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.
Wright, Despite a Perjury Conviction, Remains California’s Most Honest Politician
Here’s a bit of irony: California’s most honest politician is the only one guilty of perjury.
On Tuesday morning, a jury found State Senator Rod Wright, D-Inglewood, guilty of eight counts of felony voter fraud, perjury and filing a false declaration of candidacy. The jury of nine women and three men, which began deliberating last Friday, sided with prosecutors who had argued that Wright never lived in the 25th Senate District, which he was elected to represent.
Even Wright conceded at trial that his official residence wasn’t his only residence.
Why Roy Choi Is Our State’s New Steve Jobs
Californians have fallen in love with the recipes of L.A. chef Roy Choi, the man best known for creating the Korean barbecue taco.
But does California have a recipe to cook up more Roy Chois?
It’s an urgent question. Choi probably comes closer than any living Californian to embodying the skills needed by our state today. Like Steve Jobs, who could look at existing technologies and combine them to create something new and irresistible (and that you could hold in your hand), Choi has stitched together unlikely ingredients to create the iPhone of food: the Kogi taco. Such skill is sometimes called invention, but the more accurate name for it is fusion. And California runs on it.
Environmentalists & Jerry Brown Share Responsibility for California’s Water Crisis
There is an old saying in the West that goes like this. “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.”
While the real author of that quote has been in doubt for many years, the truth of that statement has never been in doubt.
Westerners have been fighting over this dwindling resource since the mid-1800s when the first farmer dammed up a creek for their crops and the ranchers who needed it for their cows tore down the dam.
Many times someone got killed in the process.
I Weep for Northern California
It is hard, just hard – forgive me, I’m struggling to keep it together here – when one sees injustice. It’s doubly hard when a whole class of people suffer a loss of democracy, the extinguishing of their voice, because of where they live.
The people of the Bay Area, I have now been informed, are feeling the harsh weight of injustice, the silencing of their voices, the fear of being shut out.
Fortunately, its leaders have somehow managed to raise their voices in protest. Recently, Jim Wunderman of the Bay Area Council wrote to warn of the fact that Southern Californians would soon be leaders of both houses of the state legislature. This broke precedent, and could be a threat to the Bay Area.
New Taxes Would Damage California’s Recovery
With many families and small businesses still struggling to make ends meet, Gov. Jerry Brown’s call for fiscal restraint with the state’s 2014 fiscal year budget came as welcome news. Following years of budget deficits, California taxpayers have reason to be encouraged that the state will finally live within its means and begin to put money away for future economic downturns. That is, if members of the Legislature do not go on a new spending spree and start a campaign for even more tax increases.
Despite the fact that Californians pay the highest gas, sales and income taxes in the nation, politicians are eagerly introducing dozens of proposals to create new taxes and fees. Reports are that the Legislature will consider new taxes on oil, soda, tobacco and plastic bags, with more anticipated.
Forming a Bipartisan Consensus for Public Sector Union Reform
Across the United States there is an escalating political conflict over the role of labor unions in society. But it is inaccurate to characterize this conflict as one between Republicans and Democrats. There are members of both major political parties, as well as independents of widely diverse ideologies, who are concerned about civil liberties, the growth of authoritarian government, inadequate investment in infrastructure, and poorly funded social programs. Explaining to these diverse groups that public sector unions are a threat to civil liberties, impel authoritarian government, and preclude investment in infrastructure and social programs – and that by and large, private sector unions do not – is the key to successful public sector union reform.
While reformers who are immersed in the topic may consider this obvious, the fact that public sector unions are fundamentally different from private sector unions is still a relatively new concept to the general public. Some of these differences might be summarized as follows: