Gov. Brown’s top adviser dies
SACRAMENTO — Nancy Mcfadden, chief of staff for California Gov. Jerry Brown and a driving force behind his agenda, died Thursday in her home after a long battle with ovarian cancer. She was 59.
“Nancy was the best chief of staff a governor could ever ask for,” Brown said in a statement. “She understood government and politics, she could manage, she was a diplomat and she was fearless.”
Mcfadden was hired as Brown’s chief of staff in 2011, when he returned to the governor’s office, and quickly became an indispensable asset as he pushed ambitious polities on climate, criminal justice reform and more. Mcfadden could knock heads in political battle but was quick with humor and cared deeply for the people around her, friends and colleagues said.
Mcfadden didn’t know Brown and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, very well when she had a conversation with them after Brown’s election that led to a job. But the three quickly became a wellmatched team.
“She loved that (Brown) trusted her to be the implementer,” said Donne Brownsey, Mcfadden’s closest friend and a former lobbyist and legislative adviser. “He gave her, deservedly, wide latitude to form teams throughout state government to solve problems.”
Mcfadden’s high-profile political work began long before she joined the Brown administration. She served as a deputy political director for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.
Brown, who was running against Clinton at the time, was one of Clinton’s harshest critics. Mcfadden’s role in the campaign included managing the fallout of Gennifer Flowers alleging an affair with Clinton.
Mcfadden went on to be a deputy associate attorney general in Clinton’s administration, then deputy chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore.
She was featured in a 1994 Washington Post article titled “Who you gonna call?” about the “go-to” political insiders in the Clinton administration. Mcfadden frequently represented the U.S. Justice Department on conference calls with the White House, according to the article.
“Nancy Mcfadden was a truly extraordinary public servant thanks to her brilliant mind, big heart, and uncanny ability to get things done,” Bill and Hillary Clinton said in a statement.
Mcfadden was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the early 2000s and beat it, only to have it return four years ago. She stepped away from the Capitol in January to focus on her health but was taking conference calls and working right up until the end, said Brownsey, who cared for her.