Recent Publications
Policy & Politics
Machine politics on display in race for state Senate seat
February 2, 2022 – CalMatters
Daniel Hertzberg is the son of California state Senator Robert Hertzberg, an affable Sacramento and Los Angeles power broker. Young Hertzberg’s campaign for state Senate District 20 is a case study in politics gone wrong – a toxic blend of entitlement, influence wielding and misplaced collegiality.
Machine politics are on center stage, and it’s an old script with an all-too-familiar storyline: The unqualified man benefits from the political machine, bypassing the qualified woman.
Law enforcement should get backlog of rape kits tested
April 1, 2021– CalMatters
California legislators enacted half a dozen bills in the past five years that send an indisputable, bipartisan message to law enforcement: Identify and test the backlog of rape kits, known formally as sexual assault evidence kits, or SAE kits. One bill established a statewide audit, which required local law enforcement agencies to identify the number of untested rape kits in their possession and report their findings to the Department of Justice .
The response to the legally required audit was dismal: Only 149 of 693 local law enforcement agencies responded. It’s time for these agencies to be held accountable.
Will Newsom mend the gaps in state’s new plan for early learning?
December 9, 2020 – CalMatters
California’s just released Master Plan for Early Learning and Care is smartly timed to be in line for funding, should a Biden-Harris administration secure additional resources for their ambitious caregiving initiative.
State policymakers need to address four serious gaps in the plan to ensure access to affordable care for all of California’s working families and fair compensation for the early care workforce.
Pregnant women in prisons and jails should be guaranteed a minimum standard of care
May 27, 2020 – CalMatters
The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the threadbare nature of our health care system. Despite a common threat and unifying fear, we remain divided into communities of health-care haves and have-nots. The California State Legislature should pass AB 732 to guarantee a minimum standard of reproductive and pregnancy care in prisons and jails.
California needs a pay equity czar
April 26, 2020 – CalMatters
In 2016, the median salary for women state workers was 80.5% of the median salary for men, a gender pay gap of 19.5% – significantly higher than the 12.3% gender pay gap in California’s overall workforce. We need a pay equity czar to ensure that the men and women who work for the State of California are fairly compensated.
In California’s battle against the coronavirus, we have a new class of superheroes
March 27, 2020 – CalMatters
The Marvel-ous team from the Healthforce Center at UCSF may not scale buildings in a single bound, but they can estimate expected demand for nurses and other health professionals, and help leaders dodge regulations not designed for a pandemic.
Good roads, good broadband – good child care. Sacramento needs infrastructure for kids
February 18, 2018 – Sacramento Bee
The City of Sacramento’s Project Prosper is a good place to start a conversation about child care – how it can help parents get jobs and keep them, create stable environments for children, and build and retain workforces for local businesses.
How to combat ‘Trump trauma’: What we’ve learned since the last Women’s March
January 14, 2018 – Sacramento Bee
I interviewed two dozen Democrats who shared how they are reeling – and dealing – with “Trump Trauma.” Read what they had to see in the Sacramento Bee Forum article or listen to their stories in the companion podcast.
California’s paid family leave program is a national model. Shouldn’t state workers get it, too?
August 27, 2017 – Sacramento Bee
In one of the lesser-known ironies of California’s nationally recognized paid family leave law, the program is not offered as a benefit to the majority of the State of California’s own employees.
How long will women have to wait for pay equity?
June 25, 2017 – Sacramento Bee
A woman taking a job today with the State of California might close out her career before the state achieves gender pay equity.
Is rigged research widening the state’s gender pay gap?
June 18, 2017 – Sacramento Bee
Successful collective bargaining by powerful, and mostly male, public safety unions has helped perpetuate the gap pay gap between men and women who work for the State of California.
Women are paid less than men even in government jobs. Even in California. Why?
June 11, 2017 – Sacramento Bee
California laid the groundwork in 1981 for closing the gender pay gap for state employees, but has been far less successful than Minnesota.
Professional women asking why state undervalues, underpays their work
April 2, 2017 – Sacramento Bee
California has failed to implement pay equity for state workers, despite a law establishing the clear intent of the State Legislature that women be paid equal wages for work of comparable value.
Trump should follow some of George Washington’s rules about manners
Sacramento Bee – January 25, 2017
As a young man, George Washington transcribed and committed to heart 110 rules of etiquette that guided his outlook on life and governance. Our 1st president’s advice for our 45th couldn’t be more clear: Manners matter.
UC Regents Need to Push for Gender Parity at the Top
Sacramento Bee – September 11, 2016
Chancellor Linda Katehi’s resignation last month from the University of California, Davis, had an unintended outcome: Only one of 10 UC campuses is now led by a woman. The UC Regents have the political power to break the ivory tower’s glass ceiling.
Five New Female Presidents Transform Leadership at CSU
Sacramento Bee – June 12, 2016
Through the appointment of five women in the short span of four months, CSU leaders pushed the percentage of women campus presidents close to the glass ceiling’s breaking point.
Mayoral Candidates Need to Debate Women’s and Girls’ Issues
Sacramento Bee – April 9, 2016
There’s a hot mayor’s race in Sacramento, and more debate is needed on issues like child care, sexual harassment, appointments to boards and commissions.
In Richmond, Race and Gender Really Do Matter
Bay Area News Group/Contra Costa Times – March 4, 2016
Health equity programs like Health in All Policies in Richmond, California, are undertaking critically important work, but need to focus on both race and gender to understand and address individual and community health.
California Lawmakers Must Adapt to Changing Families
Sacramento Bee – January 26, 2016
Governor Brown and other California lawmakers have not yet fully envisioned and addressed how the changing composition of California’s families will slowly drag down the economy unless we make strategic changes to our workplaces, schools, and public services.
California State University Needs More Women Presidents
San Jose Mercury News – November 2, 2015
The appointment of a woman president at San Jose State University could have profound ripple effects throughout Silicon Valley and the CSU system.
Can Women Ever Influence Catholic Doctrine?
Sacramento Bee – October 10, 2015
Pope Francis should be lauded for his leadership to protect our planet and empower the poor — but don’t count on him to shatter the stained glass ceiling.
Personal Essays
Indivisible: A Thanksgiving Essay
Medium.com – November 18, 2016
Our recent Presidential contest cleaved our country into red and blue, and made many of us wonder if our nation might be permanently divided.
From Coma to Connection: Why I protect my hearing
Medium.com – October 13, 2016
Thirty years ago, I emerged from a spinal meningitis coma, with doctors fighting to save my hearing with massive doses of prednisone. . . . To say it was a stressful time for me — and my new husband — would be an understatement.