Veteran California political data expert Paul Mitchell joins us to talk about his recent CA120 column examining shifting behavior by California's Latino and Asian voters. Turns out that Asian voters are becoming more Democratic while Latinos move slightly toward the GOP. We also look at California's confusing Presidential Primary ballot, and the recent Berkeley IGS Poll that found Rep. Barbara Lee in fourth place - behind Republican Steve Garvey - in the race to fill Sen. Feinstein's seat. Plus, Who Had the Worst Week in CA Politics?

:58 Shift in voting behavior for Asians and Latinos

3:15 Vietnamese voting patterns

4:12 Mike Madrid mention

5:49 So, why the changes?

6:52 Capitol Weekly polling on Primary?

8:18 How do changes in voting demographics affect Independents

9:51 The confusing CA Presidential Primary

11:39 250K former GOP voters won't see Pres. Donald Trump on their Primary ballot

12:23 Implications for Senate race

14:54 Impact of mail in voting

17:21 A failure of Civics education?

20:08 The Berkeley IGS Poll: Senate Primary

23:13 Will Steve Garvey be the top voter getter in the March primary?

29:29 The races to replace Lee, Porter and Schiff

31:45 WWCA: A Bay Area two-fer

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As California stares down the largest budget deficit in a decade, lawmakers - most of whom have never governed during a down time - will be facing hard choices. Labor lobbyist Kristina Bas Hamilton remembers the rough days of the Great Recession, and sat down with us to talk about what this go round might be like, and how it will differ from the past.  She also talks with us about her podcast, and her new book, Changemaker: An Insider's Guide to Getting Sh*t Done at the California Capitol, a How-To guide for working with lawmakers.

Plus, as always, we tell you who had the Worst Week in California Politics.

1:35 A new book

2:19 Expectations for the session

5:08 The Big Five become the Big Three

6:39 Legislating in a deficit

7:20 Obligatory Alex Vassar mention

11:46 Changemaker: a How-To guide for people in the capitol

15:34 "This is the people's house, and you're the people"

17:31 "Conspiracy theories flourish when you don't know what the hell is happening"

20:43 The podcast: "The Blueprint for California Advocates"

24:08 Deficit: what's different this time around?

26:30 "Talk to me after January 10"

28:28 Mentors

30:20 Book signing: Capital Books, January 23 4:30-6:30 & Manny's in SF, February 22

32:29 #WWCA: Pamela Price 

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For our final episode of 2023 we've got a big show with three special segments: 

First up, hosts Rich Ehisen and Tim Foster talk with Sammy Perez of Prison Fellowship to learn about the Angel Tree Program, which gives incarcerated parents a way to provide a Christmas gift and a personal message for their children. Perez, who spent nearly a decade in prison, shares the importance of family connections for prisoners and their families on the outside - and how others can help support the program.

Next up, we are joined by longtime Capitol Weekly editor John Howard. Rich Ehisen took over the editor's chair from John in January, and we talk about his first year helming the publication, and what it was like to take on production of The Top 100. John, meanwhile, has taken over our Oral History program, and talks about the contrast between churning out daily news and taking the long view.

Finally, we buckle in for a countdown of the Top 10 candidates for Who Had the Worst Year in California Politics. This is our final show of the year - we'll be back with plenty to talk about in 2024!

SAMMY PEREZ

1:26 The Angel Tree program

3:44 Sammy's story

7:04 The impact of the program

8:27 How to support Angel Tree

14:13 JOHN HOWARD

15:17 The Oral History Project

17:40 49 years of daily reporting

20:16 The Rich Ehisen era

23:06 Learning the Top 100

25:52 "Lobbyists are the engine of what makes Sacramento work"

27:58 Staffers

34:01 Rising Stars

37:31 Folks outside of Sacramento?

41:32 Biggest surprise?

48:15 #WWCA - Sean Loloee

49:05 Worst YEAR in CA Politics

49:44 No. 10 - Barbara Lee

51:34 No. 9 - John Eastman

53:07 No. 8 - Omar Navarro

55:56 No. 7 - Curren Price

56:54 No. 6 - Pamela Price

58:40 No. 5 - Reggie Jones-Sawyer

1:02:11 No. 4 - Kevin McCarthy

1:06:47 No. 3 - Harry Sidhu

1:08:16 No. 2 - Nathan Fletcher

1:11:39 No. 1 - Mark Ridley-Thomas

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KQED's Marisa Lagos joins us for a look back at the biggest stories of the past year. Lagos is a correspondent for KQED’s California Politics and Government Desk and co-hosts a weekly show and podcast, Political Breakdown. We discuss Governor Newsom's year, hot labor Summer, the success of the YIMBY movement, the death of Dianne Feinstein and arrival of Laphonza Butlerr, and much, much more.  Plus, we offer up our pick for who had the Worst Week in California Politics.

1:06 Biggest stories: The Governor

1:51 Labor

2:36 Staff unionization

4:22 Tia Orr and SEIU

5:35 Reggie Jones-Sawyer

6:46 New Speaker: Robert Rivas

8:25 Generational shift

9:17 Surprises?

10:03 Pendulum swing on Housing

13:55 All politics Aren't local

15:07 "None of us saw Laphonza Butler coming"

18:14 Where is Barbara Lee

19:40 Anna Eshoo 

21:34 Tough state to campaign in

22:07 Kevin McCarthy

23:23 Mental Health Reform

25:05 Shoutout to Dana Williamson

30:26 Big issues for 2024?

