You are invited to spend an evening with political analysts, members of the press, and consultants from the recent campaigns for a two panel discussion of the election results and the policy implications!

Election Post-Mortem
Wednesday, November 15th
6:30 p.m. Reception, 7:00 p.m. Discussion
Taper Hall Auditorium, Room 101
(Map and Directions)

Details about the panels and speakers below!

Cosponsored by the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, the California Center for Education in Public Affairs, Coro Southern California, and the L.A. Press Club.

 
STATE ELECTION & INITIATIVES PANEL
 
Mark Barabak, Los Angeles Times (Moderator)
Mark Z. Barabak has been a newspaper reporter for nearly 30 years, covering campaigns and elections in 48 of the 50 states, including all or part of eight presidential contests and seven California gubernatorial races. Barabak has worked for United Press International, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington bureau of Copley News Service. He began his political coverage for the Times with the 1998 gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races and also covered the 2003 gubernatorial recall and the 2005 special election. When he's not on the road, Barabak works out of the Times' San Francisco Bureau and lives in Northern California with his wife and two teenage daughters.

 
Andrew Acosta, Acosta Salazar LLC
Before co-founding Acosta|Salazar, Acosta managed the successful re-election campaign of state Senator Mike Machado.  This race which was the number one targeted legislative race in California was also one of the most expensive legislative races in history. Prior to the Machado campaign Acosta worked as a consultant with Kaufman Campaigns in Sacramento. He managed several projects including statewide initiatives, state Assembly races, membership communications and various local campaigns and initiatives.  His work included coalition building, press and earned media campaigns, event planning, developing and implementing field campaigns, research, polling and direct mail campaigns within California and several out-of-state projects. Prior to joining Kaufman Campaigns, Acosta managed some of the most competitive campaigns in recent California history.  These races include state Senator Patrick Johnston re-election in 1996, Joe Baca for state Senate in 1998, Joe Baca for Congress in the 1999 special election and Assemblymember Tom Torklason’s defeat of state Senator Richard Rainey in 2000.  For this work, Acosta was profiled in California Journal as “a Political Consultant on the Rise.” In addition, Acosta’s legislative experience includes consulting in the California Legislature for various members including former Senate Pro Tem John Burton, Assemblymember Kevin Shelly and state Senator Patrick Johnston.  Acosta is a graduate of UCLA where he developed his passion for politics and rugby.

 
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, USC School of Policy, Planning and Development
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe is Senior Scholar, School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California and the political analyst for KNBC4, Los Angeles. In the 2000 election cycle she also served as political analyst for NBC4 in Washington, D.C. and for BBC Scotland and BBC Wales; she continues to serve as American politics analyst for “Today” on BBC Scotland, and on other BBC Scotland, BBC Wales, BBC London and BBC World Service programs. During the 2003 California recall election Dr. Jeffe served as recall analyst for NBC’s “Today” show. Prior to her affiliation with NBC, she served as political analyst for KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles. Dr. Jeffe regularly writes and comments on American and California government and politics in the state, national and international media. Prior to her affiliation with USC, Dr. Jeffe taught political science at Claremont Graduate University, Loyola Marymount University, and Pitzer College. She holds a Ph. D. in government from Claremont Graduate University, and a master's degree in political science from Rutgers University, where she was a Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics; her B.A. in political science is from Goucher College.

 
Steve Schmidt, Schwarzenegger Campaign
Steve Schmidt is the Campaign Manager for the re-election of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schmidt, a veteran political operative, relocated to Sacramento from Washington D.C., where he most recently served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor to the Vice President. In this position, Schmidt advised on a wide range of issues involving strategic communications and political affairs. During his tenure at the White House, Schmidt most notably managed the strategic communications for the confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and was subsequently asked to lead the effort to confirm Judge Samuel A. Alito to Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Throughout his professional career, Schmidt has served on dozens of campaigns at the national, state and local level. Schmidt currently lives in Granite Bay, California with his wife, Angela, and two children, Madigan and Joseph. He attended the University of Delaware and is originally a native of New Jersey

 

Rob Stutzman, DC Navigators
Rob Stutzman is a principal of Navigators. Mr. Stutzman, the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been perched on what PR Week described as his “front row seat in politics” throughout California’s recent tumultuous political history. From Arnold’s first night of the historic recall campaign at the Tonight Show to the Schwarzenegger re-elect campaign, he was at the side of California’s world famous Governor.  One of California’s most quoted political operatives; he served as an advisor to the Governor’s campaign. He was a founding partner of CommandFocus, a Sacramento based communications firm.  Prior to CommandFocus he operated a consulting venture which managed statewide campaigns and pioneered the use of internet communications for volunteer and campaign management efforts.  In addition, he served as Communications Director for Attorney General Dan Lungren and worked in the Office of the Minority Leader in the California State Senate. He is a frequent writer and speaker in the public policy and political arena.  He has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Point Loma Nazarene College in San Diego.

