s 55-year history, a tectonic shift that will long be credited to the work of Buffy Wicks, Scott Wiener and Gavin Newsom. But insiders also give copious credit to Steve Wertheim, Wicks’ top advisor on housing issues. Wertheim was the point person brokering high-level negotiations between a full suite of stakeholders, including the governor, legislative leaders, construction unions, labor unions, environmental groups, pro-business groups, tribal interests, YIMBYs, NIMBYs and now my fingers hurt even typing all those words. The point is there is no part of what developed out of an initial collection of multiple bills that his fingerprints are not all over. The finished product is a testament to his skills as a negotiator and his ability to make things happen. It also helps his clout factor that his boss is the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. Previous to his time in the Capitol he spent a dozen years as a planner for the city of San Francisco, which should explain a lot.
Seriously, is there a more thankless job than being the Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, especially now when it seems every highway in the state is undergoing a forever-and-a-day rebuild? People who commute probably wake up cursing your name, or would if they knew who you are. But rest assured that folks around the governor’s office know and deeply respect Toks Omishakin, and they listen when he talks. And they should – he has eight state departments, boards and agencies under him, totaling over 42,000 employees, and manages a budget in excess of $30 billion annually. Those entities include CalTrans, the DMV, the CHP, the High Speed Rail Authority and the California Transportation Commission. Yeah, that’s a lot of responsibility. But Omishakin has more than proven up to the task. He took over CalSTA in 2022 after having spent eight years as the Director at CalTrans. The road ahead will be tough as he tries to balance economic and environmental priorities and finding innovative streams of transportation funding amidst the decline in gas tax revenue and DC cutbacks.
Wunderman is the President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a policy and advocacy organization that reps about 330 major businesses in the region. As such he is naturally a force in Bay Area business and politics. But Wunderman is so much more, and everything he does is hellbent on ensuring that Bay Area interests are felt throughout the Golden State. Under Wunderman’s leadership, BAC has been involved in countless ballot measure campaigns that have secured tens of billions of dollars for affordable housing, climate resilience, early education, healthcare and transportation. Until recently, BAC was in discussions to merge with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which the orgs touted would form the nation’s most influential business group, but those talks ended in mid-June. Who knows what a merger would have meant, but we absolutely do know that Wunderman was a key player in the negotiations this year that led to the first major CEQA reform in half a century. Money, expertise, and the ability to bring a lot of groups together – it’s all what makes Wunderman a power player in the Bay and beyond.
The State Building and Construction Trades Council is one of the biggest players in California politics (i.e., they spend a lot of money around the Capitol), particularly when it comes to housing policy, and Chris Hannan is their fresh-faced leader. Hannan took the reins in 2023, the next in a long line of SBCTC presidents who have commanded power and respect in and around Sacramento. The SBCTC is the largest construction trades council in the nation, representing half a million members in more than a dozen crafts, including 70,000 apprentices. Hannan was previously the Executive Secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council and a Council Representative from 2012 to 2021, roles that prepared him to follow in the footsteps of such legendary SBCTC presidents as Robbie Hunter and Bob Balgenorth. But he had to really earn his stripes this year during the CEQA reform battles…uh, negotiations…that dominated the Capitol for months. Was SBCTC’s faceoff with Danny Curtin (No. 46 on this list) and the Carpenters in the CEQA fight a defining moment for Hannan’s leadership? We’ll see, but he sure didn’t hurt himself any.
Along with Danny Curtin (California Conference of Carpenters) Chris Hannan (State Building and Construction Trades Council) and Jim Wunderman (Bay Area Council) some might look at California Building Industry Association President and CEO Dan Dunmoyer as one of the Four Horseman of the CEQA apocalypse. As noted in the bios of his fellow riders…uh, colleagues… Dunmoyer was a major player in this year’s CEQA reform effort, the first major change to the iconic law in over 50 years. But that negative image hardly fits the eminently laid back and friendly Dunmoyer, who is easily one of the most respected and well-liked people in the Capitol ecosystem. He has also long been one of the leading voices for his industry, and for easing California’s notoriously rigid building requirements. That has meant a lot of losses in this famously environmentally-conscious state, but as this year has shown, persistence often pays off, even if you aren’t screaming and pounding tables in the process. CBIA represents thousands of member companies encompassing every aspect of development. Which is why Dunmoyer has a seat at every housing negotiation table, and will for the foreseeable future.
The California Conference of Carpenters has long been a force in California’s housing squabbles, due in no small part to its Director of the last 30 years, Danny Curtin. The Carpenters spend a lot of money around the Capitol, but they often also occupy a unique, nuanced position on issues that puts them at odds with their traditional ally in labor, the State Building and Construction Trades Council. This scenario certainly played out in this year’s epic effort to significantly reform the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Newsom himself said the reforms would not have happened without Curtin’s leadership in bringing his union on board, but at one point their willingness to support a minimum wage proposal that other unions opposed nearly caused a throwdown (think Anchorman but with nail guns and claw hammers). The wage proposal failed, so you could say Curtin didn’t win that one. But the CEQA reforms passed, which is what they all really wanted anyway.
Mark McKenzie is another of those legislative aides who might not stand out in a crowd of two, but you can sure bet that his presence is felt all around the Capitol community. He’s the Staff Director of the Senate Appropriations Committee, meaning any bill with a big fiscal component will pass his desk if it ever has any hope of becoming law. That is the definition of power. McKenzie pairs that with tremendous longevity and institutional knowledge. This is his 21st year with Senate Appropriations and he’s been staff director for more than half of that time, since 2012. He’s worked under eight committee chairs and four pro Tems…and the ninth and fifth ones respectively are on the way. If they are smart, they will continue to lean heavily on McKenzie’s wisdom and political acumen. At least if they want to have any chance of success over what all of us expect to be more years of fiscal Hell here in California.
