Image by retrorocket via shutterstockWomen have never achieved parity with their male colleagues in the California Legislature. Many advocates believe that could change before the end of the decade, but getting there is hardly a given.
Gov. Brown's top aide, Nancy McFadden, at a 2015 water conference in Sacramento. McFadden died Thursday at the age of 59. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)Nancy McFadden, who died late Thursday at 59 from ovarian cancer, was the perfect high-level staffer — discreet, smart, and possessed of a wide range of knowledge along with a keen political antenna. As unknown to the public as she was important in California’s government, McFadden literally ran the state’s mammoth bureaucracy day-to-day.