We like California State Senate President pro Tem Darrel Steinberg. He has a history in local government and that’s exactly what we would like to see more of in Sacramento. With six years on the Sacramento City Council, a passion for planning issues and unmatched integrity, we hope he will remain in office for many years.
That being said, there is a big problem with the way Steinberg treated one of his colleagues.
Steinberg has spent more than a decade in and around Sacramento public policy issues along with his neighboring Senator, former County Supervisor Dave Cox. The two of them have probably attended well over 1,000 meetings together on every subject possible.
Everyone in Sacramento knows a little about the personality of Cox. He is smart, hard working and expects to be treated like the statesman that he is. 
That does not involve locking him onto the Senate Floor all night. Cox wants to go home and sleep in his own bed and come back the next day ready to work.
So when Steinberg and The Sacramento Bee decided to focus their attention on Cox and bludgeon him into supporting the state budget, it was clear that they were not thinking about the person that Cox is and the record he has.
Good leadership involves understanding the people you are working with. In this case, Steinberg did not play his cards as effectively as we would have expected.
That is no way to treat someone like Cox and then expect him to be convinced of the policy position proposed by Steinberg.