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.

Are We “Nudging” California Voters to Register No Party Preference?

The recently announced party registration numbers in California have pundits buzzing about the continuing growth of “No Party Preference” voters alongside the declining memberships in the Democrat and Republican parties. “Indie voters have growing clout in California elections” blares a KPCC headline, and reporter Sharon McNary goes on to list reasons ranging from online registration to the top two primary as reasons for NPP’s expanding ranks.

But what if the reason had as much to do with the design of the registration form as with registration reform? And what if the registration forms (both print and online) we’re using break with state statute in ways that promote NPP registration?

One of my first jobs was working in an industry that hardly exists anymore: business forms printing. You remember business forms? Those preprinted documents you used to run through something called a typewriter, or, if it was a continuous form, you put on the sprockets of a forms printer.

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The Amazing, Enduring, Stubborn Strength of California Political Parties

Talk about missing the story.

The Secretary of State’s new numbers on voter registration, in advance of the June first-round elections, produced headlines and news stories that missed the point of the figures. The stories portrayed the numbers as evidence of the weakness of California political parties, and emphasized another small drop in Republican voters and an uptick in independent voters like yours truly.

But the weakness of our political parties isn’t news – it’s a century-old story. The news in the figures is that party membership, at least via voter registration, haven’t moved much at all. Indeed, California voters proved once again that they like parties – 80 percent are members of them – even though there is absolutely no advantage to being a member.

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Main Street Menace of the Week: Senate Bill 935 (Leno)

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 2014 series.

Have you ever seen the movie “Groundhog Day”?  It stars Bill Murray as a not-so-nice television weatherman who finds himself repeating the same day over and over again.  I have a feeling that many in the small business community are feeling just like the character Murray plays.  Except this time they are asking, “When will the barrage of bad bills from Sacramento ever end?”

Take for instance this week’s Main Street Menace – Senate Bill 935, which raises California’s minimum wage to $13 per hour by 2017.  The measure also automatically indexes future increases to the California Consumer Price Index.

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Gov. Christie’s Next Job – West LA Traffic Czar!

“Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.”
— Frank Lloyd Wright

“Life in LA is not lying in the sun for months. It is having a 4pm meeting and leaving at noon to sit in traffic for four hours. It’s not glam.”
— Billy Boyd

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,”
—  NJ Deputy Chief of Staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, writing to David Wildstein, at Port Authority of NY & NJ, who responded, “Got it.”

It does not take a political wizard to see that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, so recently re-elected by a wide margin, is in deep, deep trouble coping with his BridgeGate scandal.  We have been bombarded with wall to wall, Christie/BridgeGate/Sky is Falling news by our 24/7 Talking Heads Media.

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The Six States of California — New Laws or Old?

The Attorney General’s office yesterday released the title and summary for Tim Draper’s initiative proposal to divide California into six states. Whether the Silicon Valley entrepreneur is serious about pursuing this idea we will soon find out.

However, it’s interesting to contemplate which current California laws these new states might adopt or abandon when officials in the new states write constitutions.

Would Proposition 13’s property tax protections be kept in tact by Silicon Valley and North California (two of the state names in the proposal?) These liberal leaning areas might try to make changes. However, the state of Jefferson, bordering Oregon, might be very comfortable with the property tax law.

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“Governor Brown, Cancel the Crazy Train”

Right now, millions of Californians are struggling. 17 percent of people are unemployed or are stuck in part-time jobs. Our schools are ranked 46th in the nation. We have the highest poverty rate in the country, 24 percent.

But instead of focusing on fixing these problems, Governor Brown wants to spend $67 billion on the high-speed rail, which I call the “crazy train.” This vanity project is the most egregious example of his misplaced priorities, which is why I’ve asked the Governor to cancel the program. In fact, even Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom came out against the project last week.

Here’s a copy of the letter I sent to Governor Brown yesterday:

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