David Lesher was the founding director of New America’s California Program, which aims to improve the state’s public debate by sponsoring a wide range of research, writing, and events on issues of critical importance to the future of California. He left New America in the Spring of 2007. For nearly 15 years, Mr. Lesher covered politics and government at the Los Angeles Times, where his roles ranged from lead reporter in the Sacramento bureau to assistant national editor on the paper’s presidential campaign desk. Mr. Lesher was also a Visiting Fellow for one year at the Public Policy Institute of California, where he wrote about the changing California electorate and new voting technologies. Recently, he spent two years as Editor-in-chief of California Journal, an independent monthly magazine focused on state policy issues. Mr. Lesher directed the magazine’s widely praised coverage of the growing state crisis that led to an unprecedented recall of the governor.