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.
CEQA Being Used To Thwart 250 Jobs for Los Angeles County
I am often asked by the media what elected officials can do to be more business-friendly and create new jobs. I tell them about California business regulations and taxes that do not exist in other states. I also talk about streamlined processes and tax credits that do exist in other states. My concrete examples about regulations often include abuses of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Today, I will share a real-time example of how CEQA is being abused in Los Angeles County to thwart the creation of middle-class jobs.
A company named Kinkisharyo International has been selected by the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) to provide new rail cars for its light rail lines. The company has moved its United States headquarters from suburban Boston to El Segundo; and at the urging of local officials, it plans to build a $60 million rail car production facility on 60 acres in an industrial park in the City of Palmdale. The City of Palmdale is very excited about the new facility and the new jobs. (more…)
DMV Needs to Stop Robbing Taxpayers
If you recently purchased a car from a private party, you may have paid too much tax to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
I’ve been hearing complaints from constituents that DMV charged them a higher city tax rate when they don’t actually live within city boundaries.
These constituents were forced to jump through hoops to prove they didn’t owe the higher tax. As their elected representative, I was happy to assist them in obtaining refunds, but DMV should have never overcharged them in the first place.
What’s worse is that these overcharges are not isolated incidents, but rather a systemic problem resulting from DMV’s bizarre reliance on zip codes to determine tax rates. (more…)
Why The Grocery Bag Bill Should Be Referred
Gov Jerry Brown will soon sign California’s ban on single use plastic grocery bags. Nothing better represents the de-industrialization of this state; the aversion of California’s elites to the manufacture of products they don’t like even if they are a convenience provided free to consumers. This legislation should be referred because we need a debate on whether Brown and the legislature are further impoverishing California.
Plastic bags are now among the Great Satans hated by the environmentalist elite along with oil, coal, dams, power plants and assorted other evils. The evil of the plastic bag: it doesn’t biodegrade and clogs landfills. The plastic bag industry counters that their bags, a convenience reused by consumers, accounts of only 0.4 percent of landfill space, and do not emit greenhouse gases (another environmentalist Great Satan). (more…)
Save That Texan
Doesn’t anyone in California politics know how to hit a hanging curve ball?
The indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has lectured to Californians to years about job creation and the superiority of Texas, should have been an easy pitch to hit for the California pols he tormented.
But no one has. Perhaps people were wary of exploiting an indictment that seemed so nakedly political. Or of getting on the wrong side of Texas Democrats who are defending the indictment, even as it’s dismissed around the country as a misguided attempt to criminalize politics.
But c’mon, Californians. The way to draw blood against our tormentor Perry and Texas was easy. Just say: “We Californians would be happy to offer Gov Perry asylum here.” (more…)
What Tesla’s Choosing of Nevada Over California Really Means
Tesla’s decision to build its $5 billion gigafactory in Reno, Nev. is disappointing – but not the loss decried by its harshest critics.
It is impossible from the outside to know the details of what was offered, promised, and conditioned. To be certain, California’s leaders were deeply engaged and willing to make a deal if it penciled out for California.
From this side of the border, negotiators say that what Tesla wanted did not make sense for California. The winning state was expected to hand over as much as $500 million in tax incentives. According to Forbes, Nevada gave Tesla $1.25 billion in incentives, nearly $200,000 a job.
While the desert dust settles, one thing is clear: Tesla made a great deal for its shareholders, many of whom are in the corporation’s home state of California. (more…)
Class Issues, Not Race, Will Likely Seal the Next Election
Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and along the U.S.-Mexico border may seem to suggest that race has returned as the signature issue in American politics. We can see this already in the pages of mainstream media, with increased calls for reparations for African-Americans, and expanded amnesties for the undocumented. Increasingly, any opposition to Obama’s policies is blamed on deep-seated white racism.
Yet in reality, race will not define the 2014 election, or likely those that follow. Instead the real defining issue—class—does not fit so easily into the current political calculus. In terms of racial justice, we have made real progress since the ’60s, when even successful educated minorities were discriminated against and the brightest minority students were often discouraged from attending college. Today an African-American holds the highest office in the land, and African Americans also fill the offices of U.S. attorney general and national security advisor. This makes the notion that race thwarts success increasingly outdated. (more…)