Capital connections
As california’s capital university, sac state offers students unparalleled access to the heart of state government
by
Laurie Hall
The Capitol is full of them. So are scores of government and consumer
agencies. Two longstanding Sac State programs—Capital Fellows and
Sacramento Semester—have become a key source of top-notch talent
for California policymakers and political organizations.
As many as half the offices in the California Legislature are staffed
by alumni of the Capital Fellows program, says Tim Hodson, director of
the Center for California Studies at Sac State which runs the Fellows
program. Former Fellows also include three members of Congress, an assembly
member, chief of staff for the leader of the State Senate and numerous
high-level agency representatives.
There are even a few making sure politics isn’t taken too seriously:
they include Sacramento News and Review cartoonist Jawn Kloss and
National Public Radio political contributor Harry Shearer, also the voice
of The Simpsons’ Moe the Bartender and the alter ego of Spinal
Tap bass player Derek Smalls.
The program began in 1957 as the California State Assembly Fellowship
Program and later expanded to include fellowships in the Senate, executive
branch and the judiciary. It became part of the Center for California
Studies in 1984.
“If you look around the Capitol building, they’re everywhere—not
just in the staff—but in the leadership,” says Alison Harvey,
a former Fellow and chief of staff to John Burton, president pro tem of
the State Senate. “The Fellowship is a terrific experience. Where
else can college students get their hands on a billion-dollar budget?
They’re helping to write medical malpractice legislation, for heaven’s
sake.”
Harvey even sings the praises of the program to other countries. “We’re
exporting it,” she says. “When we do work with foreign democracies,
we suggest they develop a similar program. It raises the profile of the
profession and forges links to the university.”
Fellows are highly sought, so much so that Hodson says they can’t
fill all the requests. There are 64 Fellows in all—18 each for the
Assembly, Senate and executive branch and 10 for the judiciary. And this
year 63 of 80 assembly members and 28 of 40 senators requested Fellows,
as did 38 agencies and 15 courts.
Getting into the Fellows program is tough, too. When you compare the number
of spaces available to the number of applicants, Hodson says, it’s
more competitive getting into the Fellows programs than being admitted
to Stanford or UC Berkeley. Applicants to the graduate-level program come
from all over California as well as other parts of the country. There
is tremendous diversity, too. More than half are non-white or women.
The onset of term limits has made Fellows especially valuable. It’s
a huge benefit to a brand-new legislator to begin the term with a hand-selected
aide who’s already completed the Fellows program’s intense orientation.
Once the program is over, Fellows get snapped up. Of the 14 Assembly Fellows
who wanted to stay at the Capitol last year, 12 found jobs immediately.
Nora Lynn is one of those who stayed on after her Fellowship in Senator
Dede Alpert’s office. “It was a great,” she says. “I’m
working for the same person now that I did as a Fellow. As a result I
was able to take my prior interest in domestic violence prevention and
within a couple of years I was able to translate it into an active role.”
Fellows work full-time for 11 months as paid professional-level staffers
in government offices.
The experience they gain can be substantial. Last year, a Fellow working
with the Assembly budget committee became the lead staffer analyzing higher
education funding. Another Fellow organized the transition following the
end of Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration and went on to work with
the incoming administration for two more years. Yet another was charged
with the preparations for a gubernatorial trip to Mexico.
Another program that offers students the chance to get a foot in the government
door is Sacramento Semester. The internship program, which is in its 27th
year, places as many as 30 undergraduate students annually in government-related
internships. About half the participants are from universities other than
Sac State.
To complement the work experience, the students take a pair of classes,
held both at the Capitol and on campus. The courses regularly feature
guest speakers from many areas related to government—the executive
branch, legislators, lobbyists, staff and the press corps.
“The on-campus course focuses on California’s governmental and
political processes. The internship teaches the practical side,”
says Jean Torcom, a Sac State government professor and the program’s
director.
As in the Fellows program, the students are placed in the Legislature,
the executive branch and with state agencies. They also can work with
lobbyists.
