By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee

America’s political executives – presidents, governors and big city mayors – are often judged by how they respond to unanticipated crises.

Dan Walters

Jerry Brown knows the syndrome well. He had two major crises during his first stint as governor 30-plus years ago, a severe drought early in his governorship and an invasion of Mediterranean fruit flies near the end.

Brown’s Medfly debacle contributed heavily to the failure of his U.S. Senate campaign a year later. That experience may explain why Brown was clearly reluctant to declare an official emergency over the current drought, which he finally did two weeks ago after saying earlier, “Governors can’t make it rain.”

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