When Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher resigned from the Legislature last year to become the state’s top union official, it marked a new era of labor’s political influence in a state where just 17% of workers belong to unions.

About the Author

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times. CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more columns by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

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