Cathy Calfo, Angelides Campaign
Cathy Calfo, who most recently managed the campaign of Phil Angelides for Governor, has been active in California campaigns, elections, government and community politics for nearly three decades.  She managed Angelides' successful 2006 Primary election victory, as well as his campaigns for State Treasurer in 1994, 1998 and 2002.  Ms. Calfo served as Deputy State Treasurer under Mr. Angelides from 1999 to 2004. Prior to working for Mr. Angelides, Ms. Calfo served as Executive Director of the California Democratic Party and as the Executive Director of Campaign California, a statewide grassroots political organization with over 100,000 members. Ms. Calfo also served as Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party from 1989-1991, Ms. Calfo has three sons - six year old Elijah; Kris, who recently graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz; and Kaj, whoattends Sonoma State University.

NATIONAL POLITICS & CANDIDATES PANEL

Dan Schnur, Republican Media and Political Strategist (Co-moderator)
Dan Schnur is one of California's leading Republican political and media strategists, whose record includes work on four presidential and three gubernatorial campaigns, as well as extensive experience on behalf of a variety of non-profit organizations and private sector companies.Schnur served as the national Director of Communications for the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator John McCain. He has advised a variety of Republican candidates and causes throughout his career, including five years as chief media spokesman for California Governor Pete Wilson. Schnur began his political career in the press office of the Reagan-Bush '84 presidential campaign. Schnur later served as a spokesman for the Bush-Quayle '88 presidential campaign, and worked in the press offices of the Republican National Committee before moving to California in 1990 to take on the position of Communications Director of the state Republican Party. Schnur has held the posts of Visiting Lecturer at the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, as well as Visiting Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics at Harvard University and University of California at Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies. Schnur was an advisor for the Annenberg Challenge for Online Democracy, an effort run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the Pew Charitable Trust. The Annenberg Challenge is a non-partisan effort to encourage political campaigns, civic organizations and the news media to engage citizens in political dialogue over the Internet.  Schnur writes regularly for several of California newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee. In addition, he acts as a political commentator and analyst for KGO and KSFO Radio in San Francisco, and appears frequently on KVIE-TV's "California Capitol Week". Schnur is currently a Visiting Instructor at the University of California at Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication, where he teaches courses in politics and communications. Schnur is a graduate of the American University in Washington, D.C.

 
Darry Sragow, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal LLP (Co-moderator)
Mr. Sragow is a partner in the Public Law & Policy Strategies Group and is nationally recognized as one of California's leading consultants to political campaigns, corporations, grassroots and nonprofit organizations. Resident in Sonnenschein’s Los Angeles office, Mr. Sragow has more than 20 years of experience in the political arena. He regularly represents clients at the national, state and local levels.  He has advised corporations, nonprofits, and local governments on an array of government matters and legislative efforts.  Mr. Sragow specializes in counseling clients on a broad range of issues including education, health care, the environment, financial services, crisis management, insurance, transportation, media and communication and homeland security.  Experienced with political campaigns, he has managed five statewide races in California, three for governor and two for the U.S. Senate. During the March 2004 California primary, Sragow served as the Democratic strategist to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's come-from-behind campaign to pass Propositions 57 and 58, an economic recovery bond package. He has successfully managed four bond campaigns that raised more than $13 billion for the Los Angeles Unified School District and two bond campaigns that raised over $2 billion for the Los Angeles Community College District.  All five measures required supermajorities to pass.  Mr. Sragow has also held several senior positions in both the state and federal government, including Deputy California Insurance Commissioner and Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the California Board of Equalization.  Earlier he served as a senior staff member for Senator Birch Bayh and the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs.  For nearly ten years Darry was the chief campaign strategist for the Democrats in the California State Assembly.  He has also worked with many Members of the United States Congress. A former Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, Sragow has served on the boards of a number of community and nonprofit organizations, and is a current board member of Youth Opportunities Unlimited and Goodwill of Southern California. A frequent political commentator on national and local television, Sragow is regularly quoted in California’s major daily newspapers.  He taught a course on political science for several years at the University of California, Berkeley and now teaches at the University of Southern California.

 
Jon Fleischman, Publisher of the FlashReport
Jon Fleischman is the Publisher of the FlashReport Website on California politics, which has been recognized by newspapers as diverse as the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Diego Union Tribune as the place to go for center-right to far right perspective on Golden State politics.  Fleischman has worked in GOP politics for two decades, including serving as Executive Director of the California Republican Party during President Bush's first election, as Campaign Coordinator for the successful Proposition 227 English for the Children Initiative to end the use of bilingual education in California schools, and has worked on countless campaigns for state and local office.  A Reserve Orange County Deputy Sheriff, Fleischman was the spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department from 2001 through 2006. He now has his own public affairs and political consulting firm. 

