POLITICO’s California Playbook Co-author shares what it’s like reporting from the epicenter of global influence and why accountability still drives the news cycle
Subscribe: iTunes / Spotify
Apply to be a guest on our podcast here
Show Notes:
In this Mission Matters Milken Conference Series episode, Adam Torres interviews Dustin Gardiner, Politics Reporter and California Playbook Co-author at POLITICO. Dustin discusses his experience covering the Milken Global Conference, the evolving landscape of California politics, and why the role of journalists is more important than ever in shaping public discourse.
About Dustin Gardiner
Dustin Gardiner is co-author of POLITICO’s California Playbook.
As California Playbook co-author, Dustin takes readers inside the lively arena of Golden State politics. He specializes in coverage of the San Francisco mayor and its board of supervisors. Dustin has also helped lead reporting on the state’s congressional swing districts and its ongoing battle to address the housing crisis.
He has covered state and national politics from California, Arizona and D.C. for 16 years.
He previously covered state politics for the San Francisco Chronicle, including from Washington where he tracked California’s congressional delegation during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Prior to moving to California, he spent a decade with The Arizona Republic, where he covered state and city politics.
About Politico
POLITICO is a global news and information company at the intersection of politics and policy. With publications based in Washington, D.C., New York and Brussels – and continued expansion into various state capitals in the United States – POLITICO has one of the most robust and rapidly expanding roster of journalists covering politics and policy in the world.
Since its launch in 2007, POLITICO has delivered journalism about politics and policy making that is more authoritative in its sophistication and nonpartisan perspective than any competitor; that is more useful to people with a professional interest in public affairs; and that is more fun to read for a community of people who love the drama and sheer sport of politics.
The central mission of POLITICO, from birth to our current period of growth, has been to help sustain and vastly expand nonpartisan political and policy journalism. We all believe informing readers and holding leaders accountable is and will forever be essential to smart governance, regardless of shifts in technology and consumption habits.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on BR Guest to apply. All right, so today uh, my guest is Dustin Gardner and he is a, politics reporter in California Playbook co-author.
And he is at Politico. And this particular interview is part of our Milken conference, our global conference series for those that attended the, the Beverly Hills conference. And I, we’ve been, covering this now going on three or four years now, and dust.
was also covering the conference, so I’m excited to hear a little bit more about what he has to say as well. So first off, Dustin, welcome to the show. Hey, Adam. Good to be with you. It was a very, very interesting conference and I’m excited to share some of the highlights. Fantastic. So first thing first was this your first time covering the conference or have you been in the past?
Let’s start there. Yeah. this was my first Milken. I know a lot of people have been going for many years. This was my first time and it was, it was an interesting window just into the world of. the ultra elite, right? Yeah. I mean, there’s so many people from, Wall Street and, you know, big, big hedge funds all over the world.
So many celebrities, famous athletes, you know, people like Peyton Manning and Jessica Alba magic Johnson. Yeah. It was just a really, you know, interesting window into that world. And even, you aside from the conference. Itself. I went to a lot of the, after parties and the private receptions and happy hours mm-hmm.
And some of the Beverly Hills hotels. And it was it was a lot of fun being, being, being immersed in that and getting to talk to such a, you know, collection and concentration of, influencers and thought leaders. You know, it’s very, very rare that you get that many influential people in one place at one time.
Yeah, well, I couldn’t agree with you more. To me, this is like the super Bowl for us, in my opinion. And, and it’s in our backyard over here for, for mission Matters. And it’s like our Super Bowl, or somebody said, on the show today, the Disneyland of Ideas. And I was like, what?
Okay, I’ll take that too. It was yeah, it was but it’s a fun one to look forward to. Yeah. No, no, that’s perfect. Disneyland ID is, I love it. Not, not taking credit. She was great. So that being said, I wanna, before we go further into kind of maybe some of the coverage, some of the topics that were at Milken, I’m just curious about you like, how did you get into, this work and really end up becoming a politics reporter?
Yeah. So I’ve, been in journalism post-college for 17 years. You know, I basically, started my first job like, you know, the week after I graduated college. Wow. The Arizona Republic, the daily newspaper in Phoenix, and I covered state politics in Arizona and city politics. And then I’ve been in California the last seven years.
I spent a number of those years with the San Francisco Chronicle, and then a couple years ago I moved over to Politico. And my, my day-to-day focus is California politics. You know, everything from Nancy Pelosi to Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, to local. And cities like San Francisco and la and Milken, you know, like you said, is right in our backyard.
Yeah. And, and we were you know, the, the go-to sort of official newsletter for the conference this year. Politico, California Playbook was, so I was very happy to get the assignment. Yeah, it’d be dispatched to, to Beverly Hills for the better part of a week. what draws you to this work?
I’m always curious to what fuels somebody’s like passion behind what they do, especially when it comes to like the work you’re doing, it’s important. what draws you to this? I think I got into it because I really like two things. I really like writing and I really like politics and you know, I just, I.
So I started working my high school and then my college paper. And it was just this per perfect combination of being able to learn about things and, you know, being the nexus of a lot of political and policy conversations. And then be able to use my, you know, creativity and energy to try to describe it in ways that are interesting, talking about, you know, the, the players and the personalities.