Another similarity to the Fellowship program is that many end up staying
after their internships have ended.
That was the case with Jim Richardson, now the chief of staff for Senate
Minority Leader James Brulte. The former high school teacher signed up
with Sacramento Semester to get government examples to use in class. When
it came time to leave, he was offered a job. “I figured I’d
do it for one year. This is my 12th,” he says.
As an intern, Richardson was assigned to a freshman assembly member, which
he says allowed him to jump right in, working on legislation, casework
and constituent correspondence. He praises the program for the access
it offers.
“It provides an immersion in the process you wouldn’t get otherwise,”
he says. “As much as a textbook may try to tell it, there are a number
of boxes missing from the flow chart of how a bill becomes a law. You
get to see the machinations that drive legislation.”
Interns’ duties can range from answering constituent mail, which
often includes researching and answering complaints, to studying legislative
issues to working on bills. “If the legislator is working on several
bills, there’s a chance the student will be in charge of following
one of them—meeting with interest groups, lining up support, attending
hearings,” Torcom says.
Most of this semester’s students were political science majors, hoping
for careers in legislative politics. But others want more behind-the-scenes
roles. Recreation major Susan Treabass wants to work in parks and recreation.
“I think it’s important to have an awareness of how the Legislature
works. That’s where the funding comes from.”
Matt Kellogg saw an opportunity to learn more about lobbying. He believes
that term limits have led to a shift in power in the Senate and Assembly.
“The people with the information are the lobbyists,” he says.
And all Sacramento Semester participants are getting invaluable training,
says Lance Hastings, who has seen the students in action at the Capitol
as a representative for a retailer’s association and serves as a
mentor for the program. “It’s experience you can’t buy,”
he says.
Former Fellows
Former
Capital Fellows are making their mark in government, public service, justice
and even the arts.
Alumni from 1957-2001 include:
• Three members of Congress (Howard Berman, Xavier Bercerra and Mike
Thompson).
• A member of the state Assembly (Bill Leonard).
• The chief of staff for the president pro tem of the California
Senate (Alison Harvey), the chief deputy director of the California Department
of Finance (Betty Yee) and the chief clerk of the California Assembly
(Dotson Wilson).
• Three Superior Court judges (Richard Patsey, Ron Robie and Richard
Byrne, retired) an associate director of the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control (Alison Kelly), the communications director for the California
Attorney General’s office (Nathan Barankin), the executive director
of the California Children and Families First Commission (Jane Henderson)
and the legislative coordinator for the California Postsecondary Education
Commission (Margaret Chishom).
• An assistant vice chancellor for the California State University
system (Karen Yelverton-Zamattipa), the assistant vice provost for Stanford
University (Lori White) and a Sac State vice president (Robert Jones).
• The political cartoonist who provided the illustration for this
article (Jawn Kloss), a filmmaker (Peter Shiao), and a political satirist
and actor (Harry Shearer).
Former Fellows are also employed by dozens of California legislators,
committees, agencies and advocacy groups. You’ll find Fellows:
Former Fellows are also employed by dozens of California legislators,
committees, agencies and advocacy groups. You’ll find Fellows:
• On
the staffs of nearly 30 assembly members and at least 16
senators.
• Assisting more than 15 legislative committees including Budget,
Transportation and Public Safety in the Assembly, and Education, Health
and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs in the Senate.
• In the offices of the speaker of the Assembly, the president pro
tem of the Senate and the secretary for education, as well as the Criminal
Justice Planning office, the Chief Clerk of the Assembly’s office,
the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Legislative Analyst’s
Office and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.
• At such organizations as the California Commission on Improving
Life Through Service, the Jewish Community Federation, the California
Resources Agency Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Department
of Fish and Game, the Department of Health Services, the California Taxpayers
Association, the California Public Utilities Commission, the Department
of General Services and the California Technology, Trade and Commerce
Agency.
• In the justice system, including a U.S. Attorney, a deputy attorney
general and Kern County’s public defender. Others work with the FBI
and in the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division.