Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye

With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages. 

Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down. 

Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.

On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.

F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!).  We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.

Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey.  The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.

CA Economic Summit Roadmap — Increased Opportunity for All

In the weeks following the release of the California Economic Summit’s Roadmap to Shared Prosperity, the Summit’s co-chairs are outlining how they plan to use this new 5-year strategy for advancing a sustainable growth agenda across the state’s diverse regional economies.

Antonia Hernández, president and chief executive officer of the California Community Foundation, believes the Roadmap can help communities ensure economic growth doesn’t contribute to growing inequality and displacement. “I urge stakeholders to equip themselves with this Roadmap,” says Hernández, “and begin to enact change.”

The full Q&A with Hernández follows: (more…)

Brulte for Governor in 2018?

There is a new form of punishment for those who dared to chair the California Republican Party: you have to run for offices that you know you can’t win.

This take-one-for-the-team reality has become a trend. Former party chair Ron Nehring made a no-hope run for lieutenant governor last year (and wrote some interesting emails I enjoyed reading). Now former chair Tom Del Beccaro appears to be getting closer to running for a U.S. Senate seat that is all but certain to stay in Democratic hands.

Why do they do this? The answer seems to be less about ambition – since winning the office isn’t possible – and more about duty. Nehring said he was running because he believes the party should field candidates for every post, and because competition is the essence of democracy. (more…)

Jeffe: Koch Money and 2016 California Initiatives

The news earlier in the week that the Koch brothers’ network had a budget of $889 million to spend on political activities during the 2016 election cycle made it into discussions at the UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies symposium that was designed to review the last election. It was suggested at the opening panel discussion that some of that money could make it into California despite its deep blue hue — but candidate races may not be the major beneficiaries.

As USC professor and journalist Sherry Bebitch Jeffe noted, if the Kochs can’t elect candidates to carry out policy they support they could go directly to the people through initiatives to establish policy. Or, one supposes, to oppose a policy others put on the ballot.

California is a bellwether state. Major policy decisions made by the voters here often sweep across the country. Supporting or opposing major policy initiatives in California to set the tone for a national policy debate is possible if the money purse is full. (more…)

Main Street Menace of the Week: Senate Bill 8 (Hertzberg)

While the legislature is in session, the National Federation of Independent Business/California will be profiling anti-small business bills and initiatives and the adverse effect they would have on California’s job creators. This is the first column of the 2015 series.

Each time a new crop of legislators comes to Sacramento, I along with small business owners around the state hope and pray that they will make decisions and put forth policy that will help our state and nation’s number one job creators. Alas, we continue to be disappointed time and time again, and unfortunately 2015 is looking like more of the same from those in the capitol.

Take for example, Senate Bill 8, proposed by Senator Robert Hertzberg. SB 8 would be a $10 billion dollar sales tax on services that would apply to everything from accounting to gardeners. Yes – that is billion with a ‘B”. Senator Hertzberg’s justification for this legislation is that it would help avoid the state’s ‘boom and bust’ tax structure. And where would this increased revenue go? Supposedly to education and local government, among other areas. (more…)

Should We Have A Tax Convention?

Perhaps the moment has come to convene a Tax Convention in Sacramento to address the chronic dysfunction of a system in California which is largely attuned to the vagaries of ballot measure tax gimmicks and emergency responses as a basis for administering government.

The one constant for running government at any level regardless of size, population mix, political coloration, current leadership or future goals is sound financial machinery and a set of tax rules that can help ensure highest quality performance during good times and bad.

When these rules can be changed at the whim of a sufficient number of petition signers backed by a few powerful funders and their special interest allies, or by a legislative majority bowing to the prevailing political winds, we are inviting dissension and instability. (more…)

A Short History of Proposition 13

(Editor’s Note: Proposition 13, the 1978 property tax measure, continues to be in the news in California with talk of reforms in some quarters. Just this week, the Public Policy Institute of California polled some issues related to Prop 13. The poll found that 66% of likely voters found Prop 13 to be a good thing for California. That included 78% of Republicans, 62% of Independents, and 58% of Democrats. With 13 still making news in California, it is probably an opportune time to publish the text of a speech I gave a few months ago on the history of Proposition 13.)

Let me take you back to 1966 to Newhall, California right here in Los Angeles County, to an item that appeared in the local Newhall Signal newspaper. It came with a picture of an elderly couple standing before their house. It would not be unkind to call it a shack. The house was assessed for taxes at the property’s highest and best use, a standard used by assessors at the time. Since an apartment building had been built close by, this elderly couple’s home was assessed as if an apartment building was built there. The couple’s tax bill, in 1966 dollars, was $1800 a year. Their total income was $1900 a year. (more…)