James D. Garibaldi; Ex-Judge Became Top Capitol Lobbyist

James D. Garibaldi, the courtly advocate who became one of California’s most powerful and wealthy lobbyists during five decades in Sacramento, died Friday. He was 87.

Nicknamed “the Judge” and called “Gari” by friends, Garibaldi was a familiar figure in the Capitol, where legislators who often enjoyed the largess of his clients lamented his death.

“It is probably only fitting that Gari died on the last day of the (legislative) session,” Assemblyman John Burton (D-San Francisco), said on the Assembly floor. “He hearkens back to the old and balmier days.”

Garibaldi, who operated from luxurious offices across the street from the Capitol, was considered the last of the super-lobbyists, the freewheeling, power-dealing advocates who critics contended ruled California for decades through campaign donations.

But the modest, self-effacing Garibaldi, a former rural judge who came to Sacramento in the 1940s from Merced County, scoffed at such reports, and even critics had a personal fondness for him.

“I am,” Garibaldi told The Times in 1974, “just one of the boys.”

When Garibaldi’s death was announced on the Senate floor, presiding Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena), called for a moment of silence, then started sobbing. He was replaced at the podium and returned to his desk, where he was hugged by another senator.

“I wasn’t prepared to take it and be up there in the limelight,” Dills said later. “He was as close to me as any man in public life because he was a real brother.”

Dills called Garibaldi “the quintessential lobbyist. He had all the qualifications and qualities of a person who can influence you in so many ways and you’re not sure how he does it.”

Despite his low-profile image, political leaders described him as a “shrewd old geezer” with clout; he was often described by journalists as the Capitol’s top lobbyist.

“They judge a poker player by the number of chips he holds and Gari holds the chips,” said former Senate leader Hugh Burns.

Garibaldi served as a member of the Assembly from 1935 to 1939, and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. A graduate of Stanford University and UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall Law School, Garibaldi was admitted to the California State Bar in 1932. He had been a lobbyist since 1946.