A batch of amendments to a massive water bond bill was submitted to the state Senate's clerical desk Monday, and one of them, as it turned out, had nothing to do with water.
Later that evening, as the bond bill was being debated on the Senate floor, Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, asked about the opaquely worded new provision, and was given a vague answer.
However, two reporters for The Sacramento Bee continued to pursue the language on Tuesday because it made an oblique reference to the Sacramento Unified School District. And under questioning, Senate President Pro tem Darrell Steinberg admitted to them that the amendment would earmark $10 million for his pet project, a Sacramento cultural tolerance center.
When the story about the earmark hit the Internet, the effect on the still-pending bond bill was electric. Assembly members of both parties raised a stink about Steinberg's personal provision.
It was reminiscent of an earlier episode. Some years ago, Steinberg carried a bill sponsored by Sacramento's city and county governments to compel suburban communities to share sales tax revenues. However, he inserted an amendment that would remove legal barriers to the city of Sacramento's drive to persuade some auto dealers to move from the county into the city with hefty subsidies.
The amendment was not only questionable public policy, involving millions of dollars in sales taxes, but double-crossed the county government, and after this column revealed its existence, the bill died.
These incidents reveal something about Steinberg, a hardworking policy wonk who, however, has a disturbing ends-justify-the-means penchant. But they also illustrate how journalists expose politicians' hide-the-pea games.
There's an even more ironic twist. Steinberg has hired a squad of ex-newspaper reporters for an oversight office that supposedly is shedding light on state government issues.
So far, however, most of the reports emerging from Steinberg's personal investigative team fall far short of legitimate news. The gulf between the Bee's revelations about Steinberg's earmark and the suspiciously slanted reports by his taxpayer-financed pack of former journalists is the difference between watchdogs and lapdogs.
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