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.
Reckless Bill to Repeal Limits on Rent-Control will make Housing Crisis Worse
One of the more depressing tricks employed by people who favor more government control of everything is this: Put government controls on a business, which causes problems, and then use the problems as a justification for more government controls.
It’s like trying to reverse a case of alcohol poisoning with a jug of moonshine.
Nowhere is the “here, drink this,” cure more discouraging than in the housing market. Just recently, Assembly member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) and two co-sponsors introduced AB 1506, a bill to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.
The Costa-Hawkins Act put statewide limits on the rent-control ordinances that local governments are allowed to enact. The law, passed in 1995, prohibited rent control on newly constructed residential housing starting in 1999. It also guaranteed owners of rent-controlled buildings the right to raise the rent to market rate for new tenants when former tenants moved out voluntarily. (more…)
The Crime Issue Rises
The murder of Whittier Police Officer Keith Boyer and the big increase of property crimes have highlighted growing concern over the consequences of recent legislation and ballot measures that have opened prison doors. The crime issue, so powerful in the final decades of the last century, is rising again in the public consciousness.
In the 1980s and 1990s, George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson captured the governor’s office in part because of their strong anti-crime agendas. The three-strikes law was passed at the time and Wilson supported a number of ballot measures tagged as tough on crime.
In a Sacramento Bee op-ed published before the last election Wilson wrote, “The three strikes initiative approved in 1994 and other sensible crime control laws prevented millions of Californians from becoming crime victims. It would be gross dereliction of duty to discard laws that have provided us protection of such proven effectiveness.” (more…)
L.A. Is Too Good to Host the 2024 Olympics
Los Angeles should drop its bid for the 2024 Olympics—before it gets chosen.
It’s true that Paris has long been the favorite to be awarded the games during an upcoming vote in September. The Paris bid has broad international support, the City of Light has come close to winning the games in recent bids, and sentiment is on its side. 2024 would be the 100th anniversary of the last Olympics in Paris, the 1924 Games portrayed in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire.
But the contest is changing. All other contenders for 2024 have now dropped out (Budapest hung on the longest before bailing last month), leaving just L.A. and Paris. And after reviewing documents from and about both bids, it looks to me that L.A. has the superior bid, with greater public support, stronger management (led by two of L.A.’s most skilled civic operators, Casey Wasserman and Gene Sykes) and a better plan for producing an exciting event without the organizational meltdowns and cost overruns of previous Olympics. (more…)
A Modest Proposal for California from a Public Servant
“When I see someone attacking the benefits the Fire Department receives or the Police Department receives, my concern is: Why wouldn’t you expect the same for yourself? We should act as a beacon.”
—Mike Mohun, president of the San Ramon Firefighters Union, quoted in the New York Times, March 2, 2017
There are many compelling reasons to examine this statement by Mr. Mohun, since pension benefits for state and local government workers are consuming ever increasing percentages of tax revenue. For starters, using the term “attack” is unfair. More accurate might be “counter-attack,” since the costs for these pensions are what has become extreme, not our reaction. If these pensions were financially sustainable, California’s citizens would not be under attack by continuously escalating taxes, and continuously diminishing public services.
But why shouldn’t we expect the same for ourselves? This doesn’t seem like an unreasonable statement. Perhaps to evaluate the reasonableness of Mohan’s idea, let’s examine the benefits received by retirees in the San Ramon Valley Fire District. (more…)
Valid voter fraud complaints in California? Dozens, not millions
With President Donald Trump alleging serious voter fraud in California, and the state’s top election official calling his claim untrue, how much voter fraud is actually under investigation in the Golden State?
Not much—certainly not enough to sway the election, in which California voters chose Hillary Clinton over Trump by 4.3 million votes.
And while the California Secretary of State is investigating some cases of potential fraud, not a single case opened last year involves allegations of voting by an immigrant who is in the country illegally—a stark contrast to the picture painted by Trump.
The Secretary of State received 948 election-related complaints in 2016, according to its response to a CALmatters’ Public Records Act request. The office determined that more than half (525) did not merit criminal investigation. Of the remaining complaints, 140 are still being screened, 194 were non-criminal problems referred to local officials, and 89 triggered investigations by the Secretary of State. (more…)
The American Health Care Act: Refocusing Medicaid for those Most in Need
Skylar Overman was born with abnormal clefts in her brain. At only 10 years old, her condition—schizencephaly—is getting worse. As a disabled minor, Skylar qualifies for Medicaid, and a Medicaid waiver for home care would help her family as they struggle to pay mounting health care costs.
But by last count, Skylar was number 754 on the wait list for a waiver.
How did this happen? Medicaid is meant for people like Skylar, but Obamacare’s perverse incentives flooded Medicaid with more people than the system can handle.
Medicaid for those Most in Need
In their attempt to increase health care coverage, Democrats provided in Obamacare massive incentives for states to expand Medicaid to able-bodied adults above the poverty line. Instead of helping these people to afford private insurance, Obamacare overstretched Medicaid. As a result, the gaps in Medicaid became chasms, leaving the poor, the sick, and the disabled behind. (more…)