Yeah, so that’s what really drives me. And I also really am drawn to just the accountability aspect of what we do. And it’s not, you know, not just covering power for power’s sake. But covering power in the ways that, you know, people that wield power, influence decisions that affect everyone and affect, you know, the health of the planet, the health of society as a whole.
Now looking at and just for some context for everybody that’s listening to this, so we’re recording this in June, June 10th. So we’ve been working on this series and I know the nature of your work as well, Dustin. Is that cycle for May when the conference took place? It’s been, it’s been a little bit of going on a month.
Now, but we’re getting through as many interviews as we can, but I’m curious, just bringing us to, present day what are you working on right now? Like, what’s interesting to you that you’re covering in the cycle? Yeah, I mean, really I, it, it’s, I’ve been in such a, a breaking news.
It’s, yeah. And by the way, this will be out just for, oh, let me, let me, let me preface that one more thing. This will be out within about five days, so just FYI, so for everybody listening, so, but we’re recording this June 10th, just to kinda like, put up, put a pin in that for you. Go, go ahead Dustin. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah, no, that’s good to know. I, this year between, you know, president. The crisis in LA and the ice immigration rates. I mean, I’ve just, myself and a lot of other journalists have really kind of been in a vortex of mm-hmm. Breaking news this year. I mean, we, you know, we’re always dealing with breaking news, but this year it’s been some, so much more than normal just given the, the magnitude of some of these decisions and.
some of the, the conflicts within California and within the country. But beyond that, I mean, we’re, yeah, there’s some really interesting kind of inflection moments in state politics right now. I mean, ca we’re at the, outset of the race to determine the state’s next governor after Gavin Newsom is termed out in, two years.
And so I’m covering a lot of that jockeying and all eyes are on. Kamala Harris and whether she decides to run. So that’s beyond, you know, the, the big breaking news that, that the world’s really following. That’s, one of the top storylines on my plate. And I’m also watching what’s happening with Nancy Pelosi, who’s you know, near the end of her career and might be retiring in the near future.
Still waiting for, for her decision there. So it’s, yeah. Aside from, from all, you know, the big crises happening and there’s a lot of interesting kind of change, change of guard in California that’s been very, very front of mind for me. And the Politico team here. Yeah, I’m, downtown la. I’m the heart of it.
Right across from LA Live is where we’re located. And yeah, the, even this morning hearing, like or the, yesterday seeing the riots and everything else, I didn’t know I was, I was recording all day, so I was in studio and I wasn’t, I don’t really cover like, breaking, breaking news, but I, I’m literally going out there outside with my girlfriend to go eat some sushi and we’re, we’re driving down little to little Tokyo and I’m like, what is going on? And because I, again, I’m, you know, I was recording for like 12, 14 hours, whatever, so I didn’t know at all what was going on.
And I started early and I was just like, whoa, what? What happened? It was like, yeah. It was like what happened? Right? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I know. Definitely unprecedented times. I. Yeah. So what’s next for you? Like, what’s next for you? In terms of anything else that you’re, gonna be doing next in terms of travel.
Otherwise, I’m just curious, what’s next on the schedule for you? Next on the schedule for me is the legislative session in Sacramento. California lawmakers mm-hmm. And Governor Newsom are, they’re the home stretch of coming up with a state budget and California has to solve a $12 billion budget deficit.
So that’s, that’s very front of mind. There’s some very intense debates in Sacramento this, this year also around things like AI regulation also giving a close eye on what’s happening in Congress. Democrats try to defeat Republicans you know, mega Bill on the budget that that would extend some tax breaks and have some pretty major cuts on programs like Medicaid.
So there’s yeah, absolutely no shortage of news this year, and I imagine I’ll be, yeah. making some trips down to LA and making some trips to DC at some point this year. Mm-hmm. And, and lots of trips to Sacramento to cover the things I just mentioned. Mm-hmm. And it’s, yeah, this, this is definitely not a, a news live environment on any level.
No, I think you’re gonna be busy and if you throw in the, the how, what’s going on in Hollywood or the little slump there, I mean, then we got You’re busy. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, Dustin how do people follow your work? How do they follow your writing, your, coverage?
Like, how how does my audience connect? Yeah, so my main product that I’m putting out most days is the California Playbook, which is our free California politics newsletter. And you can find that by going to politico.com and click clicking on the California tab at the top of the page. From there you’ll be able to find the California playbook.
And then, you know, you can read my work pretty regularly on politico.com. Yeah. And it’s you know, a lot of California stuff, but also a lot of coverage about how. This shape, you know, shapes the rest of the country and how some of our, you know, big political players here have, a lot a, a hand in, a lot of national affairs and decisions made in.
Wonderful. And for everybody watching and listening to this, just so you know, so we’ll definitely put some links in, the show notes so that you can just connect with, Dustin and his work. And by the way, finding that California playbook is super and is super easy. You just go to Dustin mentioned politico.com.
You click on the California tab and you can’t, you can’t miss it. And it’s great coverage. So I highly recommend everyone check it out. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show and each and every day we’re releasing new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe, our follow button. And Dustin, thanks again for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me.
