David Lesher

Co-Founder David Lesher is a veteran California journalist and state policy expert. He co-founded CalMatters in 2015 and led the organization as Editor/CEO until December 2018, when he continued to serve as Editor-in-Chief. Previously, he was Director of Government Affairs at the Public Policy Institute of California, a non-partisan think tank focused on state policy issues. Lesher has more than 25 years of journalism experience, largely at the Los Angeles Times where he was a political writer, state Capitol reporter and assistant national editor for the White House campaign. He also has served as Editor of California Journal magazine and as California Director for the New America Foundation.

Featured

Donna Lucas, Christy Chin join CALmatters advisory board

David Lesher often writes about:

The latest by David Lesher

If you’re not alarmed, you should be: Who’s left to hold California’s government accountable?

Commentary

If you’re not alarmed, you should be: Who’s left to hold California’s government accountable?

Time, Skill, Persistence – That’s What It Takes

Inside CalMatters

Time, Skill, Persistence – That’s What It Takes

The Pension Crisis: About this project

Economy

The Pension Crisis: About this project

The Latest From CalMatters

Berkeley, California, USA - October 15, 2016: University of California entrance sign on the corner of Oxford Street and Center Street at Berkeley, California. Over 150 years old, and with many Nobel Prizes winners (they even have reserved parking spots for them), the campus serves almost 40,000 students within an open green space.

UC Library’s hasty implementation of a complex plan means academic researchers lose

Large capacity magazines, campaign money, and Newsom’s new photos

Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala Harris before the start of the Democratic primary debate hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Miami.

See which Dem your California neighbors are funding to beat Trump, in 5 charts

A pair of worn out tennis shoes illustrate an all-too-common symptom of income inequality: child poverty. More than 27 percent of children in Santa Cruz county are in poverty, the second highest rate in California

California’s child poverty hits coastal Bay Area

In California, we long ago ended the ‘War on Coal’

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer handcuffs an adult male.

Expanding the ‘sanctuary’ state, while a city seeks a different type of sanctuary