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.
Once Upon a Time…Translating the Tech Movement into Fiction
Fiction has always documented social change. And no matter how talented the author, no one can document the times as well as those living in them. Think of F. Scott Fitzgerald writing about the Jazz Age. Charles Dickens portraying the harsh working-class conditions in 19th century London. Mark Twain observing the societal effects of slavery.
As a writer and longtime teacher of fiction (fiction writing isn’t “taught” as much as “nourished”), I know that there are important stories to be told today, perhaps especially by people involved in the tech community. So, in the next month, I will start teaching a fiction workshop at the San Francisco-based tech accelerator, RocketSpace.
A New Tool for Understanding Local Economies
Seeking to fill the gap between opinion and factual information about job creation and sustainability, as well as economic trends in California, the Center for Jobs and the Economy recently launched a more robust website so that anyone will be able to better see and understand the nexus between California’s job environment and the economy. The enhanced website will allow, for the first time, a comprehensive, in-depth look at the economic health of California communities through the use of continuously updated economic data, which will better illustrate California’s ever-changing economic landscape.
Harnessing available but disparate data sources, the Center for Jobs and the Economy has built a one-stop resource using key, and continuously updated economic indicators like unemployment, average annual wage, housing and fuel costs, searchable by county, region and Senate and Assembly districts. These indicators will provide current and accurate measures of economic health and stability in communities across California or detail where more work needs to be focused to stimulate the economy in others.
Ballot Designations: Identifying A Candidate in Three Words or Less
The Secretary of State will set the field for the 2014 primary election on March 27, when she publishes the Certified List of Candidates appearing on the June 3 primary ballot. That list includes each candidate’s name and their “ballot designation” – up to three words that identify the candidate’s “principal professions, vocations, or occupations.”
California is one of the few states in America that allows candidates to describe themselves on ballots. Because this ballot real estate is so valuable – and the opportunities for embellishment so tempting – ballot designations can lead to another staple of California politics: Litigation.
Dear Alec Baldwin, L.A. Ain’t For You
Dear Alec Baldwin,
Let me be the first to welcome you to the great state of California.
I know you haven’t arrived yet. But, in a piece published in New York magazine that made headlines across the country, you made it plain that after years of being terrorized by Manhattan’s media and increasingly nosy public, you’re done with living and working in New York City, where you were once so popular that you toyed with running for mayor. Your next destination: Los Angeles, where you believe you can be free to be yourself.
“I just can’t live in New York anymore,” you wrote. “Everything I hated about L.A. I’m beginning to crave. L.A. is a place where you live behind a gate, you get in a car, your interaction with the public is minimal. I used to hate that. But New York has changed.”
Public Sector Pension Plans Do Not Pass the “Smell Test”
“Pew’s relationship with the Arnold Foundation does not pass the smell test,” said Meredith Williams, Denver-based executive director of the National Council on Teacher Retirement. – ”Pension Funds Press Pew to Cut Arnold Foundation,” Philanthropy Today, March 4, 2014
If you’re looking for an example of how, increasingly, political debate in America is framed as a battle between tainted – and very powerful – special interests who harbor nefarious personal agendas, instead of a rational exchange of competing facts and logic aimed at finding optimal solutions, look no further.
Apparently, across the United States, any reputable nonprofit, from Pew and PBS to your underfunded start-up, now has to refuse gifts from major donors unless they happen to be (1) funded by public sector unions, or (2) originate from the pockets of left-wing billionaires. Everything else is tainted. Everything else fails the “smell test.”
California’s Gas Tax Nightmare
California taxpayers don’t have to fall sleep to have a nightmare. They experience one each and every day when they encounter a costly, confusing and constantly-changing tax system. Unfortunately, most efforts to change this system only make matters worse.
Take the gas tax, for instance.
California consumers currently pay 71 cents per gallon in taxes every time they fill up their tanks. That’s the highest gas tax rate in the country. The average American pays less—about 50 cents per gallon. That translates into hundreds of dollars a year in higher taxes for Californians.
Adding insult to injury, Californians are double taxed for gas. Sales tax is calculated after excise taxes have already been added. That means we pay a tax on a tax, which is just plain wrong.