Real talk, folks. Gabriel Petek is probably a great guest at a party. We’re sure he’s a fine neighbor. But his role in the goings on of the Capitol, critical as it is, is about as exciting as sitting through one of Gavin Newsom’s podcasts. That said, in all of California history, only six people have served as the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, whose investigations of the state’s fiscal matters are considered beyond reproach. Petek has been in the role since February 2019, overseeing a staff of more than 40 analysts who project fiscal problems in advance and occasionally call out legislators for their own, uh… overly optimistic and occasionally delusional fiscal projections. Because math is undefeated. And like his predecessors, Petek shuns the limelight, keeping to a just-the-facts approach that bolsters his credibility in the fame-seeking culture of the Capitol. His integrity is unquestioned, and his influence is justifiably deeply felt across the entire Capitol ecosphere.
Alicia Isaacs-Lee is one of the top operatives in public service, known for being equally adept at both the kick and the kiss way of getting things done. In her previous role as the Deputy Chief of Staff to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Isaacs-Lee served as the key liaison between her boss and rank and file lawmakers. In that role she quickly developed a reputation as a fierce, shrewd negotiator with a take no prisoners approach, as feared as much as she was loved and trusted. But she also has the innate ability to get opposing sides to the table to work out a deal, and you can’t argue with results. These days as Chief Consultant and the classic “right hand” to Assembly Budget Chair Jesse Gabriel, nothing happens in the Assembly on the budget (or most matters) without her input. And with the state’s ongoing budget woes, her influence will be deeply felt in both chambers for the foreseeable future. She is married to Omni Government Relations chief Mandy Isaacs-Lee, No. 50 on this list.
Ask anyone in the Capitol who they think is a force and it is almost a sure thing that Mandy Isaacs-Lee’s name will come up. As well it should. She is the Founder and Principal of Omni Government Relations, a boutique firm with big clients like AT&T, Kaiser Permanente, CVSHealth and the Port of Long Beach. Omni might be small, but as Shakespeare might say, “Though she be but little, she is fierce!” And who are we to disagree with the Bard. Isaacs-Lee is known for her policy and political acumen and can practically run circles around most anyone on that front. She is also a high profile API and LGBTQ activist, serving on multiple boards like Equality California and the California LGBT Leadership Fund. And Omni is one of the few – and maybe only – women and LGBTQ owned firms in town. She is married to Alicia Isaacs-Lee, No. 49 on this list.
Rob Lapsley is a throwback to another era of California Republicans. He served as Chief of Staff to Bill Jones, the Republican Secretary of State from 1995 to 2003, who was one of the last GOP statewide office holders. In his role as the President of the California Business Roundtable, a nonprofit research and advocacy group comprised of senior executives from major employers throughout the state, Lapsley leads with a courtly, old-school Republican manner that harkens back to a bygone era when Reeps and Dems could at least agree on what day of the week it was. Did they always brawl all day on the floor and then go drinking together at night? No, not always. But more often than they do now, when even having a civil conversation with the other side is viewed as high treason by the extremes of each party. Well, don’t be expecting Lapsley to change. He’s old school in the best meaning of the term, and to paraphrase Billy Joel, he won’t go changin’ to try and please you. Which is fine, as we like him just the way he is.
Joe Lang is the Lang in Lang, Hansen, Giroux and Kidane, one of Sacramento’s top lobbying firms, with clients that include E&J Gallo Winery, the Hilmar Cheese Company, the Hollywood Park Casino, the International Union of Painter and Allied Trades, the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association and, oh yeah, the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams. Lang’s shop is small for the number of clients it has; it only employs three lobbyists, of whom Lang himself is one. But that just means he is living proof that good things come in threes. Or is that celebrity deaths? In any case, Lang is not just a rainmaker who lets his crew do the heavy lifting; there is practically no major issue around the Capitol he doesn’t have a hand in. But Lang and partners Bob Giroux and Awet Kidane prefer to handle business in the background, where the bulk of the real work gets done. Lang’s political career began on the staff of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee; he was the principal consultant who oversaw major legislation reorganizing the Health Services Agency and restructuring horseracing in California.
Mark Weideman’s namesake lobbying firm, The Weideman Group, represents a wide variety of the biggest name interests in California. With all those heavyweights it is no shock his firm consistently ranks among the biggest lobbying revenue generators in the state. And there is a good reason he has all those clients – his relationships in the Legislature and Administration run deep and his engagement on issues is tenacious, professional and highly effective. Most of all, he can easily walk the high wire between labor giants like SEIU and business titans like Blue Shield of California, AARP, Autodesk, Carnival Corporation, McKinsey & Company and…ah, you get it. Weideman has also played a major role in enactment of laws that, among other things, created the California Wildfire Fund and massive healthcare budget efforts like the expansion of Medi-Cal to previously ineligible populations. He previously served as an officer of Blue Shield and AT&T and practiced law with the international firm Pillsbury as well as with the Sacramento-based firm Wilke Fleury. He obtained his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his law degree from Hastings College.
With 30,000 manufacturers, California has the largest manufacturing sector in the United States. For leadership, those companies and their countless employees look to Lance Hastings, the President and CEO of the California Manufacturers & Technology Association, which directly represents 400 businesses from the manufacturing community while also advocating for policies to benefit the sector as a whole. Hastings has had a busy year, what with President Trump imposing tariffs and then not imposing tariffs and then changing tariffs and then saying a tariff deal is done and then a tariff deal not being done and yada, yada, yada. But look, if anyone can help guide the Golden State’s manufacturers through this kind of next-level chaos, it’s Hastings. Before joining CMTA he spent 15 years as Vice President of National Affairs for MillerCoors, and his other previous gigs include a decade as a consultant in the Capitol. So managing chaos is actually his strong suit.
Scott Wetch made news with the announcement last year that his long-time lobbying firm, Carter, Wetch and Associates, was joining Actum’s growing operations in Sacramento. But Wetch is not retiring or stepping away. If anything, he is more involved now than ever. He also remains a member of the California State Athletic Commission, which regulates professional and amateur boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts in the Golden State. And like a good UFC fighter, he is one of the most pugnacious advocates for his mostly union clients, ready to go to the mat for them at a moment’s notice. As one Capitol insider puts it, “on labor issues, you don’t have to get right with the unions as much as you have to get right with Wetch.” His bare knuckle approach is not for everyone, and if you bring his name up in certain circles some folks will make a face like they just ate a bug. But don’t talk mess about him to his clients because they love how hard he fights for them, and isn’t that the point?
