Fans of Democrat-on-Democrat verbal sniping take note: Here's the video of yesterday's extraordinary joint press conference by Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez slamming Jerry Brown after Brown's veto of the Democrat-crafted budget bill.
Steinberg opened this way:
We are deeply dismayed by the governor's decision. The governor is fond of citing the art of war. His decision is apparently part of some elaborate strategy to force a confrontation. That's fine. But success depends on articulating your first choice and being prepared and articulating the next best alternative. For six months the governor has tried and not succeeded in gaining the requisite four Republican votes to pass his plan. The speaker and I and our caucuses have stood with him all the way.
If the governor can succeed over the next two weeks in a way he has not succeeded over the next six months, we're happy to come back and pass Plan A as we call it.
And if the governor wants to really cut deeper to universities, to public schools, to public safety, to services for the elderly and people in need, he has the constitutional authority to do so. It's called the blue pencil...
We are too far down the road for the governor to continue avoiding a specific proposal or a specific set of proposals of what he intends to do or wants to be done if he can't gain those Republican votes. Governor, over the next two weeks, if you can't get the Republican votes, give us your specific changes to the budget that we passed yesterday that can be adopted by a majority vote.
The governor's constant references to his January proposal ring hollow if he is unable to deliver Republican votes.