31:56 Ballot initiatives

37:18 #WWCA

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A new survey from the Public Policy Institute of California finds that many Californians no longer believe the American Dream holds true, or believe that the dream is harder to achieve in California than in other states. We're joined by Dean Bonner, associate survey director and research fellow at PPIC, to talk about the results of the survey, how they compare to earlier iterations, and about the survey process itself.  And, as always, we tell you Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics.

Show Notes:

1:59 How DO Californians feel about the American Dream?

3:42 A rare alignment across political affiliation

6:56 How does California's attitude compare to the rest of the country?

8:11 Support for government programs

10:18 Polarization?

12:17 Lower income bracket actually has more optimism

14:03 Moving out of state

17:36 What's the biggest takeaway?

18:40 Housing has been a Top Five issue for years now

21:28 How the poll was conducted

26:59 #WWCA

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Just a few years ago, people following California public policy news were the beneficiaries of what was in retrospect an online media renaissance: Joining traditional legacy media, new sites like CalMatters and Politico California offered greatly expanded capitol coverage, and a whole series of newsletters and other aggregators devoted to California government and politics made tracking news easier.

All off the above were amplified by Twitter, which emerged as an essential tool of newsgathering. The platform offered a unique and very robust minute-by-minute conversation, often driven by elected officials and other newsmakers. No one benefitted from this lively Twittersphere more than political reporters who used the platform for sourcing, following breaking news and for sharing their stories as soon as they were published. 

However, in the year or so since billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter (now X), the platform has changed, algorithmically and functionally, but also because many once-active users have either abandoned the platform or greatly reduced their engagement. As a tool for reporters, X is a shadow of what Twitter once was.

The fade of X has encouraged a rise of competitors, including Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon, but so far none has proved the perfect fit for journalism that Twitter seemed to be. Where do California political junkies get their news now? Is the diminishment of X driving traffic back to curated news aggregators like Rough and Tumble and the multitude of California politics newsletters? We asked Lara Korte of Politico to talk about the decline of the platform, how it came to be such an essential part of newsgathering and how and where to stay up-to-date on political news in the wake of X's dysfunction. Plus: Who had the Worst Week In CA Politics?

SHOW NOTES

1:36 How useful is Twitter (X) now?

4:07 Game changer: John Myers and the CA Budget all-nighter

5:09 Other options?

5:48 January 6

7:10 Hashtag

8:35 Blue checks

9:19 Cheering the demise of Twitter

9:42 Rough and Tumble

11:29 Removing the headlines

13:01 Aggregation and curation

14:40 Rule of Three

15:45 The Roundup and Politico California Playbook

17:46 Following trends

20:00 The value of non news sources

21:31 Tweet of the Day

22:13 A plethora of newsletters

24:33 Calpeek?

25:13 Capitol Morning Report

26:27 What happens to Twitter?

28:58 MySpace

34:09 Please tweet something funny

36:10 RSS feed

37:14 #WWCA

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This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023

This is the KEYNOTE – CALIFORNIA SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION TONY THURMOND

Introduction by Rich Ehisen, Capitol Weekly

Find a full transcript here: https://capitolweekly.net/education-policy-tony-thurmond-superintendent-of-public-instruction/

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Capitol Weekly Podcast theme is "Pickin' My Way" by Eddie Lang

Thanks to our Conference on Education Policy sponsors: THE TRIBAL ALLIANCE OF SOVEREIGN INDIAN NATIONS, WESTERN STATES PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION, KP PUBLIC AFFAIRS, PERRY COMMUNICATIONS, CAPITOL ADVOCACY, LUCAS PUBLIC AFFAIRS, THE WEIDEMAN GROUP and CALIFORNIA PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS

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This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023

This is Panel 3 – LOOK AHEAD: BALLOT MEASURES AND LEGISLATION

PANELISTS: Michael Borges, California Teachers Association; Christina Laster, Bold Enterprises LLC; Scott Richards, Teach For America

Moderated by Rich Ehisen, Capitol Weekly

Find a full transcript here: https://capitolweekly.net/education-policy-look-ahead-ballot-measures-and-legislation/

Want to support the Capitol Weekly Podcast? Make your tax deductible donation here: capitolweekly.net/donations/

Capitol Weekly Podcast theme is "Pickin' My Way" by Eddie Lang

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This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023

This is Panel 2 – THE ROLE OF SCHOOL BOARDS

PANELISTS:Amy Christianson, California School Boards Association; Marshall Tuck, EdVoice; Richard Zeiger, Zeiger Strategies

Moderated by Dan Morain for Capitol Weekly

Find a full transcript at: https://capitolweekly.net/education-policy-the-role-of-school-boards/

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Capitol Weekly Podcast theme is "Pickin' My Way" by Eddie Lang

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This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. This is Panel 1 – TEACHER SHORTAGE AND OTHER CHALLENGES.

PANELISTS: Heather J. Hough, Policy Analysis for California Education, Stanford University; Katie Hardeman, California Teachers Association; David Schapira, California School Employees Association; Melissa White, WestEd

Moderated by Brian Joseph for Capitol Weekly

Find a full transcript at: https://capitolweekly.net/special-episode-education-policy-teacher-shortage-and-other-challenges/

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Capitol Weekly Podcast theme is "Pickin' My Way" by Eddie Lang

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