James Siva isn’t particularly well known outside of tribal communities, but he most definitely should be. To paraphrase the old E.F. Hutton TV commercial – when James Siva talks, people listen. As the Chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA, the nonprofit that represents the combined political might of California’s gaming tribes) and the long-time Vice Chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which owns and operates the towering Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa north of Palm Springs, he wields incredible influence around the Capitol and pretty much anywhere else gaming interests gather. He is an outspoken advocate for tribal sovereignty who fiercely and unapologetically protects the tribes’ casino interests from the big out-of-state commercial gaming companies like FanDuel and Draft Kings. Siva is sure to be a major player in the inevitable legal showdown with California’s card rooms as well. He demands respect and occasionally downright fealty from both gambling interests and lawmakers, and for the most part, he gets it.
Andrew Antwih is a partner at one of the state’s top lobbying firms, Shaw, Yoder, Antwih, Schmelzer and Lange, whose clients include Boeing, FedEx, the organizers of 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, both the city and county of Los Angeles and Tesla. Before joining the firm, he was Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s chief legislative representative for the city and also worked for nearly 13 years as a legislative staffer in the building, including eight as the Chief Consultant to the Assembly Transportation Committee. But what makes Antwih special is his breadth of knowledge on a wide array of issues, from health care and transportation to technology, housing and local government. Even now he is known for reading every word of every bill he plans to lobby for to understand the proposal down to the granular level. Not an assistant, him. There is no issue too complex, no problem too daunting, no effort too demanding, and his clients know it. He is married to California Teachers Association’s Associate Executive Director Teri Holoman, No. 8 on this list.
SEIU Political Director Oscar Lopez is used to being in the shadow of some of the far more public figures in Big Labor. But don’t sleep on him, because everyone at SEIU from Tia Orr on down knows just how critical he is to their success. Because all Lopez does is work every angle, foster every coalition and help create and implement virtually every strategy, rally and campaign SEIU puts together across this massive state. If it is about winning candidate elections or a ballot measure campaign – or maybe defeating one of those the SEIU doesn’t like – Lopez is there with dollars and manpower to help make it happen. And with 2026 bringing us the Congressional mid-terms, a gubernatorial race and statewide legislative elections, you can bet Lopez will continue to be the most anonymous and somehow yet most in-demand person in the California labor movement. Because if you are in any way trying to present yourself as pro-labor, you want him on that wall. You need him on that wall! (Apologies to Aaron Sorkin and Jack Nicholson.)
As one of the Capitol community’s top political strategists, Brandon Castillo is often the first call for big-dollar interests looking to push a high-stakes ballot measure across the finish line. In that role he was instrumental in a 2020 measure (Prop. 22) that made app-based rideshare drivers independent contractors and in defeating three separate ballot measures over six years looking to impose stricter regulations on the state’s dialysis clinics. He was also the man at the helm of last year’s Prop. 35, which made the tax on managed health care insurance providers permanent, with the funds going to Medi-Cal, taking away the ability of lawmakers to use the money on other things. That hasn’t won him any fans among the small community hospitals or disability advocates, who often were the “other things” mentioned in the last sentence. But big ballot measure wins are nothing new for him, as he has been racking them up since 1990. And with next year’s ballot measure campaigns already kicking into gear, you can bet his phone has been blowing up for months.
There are political operatives that are in your face, and there are those who rarely speak but carry immense power. Joe Cruz is one of the latter. Cruz is the Executive Director of the California State Council of Laborers, representing over 75,000 construction workers, the largest construction trade union in the state. Interestingly enough, he got his own political start at age 12 in destruction – tearing down opposition campaign signs for 50-cents each. He grew past that, eventually becoming a field organizer for San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and a senior advisor to Speakers Cruz Bustamante, Antonio Villaraigosa and Robert Hertzberg. He has a long history in politics and policy, including lobbying for a few years with his brother Steve at Cruz Strategies and eleven years as Executive Director for the California Alliance for Jobs (over 100,000 construction workers & 5,000 contractors). From High Speed Rail & Prop 1A to numerous labor and management campaigns, Cruz has been at the forefront as a trusted leader on infrastructure, public finance, regulation, and legislation.
Paula Treat is an icon of the third house, but more than that she is a force of nature. We’re pretty sure that in another life Treat was an Amazon warrior – a real one too, not some shill for that punk Jeff Bezos. Or maybe she was George Patton, though thankfully she’s not saddled with the high-pitched squeaky voice that assuredly gave him some kind of weird complex. But we digress. In this incarnation she started one of California’s very first female-owned lobbying firms, which she has operated solo for a half century. She’s needed all her accumulated grit because in this life she’s about half the size of her Amazonian predecessors (Or Patton, who was 6’ 2”). But whatever she lacks in physical size she more than makes up for in smarts, determination and guile. She’s as effective a lobbyist as they come, focusing these days on plastics recycling, middle mile broadband and big tribal issues. She somehow manages to be both tough and charming in the same breath, and her smarts, energy and persistence are unsurpassed. Full disclosure: she is also an Open California board member.
You might have heard that California has an insurance problem. It feels like it has been in the news a bit. So we should not be surprised to see someone known as “Ms. Insurance” on this list. Shari and her husband Gavin run McHugh Koepke Padron Government Relations, a boutique lobbying firm that punches way above its weight. The firm employs just four lobbyists, but manages to represent more than 40 clients, and not just insurance companies either. Their client list includes the likes of the American Beverage Association, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the Pechanga Band of Indians, Shell Oil, Warner Music and the Western States Petroleum Association. Before joining McHugh Koepke Padron, Shari was Senior Vice President for the Coalition of Insurance Professionals and before that worked for the Professional Insurance Agents, two roles from which she derives her deep expertise in insurance.
