california-politics
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Bryan Merica and the distance between attention and influence
From enterprise software to California campaigns, Bryan Merica has spent two decades asking how technology changes persuasion. His work at Unearth follows the message from the screen to the people who make decisions.
The Sacramento Firm That Turns Policy Fights Into Human Stories
BCFS has spent more than two decades winning California fights by making big policy feel local, personal and urgent. Its real product is not an ad or a press release - it is alignment.
OPR Communications Makes California’s Hardest Word Sound Simple: Yes
A small Riverside firm has spent 25 years working on the awkward space between a client’s ambition and a community’s permission. Its best campaigns reveal that public affairs is less about polishing a message than changing the bargain.
The Tiny Bakersfield Shop That Built a Political Assembly Line
Western Pacific Research turned local knowledge, candidate coaching and campaign mechanics into a durable Republican pipeline - one that reached from Kern County ballots to the speaker’s chair in Washington.
MCSA Knows What a District Means Before the Mail Lands
A small Sacramento consultancy sits at the useful intersection of maps, messages, and turnout. Its public record shows how political expertise becomes campaign machinery - one district, mail piece, and coalition at a time.
Rincon Strategies knows who gets a vote
A California public affairs firm turns water worries, housing proposals and election arithmetic into campaigns. Its newest tool watches the paperwork; its oldest advantage is knowing the people.
Swing Strategies and the business of getting to yes
California campaigns are crowded with money, messages, and people who disagree. Swing Strategies sells the work of bringing them into alignment - and its record offers a useful lesson in the limits of persuasion.
Paschal Roth knows a good argument needs an audience
California’s public health officials had evidence. They needed political attention. Paschal Roth’s work shows how a specialist communications firm helps an overlooked issue find its audience - and what that work actually costs.
Corey Cook
Dr. Corey Cook is the Vice President and CEO of Cal Poly Solano Campus (formerly California State University Maritime Academy), a role he assumed July 1, 2025. A political scientist with deep roots in Bay Area politics, Cook brings decades of academic leadership experience from Saint Mary's College of California (where he served as Executive Vice President and Provost) and Boise State University (where he founded the School of Public Service). With bachelor's degrees from UC Berkeley and a doctorate from Wisconsin, Cook is a go-to political analyst on KTVU News and has contributed to national outlets including The Atlantic, making him one of the few higher-education executives who regularly shapes public political discourse.