SACRAMENTO — Darrell Steinberg, the next leader of the California Senate, has always relished the uphill battle for the unpopular cause.
While a law student at UC Davis, he pressed for wheelchair lifts in the moot courtroom. Administrators caved to his demands after Steinberg discovered they were sitting on a pot of money that had been allocated for just such projects.
As a union lawyer for fired and disciplined state employees, Steinberg represented a worker who had a mental breakdown after he accidentally backed his car over his own 3-year-old child. Steinberg prevailed in getting the man a less stressful job.
And while a state legislator, Steinberg (D-Sacramento) pushed for more state services for the mentally ill, even using the initiative process to tax millionaires for the added cost.
"It was a very noble cause, and it demonstrates that Darrell will use the levers of power in the most creative ways," said fellow Democrat and former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles.
When he is elevated to Senate president pro tem on Monday, Steinberg, 49, will face challenges that dwarf his previous projects. The state's dire fiscal condition could require shrinking the education, healthcare and social services safety net Steinberg has spent his career promoting and protecting.
And his reputation for collegiality and deal-making may not be enough to bridge the ideological divisions between the deeply polarized parties.
"He is decent, very smart, doesn't exercise his ego, really believes there are solutions to every problem and works with people on both sides of the aisle," said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at California State University, Sacramento. "Being an optimist right now is a good thing -- otherwise you'd just slash your wrists."
Steinberg's upcoming ascension has created unusually high expectations. He will have six years in the job -- an eternity in the world of term limits -- but wants to show major results in his first few months in office. "I intend to shake it up," Steinberg said in one of several recent interviews. "This place needs a shot of adrenaline."
Unlike the departing pro tem, Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland), Steinberg has a collegial relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has nicknamed him "Steiny."