Our critics – and there are many – complain that this list contains too many lobbyists. Well…they’re probably right! But what editor with more than two working brain cells would leave off someone like Jonathan Ross, who just so happens to lead KP Public Affairs’ technology and financial services practices. That includes gaining some big wins of late for some small tech firm client you might have heard of called Google. We think that one might be around for a while, but time will tell. When Ross isn’t helping the Google bros to another massive win against us poor media mutts, he busies himself with a few other Digital-Age titans like Airbnb, Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Comcast, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Waymo. Oh, and he also helped start KP’s predecessor firm, Kahl Pownall, and alongside Ed Manning helped the firm transition to its current iteration. Geez, Jon, how about you save something for someone else, eh? You’re making some folks look bad.
A few years ago on this list we admittedly took the easy way out and decided not to try and choose from among the legendary campaign strategist Ace Smith and his intrepid colleagues Juan Rodriguez and Sean Clegg, now collectively known as Bearstar Strategies. Because how do you choose just one of them? Each has deservedly been on the list many times, and each is an integral part of that kingdom we have referred to many times in these pages as Newsomworld. But it doesn’t end there. There is almost no brand name Dem of any consequence in this state they don’t work with, now and in the future. Last year we opted only for Rodriguez in recognition of his work on a campaign to thwart an oil-industry backed effort to overturn a 2022 law imposing new restrictions on oil and gas wells near homes and schools. But after much consideration this time around – and some verbal jousting in the expansive Capitol Weekly offices – we are again opting to break our own rule and have put the trio on here as a unit.
It’s been a tough year in the Senate. Okay, longer than that. Which is maybe why there was a palace coup in June that will eventually unseat Senate pro Tem Mike McGuire in favor of incoming pro Tem Monique Limón. We’re not sure what it will all mean for Kimberly Rodriguez, who has become something of a fixture in the pro Tem’s office. She has been in the building for more than twenty years, including time as Policy Director under then-pro Tem Toni Atkins and then as Policy Director and Deputy Chief of Staff under McGuire. In that role she manages an 11-person staff for the Senate Democratic Caucus, with a mission of advancing the caucus’ agenda…presuming it can agree on one. In her role as Deputy Chief of Staff, she also helps Secretary of Senate Erika Contreras manage administrative matters for the upper house. When not attending to all that, Rodriguez works directly with senator’s offices and Senate committees on legislative processes to keep the trains moving. It’s hard to imagine her not filling that role for Limón, but only time will tell.
In 2004, Soyla Fernandez opened Fernández Government Solutions, one of the first lobbying firms in California owned and operated by a Latina. Her firm, now known as Fernandez Jensen Kimmelshue Government Affairs, is another one of the state’s major lobbying forces, with clients that include Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Edison, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, Meta (the owners of Facebook and Instagram), PhRMA, Verizon and Visa. Her firm is always around the top of the earnings tabulations, which must make dinner conversation with her husband (Kelly Jensen of Sloat Higgins Jensen & Associates) ….interesting. No rivalries there! Fernandez is the daughter of migrant workers from Mexico who spent part of her childhood in the same fields they did. She’s received gubernatorial appointments to the Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency and the Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency, and was a senior consultant to the Assembly Budget Committee and former Assembly Speaker and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Tony Bui is a bit like Scott Wetch in that playing nice with others isn’t his biggest priority. But if getting things done is at the top of your list, then Tony Bui is someone you want on your side. Bui, who holds the official title of Senior Vice President of State Public Affairs for the California Apartment Association, is actually well known and respected for his ability to forge partnerships with other likeminded partners. And as the man who manages the gobs of money CAA has to spend on candidates and ballot measures, he had an outsized impact on last year’s elections. CAA dollars played a huge role in the defeat of Prop. 33 and the win for Prop. 34, the two ballot measures that together kneecapped longtime ballot provocateur Michael Weinstein and the Aids Healthcare Foundation. Observers call him a bulldog, a tag that fits for sure. Or, as one person recently told us, “If he’s going against you, you’re in trouble.”
In the Capitol, there is a definite lions and hyenas vibe to the eternal battles between business interests and the Consumer Attorneys of California. And nobody is more representative of the CAOC than its Executive Director, Nancy Drabble. For close to four decades she has been immersed in every major battle the organization has taken on, including last year’s epic tussle over California’s longstanding vehicle “lemon law” and this year’s effort to block California lawyers from sharing fees with a law firm that is part-owned by non-lawyers. But Drabble was an icon around the Capitol long before any of these measures, dating back to her role in the famous “napkin deal” negotiated by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown with tobacco companies, insurers, the California Medical Association and of course the trial lawyers over dinner at Frank Fat’s restaurant. We don’t know how long she’ll stay at the CAOC helm, but we do know she’ll be a force around the Capitol as long as she’s steering the ship.
Kevin Sloat has been a lobbyist so long that a member of the Legislature (Assemblyman Alex Lee) may still have been in diapers when Sloat joined the third house in 1997. Sloat got his start in Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration, where he worked as the governor’s Legislative Secretary and top aide and started honing his expertise in the state budget and legislative process. But he became an unquestioned Capitol power when he founded his lobbying firm, Sloat Higgins Jensen & Associates, which represents not only household names like Anheuser-Busch, Chevron, McDonald’s and Netflix, but also influential California special interests like the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, owners of Cache Creek Casino Resort west of Sacramento. These days, if there is a major fight in the energy, gaming, or fast food industries SHJ is in the middle of it. Sloat is highly regarded as a legislative and budget expert and has grown his firm into one of the most influential lobbying firms in California.
There was a time when one could legitimately claim that the Top 100 was too Sacramento-centric (gasp!). That began changing years ago, and one of the first signs was the inclusion of Fiona Hutton, the Los Angeles-based communications pro who perennially now appears on this list. But she isn’t here because we needed some token LAlien. Hutton is here because of her skills, deep client list and broad influence. We’d list some of those clients here but then we’d sound like we’re doing her PR, and we’re pretty sure we can’t do a better job of it than she can. Suffice to say she always seems to be in the thick of meaty Capitol issues like health care, technology, energy, conservation, natural resources, state parks and California’s complex water system, so if your organization deals in those areas you already know how influential she is. Hutton is also a vocal proponent of woman power and entrepreneurship, and Fiona Hutton & Associates is 100 percent woman owned, reflecting the principal’s tough-minded, independent, well, principles.
