A governor’s son with a love of ancient languages explores his spirituality, dates celebrities and goes from his father’s office to several runs at the White House before becoming Oakland’s mayor, California attorney general and once again, governor.

It’s not a Hollywood writer’s pitch. It’s the life of 79-year-old California Gov. Jerry Brown, who gives his final State of the State Address at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 25 in Sacramento.

As California’s longest-serving governor enters his last year in office — he can’t run again due to term limits — his second go-around is different — and more effective — than his first two terms in the late 1970s and early 1980s, academic observers said.

“No more Governor Moonbeam,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, referring to Brown’s 1970-era nickname.

“Jerry Brown went from Governor Moonbeam in his first tenure to governor-as-manager in his second term,” said Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administration at the University of La Verne.

“During his first governorship, Brown was the quirky, dynamic young governor who explored new ideas,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. “During his second governorship, Brown was the seen-it-all veteran who added hard-earned wisdom and gravitas to government policymaking.”

Renee Van Vechten, an associate professor in the political science department at the University of Redlands, described Brown as “a chess player whose game has improved immensely. He now sees several steps ahead and perceives where all the pieces are moving across the board.”

That’s not to say Brown sat passively in the governor’s chair. He’s led a passionate crusade

against climate change and helped cement California’s role as a bastion of resistance to President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress.

California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte gives Brown poor marks.

“Under Governor Brown’s watch, our state has become more unaffordable for ordinary Californians,” Brulte said. “He needlessly raised taxes by billions of dollars while diverting vital money away from infrastructure, poverty, and housing issues.”

“ … Seven years later, our roads and dams are at a crisis point, the poverty rate is the highest in the nation, and the dream of buying a home is all but dead.”

Noting the long-term decline in California’s GOP voter registration and Brown’s strong approval ratings in polls, California Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman said: “I’m not sure that my friend Jim’s view of this is one that actually comports with the way that most people feel.”

Good hand dealt

Fiscal stability helped Brown’s second governorship, Pitney said.

“Brown deserves some credit for applying restraint to spending and for seeking voter approval of new taxes,” he said. “But he was also very lucky to re-enter the governorship in 2010. Voters had just approved a constitutional amendment eliminating the 2/3 vote requirement for passing a budget.

“Just as important, he came in at the start of an economic recovery,” Pitney added. “When you have a good revenue outlook and the ability to pass a budget without minority-party votes, things go a lot more smoothly than they did when grappled with fiscal pain and political turmoil.”

Brown’s first two terms as governor “(were) marked by inexperience as well as political and economic chaos,” Van Vechten said.

This time, “He helped right the ship of state by acting boldly but prudently, hewing more to pragmatic moderation than left-wing idealism, such as asking the public to weigh in on a sales tax increase (Proposition 30) and angering Democrats with punitive budget cuts when times were lean,” she said.

In recent years, Brown, who once studied Buddhism and spent time with Mother Teresa in India and made headlines in the late 1970s for his relationship with singer Linda Ronstadt, made the case for reined-in spending and a flush rainy-day fund to prepare for the lean times he’s sure lie ahead.

Bebitch Jeffe said Brown in his second go-around hasn’t made any “jaw-dropping appointments” like when he tapped Rose Bird to be California Supreme Court chief justice. Critics said Bird, who was removed by voters in 1986, let her left-wing beliefs, including opposition to the death penalty, color her rulings.

That said, some of Brown’s ideas from his first gubernatorial tenure, like his push for alternative energy and diversity among his appointees, don’t seem so radical now, Godwin said.

Not seeking higher office – Brown ran for president in 1976, 1980 and 1992 and for U.S. Senate in 1982 – has helped Brown’s second tenure as governor, said Lori Cox Han, a Chapman University political scientist.

“He knew that this was the end of his political career,” she said. “I think that has helped him to be more responsible in terms of how he has governed. He’s not looking ahead so much. He’s focused on California.”

‘Un-matchable’

Brown’s support of the green economy, the entertainment industry and the environment “most likely have helped Southern California,” Godwin said.

“Arguably, he missed opportunities to be more active on affordable housing, mental health services, drug addiction recovery, and crime prevention,” she said. “He also seems to have been more focused on Silicon Valley and the bullet train through Central Valley rather than devoting a lot of attention to Southern California.

“He also could have led initiatives on ethics, including both the legislature and his own appointees. Campaign finance reform was another neglected area.”

Brown’s legacy also will be marked by his support for high-speed rail, Pitney said.

“He is hoping that future Californians will remember him as a builder, like his father,” said Pitney, referring to the freeways and universities built during Gov. Pat Brown’s watch.

“Maybe that will happen,” Pitney said. “But with long delays and mounting cost overruns, he might also go down as the governor who backed spending billions that we didn’t have on a project that we didn’t need.”

California won’t see a governor like Brown in our lifetimes, Bauman said.

“All in all, his legacy will be one that’s virtually un-matchable,” he said. “Though he has his critics on the left and right, he proved you can have a second act and make it as good or better than the first.”

STATE OF THE STATE

Gov. Jerry Brown will give his final State of the State Address before a joint legislative session.

When: 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 25.

How to watch: The address will be broadcast live online at www.calchannel.com.