Kerry Jackson is the William Clement Fellow in California Reform at the Pacific Research Institute.
An independent journalist and opinion writer with extensive experience covering politics and public policy, he is a leading analyst and commentator on California’s housing, poverty, and homeless problems.
Jackson is a co-author of the 2021 book No Way Home (Encounter Books), which was an Amazon.com number one new release for mental health law books and top 10 bestseller for urban planning and development books. The book examines the root causes of homelessness in California and whether current programs related to housing, social services and employment are actually making the problem worse.
His 2023 study, “Project Homekey is Providing No Way Home for the State’s Homeless” (co-authored with Dr. Wayne Winegarden), provided the first evidence that, despite spending billions of dollars on Gov. Newsom’s Project Homekey initiative, California’s homeless problem was growing worse than ever, receiving national media coverage from the Associated Press.
His 2018 brief on poverty in California, “Good Intentions: How California’s Anti-Poverty Programs Aren’t Delivering and How the Private Sector Can Lift More People Out of Poverty,” garnered national attention for his Los Angeles Times op-ed asking, “Why is liberal California the poverty capital of America?” In addition, his 2017 brief on California’s housing crisis, “Unaffordable,” drew bipartisan praise from then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s housing policy director.
Jackson is also the author of Living in Fear in California, a book that explores sweeping changes to California’s public safety laws that have undermined safe communities; “Sapping California’s Energy Future” (with Winegarden), which documents how state government green mandates are increase the energy burdens of Californians; and “Enriching Lawyers” (also with Winegarden), which documents how lawsuit abuse hurts taxpayers and consumers.
His commentaries have been published in the Los Angeles Times, New York Post, FoxNews.com, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, Calmatters, City Journal, the Daily Caller, the New York Observer, Orange County Register, Bakersfield Californian, San Francisco Examiner, Fresno Bee, Ventura County Star, and Forbes, among others.
He regularly appears on radio and television programs commenting on the problems affecting California. Jackson has been a past guest on National Public Radio, One America News Network, Newsmax TV, and “The Dr. Drew Show,” among others.
Before coming to PRI, Jackson spent 18 years writing editorials on domestic and foreign policy for Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) and three years as the assistant director of public affairs for the American Legislative Exchange Council. He has written for the American Media Institute and Real Clear Investigations and edited “The Growth Manifesto” for the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
A graduate of Georgia State University, Kerry has also served as a public affairs consultant for the George Mason University School of Law and worked as a reporter and editor for local newspapers in the metro Atlanta and northern Virginia regions.
Tim Anaya is Pacific Research Institute’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications.
In his role, he oversees PRI’s media relations activities, serves as PRI’s media spokesperson, and coordinates outreach to policymakers and opinion leaders. Under his leadership, PRI was awarded a prestigious Communications Excellence Award from State Policy Network.
In 2018, he launched PRI’s “California Ideas in Action” policy conference in Sacramento, which annually brings together speakers from across the political spectrum advocating for free-market policy reforms to undo the policy-driven burdens faced by Californians every day.
He is co-host of PRI’s Next Round podcast, which has released over 300 episodes featuring politicians, policy wonks, authors, and other interesting people sharing their thoughts on current events and free market ideas. He has interviewed an eclectic array of guests ranging from the Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives and Pulitzer Prize winners to Academy Award nominees and golf legend Dottie Pepper. He is also the editor and a regular columnist for PRI’s Right by the Bay blog, which features new content daily from PRI scholars on California politics and policy.
His comments on California politics and policy have appeared in numerous media outlets in California and nationally. Anaya is a regular guest panelist at the Commonwealth Club’s “Week to Week Political Roundtable” events in San Francisco.
Throughout a career spanning more than 25 years, Anaya has had a front row seat to politics and policymaking in Sacramento. He held a variety of positions in nearly two decades working at the State Capitol. He served as communications director for then-Assembly Minority Leader and future Congresswoman Connie Conway, managing the staff and operations of the Assembly Republican communications department. He was a senior communications advisor to 9 Assembly Republican Leaders from 2003-16, including former Leader and future U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He also worked as a speechwriter for former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He is a graduate of Santa Clara University and the University of Southern California.
