“The Legislature was calling us ‘ScamMatters Online,’ ” recalled CalMatters’ co-founder Dave Lesher. After a stint at the Times, Lesher moved to Connecticut to work at the Hartford Courant. They kicked around the idea of partnering with other news organizations for a newsroom dedicated to state politics and policy. Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow, left, and CalMatters senior editor Dave Lesher review a Digital Democracy page in the CalMatters newsroom on April 3, 2024. “You can take Dave Lesher out of the newsroom,” said CalMatters CEO Neil Chase, “but you’ll never take his passion for accurate, nonpartisan journalism out of CalMatters.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 02, 2026 13:35 UTC