Whether the politics of water can help the Republican Party make gains in this year’s congressional elections remains to be seen. Republicans have bet on the water issue in the past to little avail. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, for example, made attacks on water-related environmental regulations a major element of her unsuccessful campaign against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010.
Already, however, the renewed partisan focus on the issue has complicated Gov. Jerry Brown’s job, as his administration scrambles to develop emergency plans to keep water flowing to cities where the spigots of homes and businesses are in danger of running dry.
And this time may be different.
Across the state’s agricultural heart, crisis is bearing down. Laborers face unemployment, and the owners of small companies that rely on a robust farming industry are panicked. The GOP is leveraging their anger.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-drought-politics-20140127,0,6322521.story#axzz2rZHd9hrc