Joe Mathews, Los Angeles Times
Joe Mathews is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, a fourth-generation Californian, and a Little League baseball coach. Mathews authored The People's Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger And the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy. Raised in Pasadena, he worked at the Baltimore Sun and Wall Street Journal before joining the Times.  He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Anna.

Conan Nolan, KNBC
Conan Nolan is a general assignment reporter for NBC4’s "Channel 4 News" and co-host of “News Conference,” the station’s Sunday morning Public Affairs program. Since joining the station in July 1986, Nolan has covered numerous important stories and currently covers local and state politics, including the 2006 Campaign for California Governor. Nolan has been reporting on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first term in office since the historic recall election in 2003 that included following the Governor on overseas trips to Israel and Japan. Additional foreign assignments included reporting from Kuwait and Iraq while covering “Operation Iraqi Freedom” for both NBC4 and the NBC network. Nolan has also filed stories from Beirut, Lebanon while reporting on the Arab world’s view of the September 11 anniversary. Nolan won an Emmy award for his reports from the Pakistani frontier on the U.S. led campaign to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was also in Rome for the selection of a new Pope after the death of Pope John Paul II. Nolan received a Golden Mike Award for a special report he did on the tiny South Pacific Island of Tuvalu which claims to be sinking due to global warming. From Columbine … to the “Unabomber,” to driving in front of O.J. Simpson during LA’s most famous freeway chase, Nolan has had a front row seat for some of the most important stories of the past 20 years. He was also a main reporter during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Prior to joining NBC4, he was a general assignment reporter at KSBW-TV, the NBC affiliate in Salinas, California. In 1981, he worked as a news reporter and weekend sports anchor for KSBY-TV in San Luis Obispo. Prior to that, he served as the assistant news director for KVEC-AM radio and political reporter for KCBX-FM radio also in San Luis Obispo. Nolan has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of California-Davis. He grew up on a ranch in Los Osos Valley along California’s central coast and attended schools in San Luis Obispo, plus two years of college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Nolan, his wife and son live in Glendale

Roger Salazar, Acosta Salazar LLC
Roger Salazar is a former White House and Gubernatorial communications specialist who brings a broad scope of media relations, public affairs and crisis communications experience at the national, state, and local levels. Prior to co-founding Acosta|Salazar, Salazar was senior vice president for the public affairs firm Porter Novelli. At PN, Salazar provided strategic counsel for a diverse array of clients and causes, including the Auto Alliance, the CA Safely Surrendered Baby Law, the Education Coalition, First Financial Bancorp, Mainstay Business Solutions, Union Pacific Railroad and the CA Stem Cell Research & Cures Initiative (Yes on Proposition 71).Salazar served as national spokesman for the 2004 Democratic presidential primary campaign of U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC) and was press secretary for California Governor Gray Davis' successful re-election campaign in 2002. Salazar’s experience as a media spokesperson for other prominent officials such as President Bill Clinton (White House); Vice President Al Gore (White House/Gore 2000); U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman; and U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, along with his work directing media advocacy for the American Cancer Society make him an expert in strategic media communications. Salazar was recognized as one of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics in America" by Hispanic Business Magazine for his work on the Gore campaign in 2000 and the hot “New Spinning Star” for his work on Davis campaign in 2002 by California Political Week. Salazar is a graduate of the University of Redlands where he currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees and received a Master's degree from the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.

Karen Skelton, Dewey Square Group

Karen Skelton has been an advisor, strategist, and manager on campaigns surrounding some of the nation's most complex problems. Skelton joined the Dewey Square Group in 2001 and heads the firm's California practice from Sacramento.

Skelton previously worked in the Clinton White House on the political staff and as a member of the defense team that argued against the Impeachment of the President of the United States. Skelton also served as the first Director of Political Affairs for then Vice President Al Gore, initiating and managing his first national political program in preparation for his 2000 election campaign.

After leaving the White House, Skelton was named Chief Counsel of the Federal Highway Administration, where she oversaw the Department's federal audit of the historic “Big Dig” project in Boston. Skelton has also prosecuted criminal cases at the U.S. Department of Justice as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and as a trial lawyer in the Division of Environmental Enforcement.

In California, Skelton has helped problem-solve on some of the states' largest infrastructure projects, including the retrofit of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, the modernization of the San Francisco International Airport, the deployment of “green technology” that promotes economic growth and environmental stewardship, and the use of policies that encourage infill development and resource protection. Skelton advises corporate clients on how to strategically position their brand and products in California's diverse demographic markets. Skelton also serves as an advisor to First Lady Maria Shriver.