Campaign consultant Courtni Pugh has had some huge wins and huge losses in her career. She played a critical role in the defeat of the 2021 recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom and has helped the big guy on his other successful in-state campaigns, like Proposition 1 last year. She also was a top consultant on 2022’s successful ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution. But she also has taken some big Ls, including former Senate pro Tem Kevin de Léon’s failed runs at the U.S. Senate and the Los Angeles mayor’s office. Still, she’s widely respected and boasts connections to just about every major Democrat between Los Angeles and the other side of the Potomac, including Rob Bonta and Kamala Harris. She is quite busy these days serving as a Senior Advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who at one time looked like a shoo-in for an easy re-election to run the nation’s second largest city. But the fallout from the fires and her ongoing battle with the Trump administration over Draconian immigration policies has made Pugh’s job a lot tougher.
Erin Niemela and her business partner Emily Pappas head one of the Capitol’s few entirely female-owned lobbying shops, Niemela, Pappas and Associates, whose clients include corporate luminaries like eBay, HP, Indeed, Land O’Lakes, Mattel, PayPal, Salesforce, Sony Pictures, Spotify, StubHub and Union Pacific Railroads. But Niemela also doesn’t just rep big corporations. Last year she piloted three significant “make polluters pay” bills into law, which certainly has not endeared her to some of the Big Oil folks on this list. What was it Jerry Brown said about paddling a canoe? You get it. A consummate pro, Niemela manages to be a fierce advocate without sacrificing her integrity. Like so many of the best lobbyists out there, she prefers to keep a low profile. But insiders know she brings serious chops to any negotiation, and hers is regularly one of the top grossing firms in the Capitol community. She learned the Capitol during her many years as a staffer for the likes of former Assemblymember Tom Bates and Speaker Willie Brown, and was Chief of Staff to former Senate pro Tem Don Perata for over a decade.
Yes, we know that current Senate pro Tem Mike McGuire is soon to become pro Tem Emeritus McGuire. But as we write these words he is still on the job and has been all year, as has his top consultant. Liles first stepped in last year to keep the trains running on time in the pro Tem’s office when McGuire’s Chief of Staff Rebecca Wachsberg – easily one of the most respected chiefs in the building – went out on maternity leave. But that should not have surprised anyone. Liles has been with McGuire since his days on the Healdsburg City Council, and as such is his go-to man on policy and more, the guy the boss goes to get things done. His role is probably going to be even more significant now as McGuire tries to get his own agenda items across the finish line before Monique Limón takes over next year some time. Liles is McGuire’s fixer, the guy the pro Tem turns to when he needs something done, and that is worthy of a spot on this list so long as his boss remains in power.
Karla Nemeth is the Director of the Department of Water Resources, who since the Brown administration has been leading the state through drought conditions that have only eased up in the last couple of years. In fact, despite the outlook on water resources improving, her stature has only grown as Gov. Newsom has asked her to advise his administration on what the state’s water priorities should be as he sets about modernizing the infrastructure that carries water from Northern California to Southern California. That is of course better known as the Delta Conveyance Project (or to its critics Newsom’s Big Beautiful Tunnel), which the governor is trying very hard to fast-track into existence. Given the decades-long fight over creating a new conveyance system (Peripheral Canal, anyone?) it feels like the odds of that coming off anytime soon are slim and slimmer. Native tribes, fishermen, Delta farmers and landowners, NorCal water companies and communities and environmentalists oppose it, while SoCal ag interests and SoCal Big Water all want it. And Nemeth is the person smack dab in the middle of it all. Good times. Meanwhile, we’re going to trademark “Big Beautiful Tunnel.”
Brian Rice leads the California Professional Firefighters, representing 35,000 local firefighters across the state who are far more politically active than many appreciate. Last year, for example, they helped Gov. Newsom pass his Prop. 1 ballot measure addressing homelessness and mental health. Rice is a political veteran who for 12 years headed the Sacramento local 522. He took over the CPF in 2018, and has since proven to be a devastatingly effective advocate for his members, be it about hours, wages or anything else that impacts firefighters. Rice was particularly vocal earlier this year in the wake of the L.A. fires when we learned that some wealthier Angelinos used private firefighting companies to save their palatial estates. That led to legislation this year to block such companies from using public fire hydrants. At this writing the bill is still in the Legislature, but the point is this: when Brian Rice speaks, people listen.
A newbie to this list, Pierre is hardly a neophyte when it comes to her role in California’s endlessly complex, often archaic and always political water system. Pierre is the General Manager for the State Water Contractors, the statewide non-profit comprised of the 27 public water agencies that contract with the Department of Water Resources to receive water from the State Water Project. As we know, getting 27 entities to agree on an office potluck would be a monumental task, never mind water policy. But Pierre has been at this water management gig for over two decades now, the last eight heading SWC. She is widely respected as a consensus builder, someone known for her witty tough mindedness as well as for having the chops to translate scientific jargon into language both her members and lawmakers can understand. In a state where water policy can be a bloodsport, Pierre has emerged as a reliable voice and leader for her members that can also be trusted by folks outside that sphere. And that is the definition of influence.
You might have heard tech is having a moment in the Legislature. Or a string of moments adding up to several years of growing influence throughout government. Much – but certainly not all – of the hubbub is around the mega-issues of AI, social media protections for young people, and data privacy. Not surprisingly, Meta (Facebook) Director of California Public Policy Mona Pasquil Rogers has a hand in all of it. Which isn’t always fun. After all, everybody says they hate Facebook and they never use it…except for all the times they do. It has in fact become ubiquitous in our lives. Unless you’re under 30, and then it’s TikTok, but that’s a whole other discussion. In any case, her job is to keep lawmakers and Meta giving each other lots of likes. And she is quite good at it. Which is not surprising given how steeped in politics and policy she has been for decades, including being the Appointments Secretary for both Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown. The rest of her CV is also incredible – suffice to say she is one of the most respected and influential people in the Capitol sphere, and will be until our AI robotic overlords render us obsolete.
