Brown for President? Been There, Said That!
The Brown for President speculation is gaining steam. Old story, at least for me, I was on that speculation bandwagon early, as you’ll see below. Just yesterday in the Los Angeles Times, veteran political reporter Mark Barabak wrote an article titled, Jerry Brown, urged to run for president, won’t rule out 2016 bid. The piece […]
Black Bart Award Nominee: Darrell Steinberg
Senate president pro tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez came into their last two years as legislative leaders with a full head of steam behind a supermajority control of the legislature and new revenues because of the success of Prop 30. Managing these new found riches in both party votes and taxpayer gold […]
F&H Daily’s Fifth Annual Black Bart Award Week
For the past four years frequent contributors to this page Joe Mathews, John Wildermuth and I have nominated candidates for Californian of the Year in the world of politics. We name the final selection the winner of the Black Bart Award. There are no specific criteria to follow in making the selection. Each author will […]
Taxing Property “Wealth” is a Step Back
Friday on the Sacramento Bee editorial page, former editor Peter Schrag argued (once again) for changes to Proposition 13’s property tax system with the goal to raise more revenue. Schrag says changing the property tax system to reassess business property more often would improve the economy. On numerous occasions on this site, I have taken […]
The Death Penalty is a “Penalty”
An effort to bring back a functioning death sentence for certain capital crimes may find its way on next November’s ballot. Law enforcement officials around the state are considering supporting a ballot initiative to streamline death sentence appeals and find an execution method acceptable to the courts. Many death row inmates wait decades before their […]
Green and Rich
California’s policy to shift to green energy is built on a program of incentives that too often are gobbled up by the rich while the middle-class and poor often struggle with energy costs. Energy cost is often charged on a tier basis – the more you use the more you pay. Not too many air […]
The Pension Issue – Everywhere
Two stories yesterday thrust pension reform in the front of the political news. In Michigan, a judge declared that Detroit could consider bankruptcy to deal with its debt crisis and that public pension obligations can be treated like any other contract under bankruptcy law. In Illinois, the state legislature passed a public pension reform that […]
California Energy Progress Could Lead to Boom Times
How one defines “progress” seems to be at the heart of the loud debate over fracking in California. Like the rest of the nation, California may be on the verge of an economic surge built on the back of an energy boom. Environmentalists want to shut off fracking for fear of negative effects from the […]
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to All. Fox and Hounds Daily will resume publication on Monday, December 2.
Projected State Budget Surpluses Could Disrupt Tax Initiatives
The budget projections offered by the Legislative Analyst last week could throw a monkey wrench into the plans of those who are seeking tax increases on the 2014 ballot. The LAO projected a budget surplus of $5.6 billion dollars for the budget year ending in 2015 scaling up to $10 billion a couple of years […]