Sacramento Kings

Darrell Steinberg

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has known Darius Anderson for many years, considers him a friend, and describes him in two words: Renaissance Man.

“He’s a man of many parts,” Steinberg says. “He understands the sharp elbow world of politics, but he’s also a passionate art and book collector. He’s been a great success because he’s a tough businessman – but he also has a soft heart, and he’s a good guy.”

Steinberg also shares a commonality with Anderson that runs deep: love for the City of Sacramento. One of the foremost lobbyists in the western United States, Anderson maintains offices near California’s state capitol. But it’s not strictly about business, Steinberg avers.

“Darius is a political man, Sacramento is California’s capital city, so it’s logical that he spends a lot of time here,” Steinberg says. “But that’s not the whole story. Sacramento was a formative place for him. It has meaning for him. He knows the city, and he has an affinity for it.”

Further, Anderson’s activities have helped vitalize Sacramento, Steinberg says. When it looked like the Sacramento Kings might leave the city, Anderson was one of a small group of leaders and investors who organized to ensure they’d stay.

“He was also involved in visionary plans for the waterfront,” says Steinberg. “Sometimes the projects would work out for him, and sometimes they wouldn’t. But with all of them, it was clear that he cared deeply about this city.”

Steinberg also credits Anderson for sage advice during a long struggle to support the Sacramento Bee, the lead media outlet for the city and a legacy newspaper that has won six Pulitzer Prizes in its 155-year history.

“As a successful newspaper publisher, he helped me understand the challenges that the Bee was facing, the different players involved, and how I – as Mayor – might be able to have some positive influence in keeping our great hometown newspaper in business,” says Steinberg. “And right now we have real hope, because we see the paper coming back. I just have to say Darius has been a very good consiglieri to me – on the Bee, and for many other things as well.”

Which brings Steinberg back to his original characterization of Anderson.

“Like I said, he’s a Renaissance Man,” he observes. “He does a lot of different things, and he has a lot of different interests. But through it all, he’s concerned about people – those around him, and in a broader sense, the people of this state. I really appreciate that, and I’ve appreciated being in his inner circle.”