Lynn “Nay” Valbuena might be the best example on this list of “quiet power.” For one, she leads one of the most powerful gaming tribes in California, the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, also known as the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which has become so profitable that it purchased the Palms Casino in Las Vegas in 2021. That was no insignificant feat – the Palms is the one and only Las Vegas casino to ever be fully owned and operated by a Native American tribe, a true testament to her enduring leadership. She never seeks media attention, but Valbuena has been an integral part of San Manuel tribal government for decades –she began her latest four-year term as Chairwoman last year – and her role in tribal matters extends far beyond casino issues. She serves as the Vice Chair of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations, Secretary for the National Indian Gaming Association, as a delegate to the National Congress of American Indians and as a trustee for the National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Mark Macarro became Chairman of the Pechanga Band of Indians in 1992. The tribe opened its first gaming facility just three years later in 1995. Coincidence? Uh, that would be no. There is in fact no way to overstate how influential Macarro’s leadership has been for the Pechanga people, in growing tribal gaming in California and in beating back efforts to horn in on the action by rival gaming interests. Today, the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula is the second largest Indian casino in the state, and Macarro is a titan in California politics. Since 2023, Macarro has also served as President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), which represents the broad interests of tribal governments across the country and is the largest Native American group of its kind in the United States. Like Lynn Valbuena, his counterpart with the San Miguel Band of Mission Indians, Macarro keeps a low profile, preferring to work behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight. But if you know, you know.
For most of his career Ron Conway has been far better known in board rooms than in legislative offices, but with AI regulation all the rage right now in the Capitol, the so-called “super angel” of Silicon Valley has definitely gained the attention of every California lawmaker. This is due mostly to his deep, deep pockets (i.e. many donations to various Democratic PACs and causes), and also for his well-known leadership in the tech world. He isn’t one to show up in the Capitol himself, but he is someone Gavin Newsom listens to on all things tech, as do all the cool kid legislators trying to thread the needle on Big Tech regulation. We don’t know what impact his input could have on the number of AI and other tech bills currently working their way through the Legislature, but it is easy to imagine his influence playing big if a SB 53 gets to the governor’s desk. He is also a longtime donor to Kamala Harris’s campaigns, and would presumably be so again for whatever office she might seek next. Or not.
The Committees on Appropriations are where so many bills go to die. Each year scores of them go to the Suspense File, where their fate is determined almost exclusively in back rooms well out of sight of the public and us pesky reporters. Which is why Dickenson and his counterpart in the Senate (Senate Appropriations Staff Director Mark McKenzie) are both represented on this year’s list. Because who do you think advises the committee chairs and staff and other assorted players on the merits of those bills? Lobbyists of course. Other advocates. But lobbyists can come and go. So can Committee Chairs. But stalwarts like Dickenson tend to stay for years (eight as the director, 12 overall with the Committee), and with that comes the kind of institutional and policy knowledge that inspires those same Committee Chairs to lean on them on issues big and small. So others may have the bigger name and the fancier suit, but Dickenson has the true insider’s edge.
Yvonne Wheeler is the first Black woman elected President of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO (LA Fed), the second largest central labor body in the United States, with more than 300 affiliated unions representing more than 800,000 members. Wheeler also serves on the Executive Council of the California Labor Federation, as First Vice President. That all gives her serious juice in the labor world, particularly given her reputation as easier to work with than Cal Labor Fed President Lorena Gonzalez (No. 15 on this list). Wheeler has in fact become the go-to conduit for union interests with the governor’s office at times when everyone needs a kinder, gentler approach to solving thorny problems. She’s softspoken, but in that steel magnolia way. Because you don’t get where she is without some backbone. And you don’t stay there dealing with Lorena Gonzalez without enough grit to sandpaper the walls. Wheeler is the daughter of a longtime union activist from Baton Rouge, Louisiana who worked during the Civil Rights Movement.
Susan Jensen is Executive Director of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association or CNIGA, the largest regional tribal gaming association in the United States with 50 member tribes. As has been mentioned in the multiple bios of other tribal members, California’s native tribes wield a lot of power around the Capitol. How much power? There is exactly one actual Native American lawmaker in the Legislature (Assemblymember James Ramos), but there are 68 members of the Native American Caucus. And why is that? Because the tribes have money, employ a heck of a lot of people and produce prodigious tax revenues for the state. People like Jensen are part and parcel for how that level of power and success was gained and is wielded today. Her star has risen with the organization, as she began in 1998 as CNIGA’s first full-time staff person back when Indian gaming was just in its infancy. Jensen also has helped oversee the annual Western Indian Gaming Conference, the state’s top gaming conference that serves as a forum for tribal and industry leaders.
Kassy Perry has long been one of the Capitol community’s premier public affairs pros. A veteran of both the Executive and Legislative branches, she has advised governors, Fortune 500 CEOs, lawmakers and any number of nonprofit leaders. While Perry Communications Group deftly works on a variety of policy issues, PCG’s forte has long been in the health care space, where it excels at developing public affairs campaigns and partnerships that help get their clients to where they are trying to go. This last year has seen them elbows deep in legislative measures around pharmacy benefit managers, the 340B program, scope of practice issues and the launch of the state’s first homeless hospice, to name just a few. Perry prefers to work deep in the background, but had a big splashy moment a few years ago when she convinced Katie Couric to televise her colonoscopy on the Today Show. If getting a major celebrity to publicly show herself getting a tube up the bum isn’t influence, we don’t know what is. Full disclosure: Perry is on the board of Open California, which produces Capitol Weekly.
PG&E Vice President of State and Local Government Affairs Chris Patterson has a reputation as a highly effective crisis manager and coalition builder, which is a good thing given how often his organization is getting skewered for everything from asking for yet another rate hike to its role in some of the most devastating fires in California history. Oh, and the massive fines and ensuing bankruptcy that followed. And then there are the calls for the utility giant to be taken over by the state or be broken into several smaller entities. In short, it feels like the organization is constantly facing some mega-stressful situation, often of its own making. And somewhere in there someone has to be the point person with lawmakers and the governor, who was once the loudest voice out there for having California take the company over. It’s hard to imagine someone better suited for what is easily one of the most brutal jobs in the game. Love them or hate them, PG&E and Patterson are major players in the Capitol.
