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.
The President Should Visit All of California
The President came to Los Angeles and San Francisco to talk about how great the economy is doing. While it may look good for some in Los Angeles and San Francisco a trip throughout the Golden State would show the President that many Californians are frustrated with his Administration’s economic policies.
The President should take a trip through Bakersfield and into the Central Valley, where the nation’s largest vegetable, fruit, and nut producers are located. Right now the drought has made life tough for people in Central Valley communities, and the Obama Administration’s policies sure haven’t helped. Sadly, the Obama economy and the Administration’s harmful water regulatory burdens have left California in a far more precarious place than West L.A and San Francisco.
Labor force participation in California is only 61.9 percent, below the national rate of 62.7 percent, which is a full 3.4 percent lower than in 2008. Unemployment in counties across California, especially in the Central Valley, is still in the double digits. (more…)
California Bad to its Bones
Any serious student of California knows that the state’s emergence in the past century reflected a triumph of engineering. From the water systems, the dredged harbors, the power stations and the freeway system, California overcame geographical limits of water, power and its often-unmanageable coastline to create a beacon of growth and opportunity.
That was then, but certainly not the case today. Indeed, since the halcyon postwar days of infrastructure-building under Gov. Pat Brown, roughly one-in-five dollars of state spending went to building roads, bridges, water systems and the like. Today, this investment amounts to less than 5 percent. (more…)
Tax Subsidies Hurting California
You might think individual tax subsidies, such as the film credit for Hollywood that just was tripled to $330 million, would help California. After all, they cut the taxes of some companies. Certainly, they help those individual companies.
But unless spending is cut to pay for it — which never happens — other businesses have to pay for the tax subsidies. Holman W. Jenkins Jr. just wrote for the Wall Street Journal how Toyota, after getting tax subsidies from the state, still couldn’t make a profit from its Nummi plant in Fremont. So it decided to cancel the plant.
But that happened at the same time as the “sudden acceleration” crisis, for which it actually was exonerated by the federal government. (more…)
Three Ballot Initiatives, Not Quite As Awful As Usual
You gotta take your good news where you can get it when it comes to California’s dangerously inflexible system of initiative and referendum. So this year’s three ballot initiative – Propositions 45, 46, and 47 – qualify as good news.
It might be more precise to say: those three initiatives are less awful than usual.
I’m not talking about the policy substance of the initiatives – which involve health insurance rate regulation (45), liability for medical errors and some other things (46) or criminal charges and sentencing (47). One can make arguments for and against those policies. But the issues and the policies aren’t the first question you should ask about California ballot initiatives. The correct first question is, instead: is it possible to fix the errors in these things? (more…)
What Happened to Jerry Brown, the Reformer We Once Knew?
“Write the best campaign, lobbying and conflicts of interest reform legislation that you can.” That was the instruction that Secretary of State Jerry Brown gave me when he hired me as his office’s Elections Counsel in 1972. He indicated that he didn’t think the legislature would pass any extensive reforms because it was not in their best interests. But he might be running for governor and he would like to be known as the reform candidate.
This conversation occurred during my first encounter with Jerry Brown at a restaurant called Posey’s, a lobbyist hangout where the movers and shakers of Sacramento often dined.
A few months after I began work in the Secretary of State’s office, Brown asked me to look at the lobbyist reports, which were published in hardcover books by the legislative committee overseeing their reporting. I could not believe what I found in the reports. Several lobbyists had submitted statements that had lines blacked out in the section “Legislative Gifts.” I called the lobbyists and asked why had they redacted those lines. They replied: “Our copies don’t have anything blacked out. They show the gifts made to specific legislators.” It was clear that legislative staff members were inking out any text that itemized a gift to a legislator. (more…)
What You Can Do for California
In the good times, it is important to remember the bad times.
One of California’s most serious governance challenges is the volatility of General Fund tax revenue. No other state has a revenue system that produces higher booms and bigger busts. As a result, everything from schools to services for the elderly are subjected to fiscal hardships, and Californians to the heartache.
This volatility is predictable, but the consequences are avoidable. Proposition 2 on the November ballot is the best solution developed after a generation of debate. The measure is not just a “rainy day fund.” It will require lawmakers to manage revenues to provide stable funding for essential public services, especially K-12 schools and higher education, community health, public safety and social services. (more…)