The Press Club hosts a reception with lawmakers at the State Capitol.

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Assembly Speaker Touts Legislators’ New Popularity at

Press Club Meet & Greet
By Len Feldman, Press Club Board Member

(SACRAMENTO, CA) 29 January 2007 – Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) kidded members of the Sacramento Press Club at a Monday night (29 January) event that state lawmakers’ rising popularity is reflected in the fact that the “newsies” want to hang out with the legislators.

The Speaker was one of more than 50 legislators who joined 75 press club members and other Capitol insiders at the non-profit organization’s first annual “Meet & Greet” in the statehouse’s basement restaurant. Funds from the event go to support the annual journalism scholarships the organization awards to college students.

Nunez’s remarks alluded to a January 24 poll by the Public Policy Institute of California that found 40% of the public approve how state legislators are doing their jobs, their highest rating since 2005.

Reporters were not the only targets of Speaker Nunez’s jibes. He asked Republican Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster) to attest to the fact that the legislature was “one big happy family,” despite news reports about strife between the parties.

Nunez also joked with Lynda Gledhill, a reporter and club official who has just left the San Francisco Chronicle to become a media consultant for Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata (D-Oakland). Nunez declared he was unclear about whether he was addressing a press club event or a recruitment fair for Sen. Perata.

The festivities drew lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and both houses. A significant number of the legislators who attended were newly elected, including Assembly Members Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), Tony Mendoza (D-Los Angeles), Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), and Cameron Smyth (R-Valencia).

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