Jacob Mejia is one of the most prominent voices for California’s tribal communities. As Public Affairs Director for the Pechanga Band of Indians, he frequently speaks to the press and public about tribal sovereignty and gaming issues, and he was particularly involved in the 2022 fight to keep sports betting out of the Golden State. For more than 25 years, he’s served as Executive Director of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations or TASIN, an association of federally recognized tribal governments in Southern California, which he’s grown into a leading voice in California advocating for tribal rights. As such, he is one of just a handful of significant conduits between tribes and lawmakers, and his influence can be felt on every piece of legislation impacting tribes. Known for being approachable and easy to work with, Mejia also serves on the board of Open California, the nonprofit publisher of Capitol Weekly.
Francisco Silva is President and CEO of the California Primary Care Association, which represents over 1,300 nonprofit community health centers that serve close to 8 million Californians across the state. Most of them are located in low-income communities and service residents who rely on Medi-Cal to help pay for their care. But with major federal spending cuts on the way, keeping them all afloat is going to be an enormous challenge. Silva is hardly a neophyte at all this, having previously spent almost two decades as General Counsel and Senior Vice President of the California Medical Association, time that has given him a unique perspective in high-stakes medical fights. Born in Mexico, Silva started out working in the fields alongside his parents before obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University, a law degree from the UCLA School of Law and an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business.
Finding qualified women to run for office has never been the problem. Ensuring they are able to run with the proper support behind them has been the issue. But last November, women claimed the majority in the California Senate, the first time in our history either chamber has been majority female. And Susannah Delano is a major reason why. Executive Director of Close the Gap California, Delano has led her own veritable village to recruit progressive women to run for targeted seats. It is an effort that has seen California move from 19th in women’s representation in state legislatures to 4th, in line with California’s standing in the global economy. Coincidence? Maybe. What isn’t is that Close the Gap recruits represent 100 percent of LGBTQ+ women, 67 percent of Black women, 48 percent of Latina Democrats, and half of AANHPI Democratic women currently serving in the Legislature, and CTG is just two seats away from its goal of gender balancing the entire Legislature by 2028. That is still to be determined, but under her watch we would not bet against it.
Journalism has had a tough go of it for a while now, but you wouldn’t know it from the meteoric rise of Politico’s Christopher Cadelago, who has steadily become one of the most influential members of the Capitol Press Corps. As a reporter, his stories are must-reads thanks to his deep well of sources and his penchant for big scoops. For all that, his work in maneuvering Politico’s ascension around the Capitol may be even more significant. Since returning to Sacramento after a working for several years in Washington, D.C., Cadelago has played a major role in elevating Politico’s presence here, making key hires to bolster their impressive reporting team. The result: Politico, and particularly the California Playbook, is essential daily reading alongside the Capitol Morning Report and Capitol Weekly. (Ha, just seeing if you were paying attention.) His contributions were recognized by his superiors earlier this year when he was named Politico’s Editorial Director for California. If KCRA’s Ashley Zavala (No. 92 on this list) is the Capitol’s “Oh Shit” reporter, then Cadelago is its “Oh, Wow” guy.
Larisa Cespedes is a partner at Miller, Cespedes & Associates (MCA), another one of Sacramento’s small-but-mighty boutique lobbying firms. MCA employs just three lobbyists but manages to represent 25 clients, including such big names as the American Beverage Association, Edison, Estee Lauder, FedEx, Phillips 66 and – oh yeah – Walmart. Not too shabby for a firm founded five years ago. But then Cespedes is widely recognized and respected as one of the hardest working people in the Capitol ecosystem. She also has the innate ability to enter into a tense situation and calm the waters while staying uncompromisingly fierce in the service of her clients across a varied array of issues, which she somehow still manages to also understand with depth. And all while doing it with a big belly laugh that you can hear a mile away. Cespedes previously spent a decade working for Lang, Hansen, O’Malley & Miller before launching MCA in January 2020.
It is every investigative reporter’s dream to see their work have a real positive impact on society. For LAist reporter Nick Gerda, the dream is reality. Gerda’s dogged reporting on Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do resulted in Do’s arrest and eventual conviction on charges of funneling millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars to his daughter’s nonprofit. In the middle of it all Do tried to get Gerda fired, but instead ended up receiving a five-year prison sentence. The Do case also led to not one but TWO new state laws: one requiring county supervisors statewide to disclose any family ties they have to a nonprofit’s employees or officers before awarding any contracts to them and another going into effect next year that makes it a crime for elected officials to have a hand in awarding government contracts to organizations where their child has an ownership stake of 10 percent or more, or is an officer or director of a vendor. Gerda, meanwhile, won Journalist of the Year awards from press clubs in LA, Orange County and Sacramento. Wow!
It was only a few years ago that we dubbed Zavala the “Oh Shit” reporter because a staffer told us that was their first thought if they stepped out of their office and saw her coming toward them with a camera and a microphone. That has apparently now become her moniker, one she says she wears with pride. We’re glad to see she hasn’t changed, because the Capitol needs reporters that are willing to push for answers, especially when lawmakers are doing their best to avoid giving them. In recent years her reporting on issues like child sex trafficking and the use of non-disclosure agreements has played a significant role in resulting legislation on both those issues. While Zavala has her critics, she is widely respected among her peers, both for her skills as a reporter and as someone who has been a champion for her fellow journalists via her work in leadership of the Capitol Correspondents Association of California. She has also gone out of her way to nurture the next generation of reporters in her work with the Sacramento Press Club.
It says something about his acumen with political data that while Paul Mitchell shares a name with a famous hairstylist, we all think the other guy is the odd one. In all seriousness, Mitchell is Vice President of Political Data, Inc., aka PDI, and the owner of Redistricting Partners, which tracks the work of California’s independent redistricting commission and has conducted over 100 local redistrictings in California. He is universally recognized for having the pulse of the electorate and lauded for the clear way he communicates his findings. And don’t overlook how important his insight is to the Capitol community. Lawmakers live for election and polling numbers, but poorly acquired data is garbage. What Mitchell provides is indispensable information for consultants, electeds and the media – this year when a mid-decade redistricting idea came to the fore, it was Mitchell who was everyone’s first contact. He is a friend of Capitol Weekly, where he publishes articles of his own and partners with us on polling, and is married to Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California’s Jodi Hicks (No. 17), making him one half of the Capitol’s most influential power couples.
