Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that Republicans opposing Gov. Jerry Brown's tax extension election proposal without signaling a willingness to compromise need to understand that voters elected Brown and a Democratic majority in the Legislature.
Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton said last week in an interview with The Bee that he's "not interested in providing any votes" for the plan, which needs two-thirds approval to pass, and doesn't expect members of his caucus will be either.
Steinberg called the Rancho Cucamonga Republican a "good guy and a good Californian," but said taking the approach of "if I can look at this and say that it will solve the problem, I'll vote for it" doesn't hold up because "his view of how to solve the problem is different from the majority party's."
"That's where compromise is required," Steinberg said, adding: "We get nowhere when you take the position that if we were in the majority we would do things this way. They're not in the majority and that's the decision of the people, so help us create fiscal stability in ways that are, I think, consistent with the views and the values of the majority of California voters as reflected in the last election."
Steinberg said he believes a majority of Republicans "know that this (budget proposal) is the most responsible and down-the-middle framework that has been advanced."
PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, speaks at the Capitol Bureau on Jan. 20, 2011. Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee.
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