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 Truth About High-Speed Rail
Of all the challenges we face in building the nation’s first true high-speed rail system, perhaps none is greater than overcoming the misinformation and gross distortions that have attended the project in recent years. Mark Twain once said that “a lie is halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” Nothing about traversing the Tehachapis, spanning rivers, protecting habitat or carefully treading a path through cities is anywhere near as difficult as trying to rebut the distortion campaign now underway.
Such was the case in reading the posting here by Harold Johnson of the Pacific Legal Foundation. His main argument is that the High-speed Rail Authority is embarking on a project that is vastly different from that agreed to by the voters and they should be happy if it fails. He brings the full quiver of canards – that it won’t really be high-speed, that we’ve given a “grab bag of goodies” to local projects that have no relation to high-speed rail, etc.
California’s Green Bantustans
One of the core barriers to economic prosperity in California is the price of housing. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Policies designed to stifle the ability to develop land are based on flawed premises. These policies prevail because they are backed by environmentalists, and, most importantly, because they have played into the agenda of crony capitalists, Wall Street financiers, and public sector unions. But while the elites have benefit, ordinary working families have been condemned to pay extreme prices in mortgages, property taxes, or rents, to live in confined, unhealthy, ultra high-density neighborhoods. It is reminiscent of apartheid South Africa, but instead of racial superiority as the supposed moral justification, environmentalism is the religion of the day. The result is identical.
Earlier this month an economist writing for the American Enterprise Institute, Mark J. Perry, published a chart proving that over the past four years, more new homes were built in one city, Houston Texas, than in the entire state of California. We republished Perry’s article earlier this week, “California vs. Texas in one chart.” The population of greater Houston is 6.3 million people. The population of California is 38.4 million people. California, with six times as many people as Houston, built fewer homes.
Fresno Spends $232,000 in Taxpayer Funds on Water Rate Lawsuits
Nearly a quarter million dollars in taxpayer funds has been spent by the City of Fresno in its ongoing lawsuits to keep a water rate referendum off the ballot, a CalNewsroom.com investigation has revealed.
As of May 6, the city has spent $232,254.28 to sue a group of taxpayers that are trying to overturn controversial water rate hikes approved by the city council last year. The figure was obtained through a public records request filed by CalNewsroom.com for all city funds expended to date in Doug Vagim v. City of Fresno and City of Fresno v. Doug Vagim.
Opponents of the water rate increases, who were sued by the city, said that the city’s actions have been “a reckless waste of public funds.”
International Trade Outlook to Explore L.A. County Trade with China
If you are interested in the international economy, please plan to join us at the 9th Annual International Trade Outlook, scheduled for June 5th, 2014 in Long Beach. There is a lot to discuss, such as the forecast for trade volume and the Panama Canal’s potential affect on the LA County trade sector. In addition, the LAEDC will release its newly updated report on trade with China, providing perspective on Los Angeles County’s No. 1 trading partner, and the 21.3% increase in visitors from China to LA County during 2013. Discussion will explore the business opportunities that Chinese tourism is creating, the increases in foreign direct investment into LA County, and the shift in exports to China towards relatively more finished goods and less raw materials. Expert speakers will deliver insight to help you make informed decisions.
To register, please visit: http://laedc.org/events-page/trade-outlook/. The International Trade Outlook will be hosted by World Trade Center Los Angeles-Long Beach and LAEDC.
Appellate Court Hearing Is Friday: The Case For Blocking The High Speed Rail Bonds
When the California High Speed Rail bonds were on the ballot back in 2008, as Proposition 1A, were you on the winning side, voting “yes” along with 52.6 percent of the electorate?
Maybe you shouted “Wooh hooh!” when the result was announced?
Then you ought to hope the bonds are rejected by the state appellate court that holds a hearing on them tomorrow.
Seriously.
In the case to be heard Friday by the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, the state is asking for a formal seal of approval – or “validation” – for $8.6 billion in High Speed Rail bonds, so the bonds can be sold without fear of future challenges to their legality.
Spending Cap and Trade Auction Revenues Will Undermine California’s Climate Goals
To nobody’s surprise, the mere rumor of billions in new cap-and-trade auction revenues has incited a feeding frenzy among legislators and spending advocates. Unfortunately – and unsurprisingly – this frenzy has revealed either widespread ignorance or deep cynicism about how greenhouse gases can be reduced in California.
Typically I would not bother with how legislators (or the Administration) choose to spend the proceeds of the cap-and-trade auction. Pending before the Third District Court of Appeal is California Chamber of Commerce v. ARB, which challenges the legality of the auction, based on our belief that (1) the Legislature did not grant the necessary authority to ARB in AB 32 to conduct the auction, and (2) in the absence of 2/3rds approval by the Legislature, the auction is an unlawful tax levied on GHG emitters. No matter how the revenues may be spent, they are ill-gotten and should never have been collected in the first place.