Allies & Mentors
A working directory for voters and policymakers: the officials and sponsors tied to policies that worked (people to emulate or contact) and to ones that failed (cautionary records). Every contact is an official public channel.
· cross-linked to graded scorecards.
Dan Garodnick
Policy: New York City's 'City of Yes' Housing Reform [B] · role: Director of City Planning / lead architect of the plan
Worked: Shepherded a citywide by-right upzoning through a skeptical Council, the kind of broad-but-modest reform other big cities can copy.
Watch: Final plan was scaled back from the proposal; supply gains are incremental and unproven at move-in.
Mayor Eric Adams
Policy: New York City's 'City of Yes' Housing Reform [B] · role: Executive sponsor; championed and signed the citywide rezoning
Worked: Put political capital behind legalizing housing everywhere rather than fighting block-by-block; year-one permits rose 22.8%.
Watch: Paired the plan with a $5B capital commitment to win votes; durability depends on future budgets.
Florida Amendment 2 (2020)
Policy: Florida's $15 Minimum Wage (Amendment 2, 2020) [B] · role: Citizen initiative; 60.8% yes
Worked: Locked a phased wage floor into the constitution by supermajority; predicted mass job losses did not appear.
Watch: Florida's booming economy confounds any causal read; no clean state-specific study; final $15 step lands late 2026.
Colorado Prop FF / LL / MM
Policy: Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All (Prop FF) [C] · role: Voter-approved program and its two funding fixes
Worked: Delivered universal free meals and high participation; voters repeatedly chose to keep funding it.
Watch: Original financing fell ~$24M-$56M short; required Props LL and MM in 2025 to avoid cuts.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Policy: Michigan's Minimum Wage and Tip-Credit Whiplash [C] · role: Signed the 2025 compromise (SB 8) after the court restored the 2018 laws
Worked: Brokered a hybrid that raised wages and sick leave while averting a disruptive full tip-credit phase-out.
Watch: Compromise disappointed both purists and some employers; employment effects unmeasured.
Mayor Brandon Johnson
Policy: Chicago's 'Bring Chicago Home' Transfer Tax [TBD] · role: Lead champion of the defeated transfer-tax referendum
Worked: Advanced a progressive transfer tax to fund homelessness services.
Watch: Lost 52-48 in a low-turnout March primary; thin spending plan and timing blamed - a cautionary process record.
Washington Initiative 2066 (2024)
Policy: Washington's Initiative 2066 (Protect Natural Gas) [TBD] · role: Industry-backed citizen initiative; ~52% yes
Worked: Asserted consumer/builder choice on home heating against electrification incentives.
Watch: Struck down as unconstitutional (single-subject/full-text); pending at the state Supreme Court - no outcome to grade.
Nebraska Initiatives 437 & 438 (2024)
Policy: Nebraska's Medical Cannabis Measures [TBD] · role: Citizen initiatives; 70.7% and 67.0% yes
Worked: Landslide voter mandate for regulated medical-cannabis access after years of legislative failure.
Watch: Commission rules conflict with the law (banned inhaled/edibles); litigation ongoing - voter intent not yet delivered.
Gov. Gavin Newsom
Policy: California's Proposition 1 Behavioral-Health Overhaul [D] · role: Lead champion of Prop 1 and the BHSA restructuring
Worked: Secured $6.4B for treatment beds and supportive housing aimed at untreated serious mental illness.
Watch: Funding rewrite squeezes county programs now; beds/housing years away; debt-financed - early signal is service strain.
Ohio Issue 1 / Citizens Not Politicians (2024)
Policy: Ohio's Issue 1 Anti-Gerrymandering Amendment [TBD] · role: Citizen initiative led by ret. Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor
Worked: Bipartisan push for an independent citizen redistricting commission after repeated unconstitutional maps.
Watch: Defeated 54-46; official ballot summary, written by a targeted office, was widely called misleading.
Sen. Kim Norton (now Mayor of Rochester)
Policy: Minnesota Dental Therapists [B] · role: Authored the first U.S. dental-therapist license (2009)
Worked: Created a new mid-level provider that raised low-income dental access with no quality hit.
Watch: Scope expansion is gradual; dentist groups resisted.
Sen. Wes Climer
Policy: South Carolina CON Repeal [B] · role: Sponsored S.164 repealing most certificate-of-need laws
Worked: Repeal surged ambulatory-surgery-center entry 44-47%, expanding capacity.
Watch: Hospital-bed CON lingers to 2027; rural-access effects still maturing.
Rep. Brianna Titone
Policy: Colorado Right to Repair [B] · role: Sponsored agricultural and electronics right-to-repair
Worked: First U.S. agricultural right-to-repair; electronics law took effect 2026.
Watch: Outcomes still pending; enforcement untested.
Sen. Robert Peters
Policy: Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act [B] · role: Backed the Pretrial Fairness Act ending cash bail
Worked: Statewide crime down year one; failure-to-appear ~17% to ~15%; jail populations fell.
Watch: Some counties saw pretrial populations creep back above pre-reform levels.
Sen. Warren Petersen
Policy: Arizona Universal License Recognition [B] · role: Authored HB2569 universal occupational-license recognition
Worked: First state to broadly recognize out-of-state licenses; 8,000+ issued.
Watch: Best estimates are think-tank models, not audited counts.
Carey Wright / Kymyona Burk
Policy: Mississippi Literacy-Based Promotion Act [A] · role: Led the Literacy-Based Promotion Act rollout
Worked: NAEP 4th-grade reading rose from 49th toward the top; phonics + coaching + a reading gate.
Watch: ~8% of students retained in year one; gate is contested.
Cleveland City Council
Policy: Cleveland Tenant Right to Counsel [B] · role: Enacted tenant right-to-counsel (2019)
Worked: Representation rose 2-3% to 16%; 81% avoided eviction or involuntary move.
Watch: Distinct from NYC's program; coverage and funding remain partial.
Sen. Alexis Calatayud
Policy: Florida Live Local Act [C] · role: Co-sponsored the Live Local Act (SB102)
Worked: Preempted exclusionary local zoning for affordable projects; created a real pipeline.
Watch: Unit counts lag; affordability skews to workforce, not deep need.
Sen. Bobby Joe Champion
Policy: Minnesota Noncompete Ban [B] · role: Sponsored Minnesota's noncompete ban
Worked: Cross-state evidence links noncompete bans to higher wages and worker mobility.
Watch: MN-specific outcome data still pending; ~300k existing agreements grandfathered.
AG Rob Bonta
Policy: California SB478 Junk-Fee Ban [B] · role: Backed the SB478 junk-fee / all-in-pricing ban
Worked: 'Price you see is the price you pay' took effect July 2024.
Watch: A restaurant carve-out (SB1524) is disclosure, not lower prices.
Hon. Maureen O'Connor
Policy: Ohio's Issue 1 Anti-Gerrymandering Amendment [TBD] · role: Led Citizens Not Politicians (Issue 1, 2024)
Worked: Bipartisan push for an independent redistricting commission after unconstitutional maps.
Watch: Defeated 54-46 amid a contested official ballot summary - a cautionary process record.
Dir. Kody Kinsley
Policy: North Carolina Medical-Debt Relief [A] · role: Designed the Medicaid-conditioned medical-debt relief program
Worked: $6.5B in debt erased for 2.5M people across all 99 hospitals.
Watch: Relies on hospital participation tied to Medicaid incentives.