Mike Herald, a legislative advocate with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, is a native Californian who grew up in Sacramento. He spent several years away from California — working as a community organizer and, he said, getting hired by the same boss who hired Barack Obama — before returning to the state capital. “I never thought I’d go back,” he said. “But politics is the one reason to go back to Sacramento.” Read more about Herald below.

Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. The Clash.

Q. What’s your favorite word?
A. Hijole.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. A fireman or a garbage man.

Q. What is your favorite cocktail?
A. Beer.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?
A. Twice-yearly vacations out of the country.

Q. What is your favorite thing about Los Angeles?
A. I’m really tempted to say something smart-alecky. The weather. I’m all NorCal, so what can I say?

Q. What is the last thing that inspired you?
A. The Clash.

Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?
A. My mother thanking me because I held the door open for these elderly ladies.

Q. What is the best advice you have ever received?
A. Trust my instincts.

Q. What promise do you make to yourself that you break the most often?
A. Beer.

Q. Who is the one person living or dead that you’d most love to have a beer with?
A. Tom Gaudette. He was my mentor. A [Saul] Alinsky-style organizer from Chicago.

To read about Herald’s panel, on California’s Armageddon cuts, click here.

*Photo by Sarah Rivera.