Fundraiser David Pruitt is another person who could easily be overlooked in a crowd as small as two. But don’t sleep on him – Pruitt is the mad genius who had the idea to remake the Speaker’s Cup golf tournament, ditching AT&T’s longstanding sponsorship of the Pebble Beach event in favor of an entirely new fundraising mechanism, the Speaker’s Circle, which costs donors serious bucks to join. The switch has made the Speaker’s Cup, which was already a major fundraiser, into an even a bigger cash cow for the California Democratic Party. Every year now we hear stories about enormous sums raised at the event as well as about Pruitt’s central role in Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ political machine. Some folks argue – not without good reason – that this is exactly the kind of thing that turns regular people off to politics. But then we harken back again to Jess Unruh and money being “the mother’s milk of politics.” In this case, both perspectives can be true.
Margie Estrada may or may not someday make it into the Capitol Weekly Top 100 Hall of Fame. But she has been compared to one of its newest members, the estimable Kip Lipper. Now that is some pretty high praise, but anyone familiar with her work knows she has earned the comparison. She is, simply put, the legislature’s expert on the law, which gives her tremendous influence a broad array of issues. A former principal consultant to previous pro Tems Darrell Steinberg and Kevin de León, Estrada is widely respected for her understanding of the legislative process and is firm about what will and will not pass through her committee. And while the Budget and Appropriations Committees get all the ink from our esteemed colleagues in the media, lawmakers know the Judiciary Committees are just as important. As with most good staff consultants, Estrada goes out of her way to stay out of our – meaning reporters – way. Sorry, Margie, but we have outed you. Now everyone knowns how much oomph you carry in the building.
Lobbyist Stephanie Roberson is a new entrant to the Top 100, but she’s hardly a newbie to the Capitol community. The owner of Stephanie Roberson Strategies, “a boutique, black-owned single member firm,” Roberson got her start in 1999 working for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, then quickly transitioned to the Legislature where she worked for a series of members. In 2007 she joined the California Nurses Association, where she became their chief lobbyist and helped build the organization into a true force in the Capitol. After 15 years, Roberson struck out on her own. While that can be dicey, she hit the ground running, garnering clients like the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Medical Association, two impressive gets for a relatively new contract lobbyist. But we know why – she has played essential roles in countless labor, health care, reproductive rights, equity in racial justice and nursing education issues, and is widely known and respected for her tenacity and work ethic. These days she has also become a co-editor of the California Target Book, the quintessential non-partisan guide to all things elections in California.
Almost everything about this list is BIG – big money, big clients, big egos. Oh my, the egos. But what about the little guys? What about interests not named Google or Meta or whatever deep pockets mega-corporation you like? Who stands up and fights for the nonprofits or for animals or for the environment? Who, other than the Lorax, will speak for the trees? And who does it even when defeat seems inevitable, if only to make damned sure the big guys don’t get to just win on autopilot? In this town that person is Jennifer Fearing, the acknowledged go-to lobbyist for all the little guys out there who need a champion. Fearing is the one they turn to first, and her impassioned and yet pragmatic approach is the gold standard for nonprofit advocacy. And beyond her own lobbying, nobody is better at bringing the always disparate nonprofit groups together in a common cause. Still not convinced? Then riddle me this – why do the big guys have to spend all that money on lobbying? We’ll answer. It’s because people like Jennifer Fearing are on the other side.
Barros has quietly become one the head of the most effective boutique lobbying shops in Sacramento, with a client list that includes the California Hospital Association, NRG, Planned Parenthood and AT&T among others. Not too shabby for a small, two-person firm. Barros has had a hand in several significant social justice measures in recent years, including the passage of the CROWN Act, former State Sen. Holly Mitchell’s bill that bars discrimination based on a person’s hairstyle. That law has now been adopted in dozens of states. Barros has also championed the Silenced No More Act, which grants whistleblowers the power to speak out about discrimination and harassment (regardless of NDA’s) without fear of reprisal. She is widely respected for her ability to build coalitions and her resilience under pressure.
Bipartisanship in the Legislature is like the probably apocryphal line credited to Mark Twain: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Well, you can’t say that about April Manatt, who is most definitely doing something about fostering more bipartisanship in the Legislature via her role as Executive Director of the California Problem Solvers Foundation, whose mission is “to educate elected officials, legislative staff, and members of the public on policy issues and to encourage political leadership that puts the public good above partisan political ideology.” Testify! Because fostering collaboration and cooperation in time like these feels like a sacred mission. And if nothing else, the members of the Problem Solvers Caucus at least will acknowledge they exist, unlike some other allegedly moderate caucus where the alleged members won’t even admit in public they are part of the alleged caucus. Allegedly. In contrast, the Problem Solvers Caucus has 21 members now, and all of them acknowledge it! That unto itself shows the promise of the group, and the influence Manatt wields in her leadership of the Foundation.
No. 100 Melody Gutierrez and Alene Tchekmedyian
Like Nick Gerda, these two intrepid Los Angeles Times investigative reporters produced work in the last year that has spurred legislation. In this case, Gutierrez and Tchekmedyian exposed an underground market of dogs and cats being brought into California by out-of-state mass breeders who then claim to be small local breeders. The series sparked the introduction of the three-bill “Stop the Puppy Mill Pipeline,” which as of this writing was well on its way to the governor’s office. All three sponsoring lawmakers (Sen. Tom Umberg and Assemblymembers Marc Berman and Steve Bennett) credited the Times for inspiring their bills. Newsom rarely comments on pending legislation, but his previous track record of supporting pro-animal bills bodes well for them should they reach him. Gutierrez is a longtime Capitol veteran, having previously covered state government for the Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Chronicle. Tchekmedyian previously covered the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for the Times and reported on crime and policing for the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader.
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