Longtime DOJ veteran becomes acting state attorney general

J. Matthew Rodriquez, a longtime California Department of Justice veteran, was appointed acting attorney general Thursday.

The U.S. Senate confirmed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as U.S. health and human services secretary on Thursday morning.

Becerra’s chief deputy in the state Department of Justice was already in place as his chief of staff in the Health and Human Services Department. President Joe Biden had appointed Sean McCluskie to that position in January.

McCluskie had been Becerra’s chief deputy since May 2017 and also worked for Becerra for seven years when he was a member of Congress, including serving as his chief of staff.

“Sean McCluskie resigned from his position on January 19, 2021,” a Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed by email on Thursday morning. “Matthew Rodriquez has been chief deputy attorney general since then.”

Hours later, Becerra confirmed his resignation and his appointment of Rodriquez in a news release. In his resignation letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Becerra said his departure was “effective as of the date and time of my appointment as secretary.”

Rodriquez has had a long career in California state government. Unlike McCluskie, Rodriquez is a member of the California Bar. He received his law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law in 1980.

He also has experience running a state agency. Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency in 2011. In that role, he was involved in California’s outreach to other state and national governments on cooperation to fight climate change. Rodriquez served in that position until Newsom named current secretary Jared Blumenfeld after taking office in early 2019.

Early in his career, Rodriquez held jobs with the California Coastal Commission, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, and city attorneys’ offices in Livermore and Hayward. He became a deputy attorney general in 1987.

He rose to become senior assistant attorney general for the Land Law Section and later chief assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Public Rights Division. Rodriquez served a brief stint as acting chief deputy attorney general under former Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. He returned to the California Department of Justice in 2019 as chief assistant attorney general for the Public Rights Division.

Rodriquez is not among the names rumored to be on Newsom’s shortlist to be appointed the state’s next attorney general. Candidates whose names have been floated for that job include Assemblyman Robert A. Bonta, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, state Sen. Anna M. Caballero, Sacramento Mayor Darrell S. Steinberg, Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey A. Rosen.