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 U.S. Cities Creating The Most White-Collar Jobs, 2016

The information sector may have glamour and manufacturing, nostalgia appeal, but the real action in high-wage job growth in the United States is in the vast realm of professional and business services. This is not only the largest high-wage part of the economy, employing just under 20 million people at an average salary of $30 an hour, it’s also one the few high-wage sectors in which employment has expanded steadily since 2010, at more than 3% a year, adding nearly 3 million white-collar jobs.

In many ways, the business and professional service sector may be the best indicator of future U.S. economic growth. It is not nearly as vulnerable to disruption as energy, manufacturing or information employment, and more deeply integrated into the economy, including professions like administrative services and management, legal services, scientific research, and computer systems and design.  In a pattern we have seen in other sectors, much of the growth is concentrated in two very different kinds of places: tech-rich metro areas and those that offer lower costs, and often more business-friendly atmospheres. (more…)

Business Strategy on Prop 55

Business organizations are beginning to line up against Proposition 55, the income tax extension, but is it a matter of showing the flag or engaging in full force? Long term strategy on business related tax issues is part of business’s calculation.

No question business is opposing the effort to extend for 12 years what was promised by Gov. Jerry Brown to be a temporary tax when initially placed before voters as Prop 30. The California Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business/California have already come out in opposition to Prop 55. Particularly significant is the case of CalChamber since it was neutral during the Prop 30 campaign.

The important question: will members of the business community raise big money to oppose the tax extension? (more…)

Prop 53 Gives Taxpayers Less Say, Not More

One of the myths of Proposition 53 – the Cortopassi ballot measure – is that it somehow would give taxpayers more control over the funding of major infrastructure projects.

In truth, Proposition 53 gives local taxpayers and residents less ability to decide what gets built in their communities.

One of the little-known details of Proposition 53 is that it will force statewide votes on some local projects. It specifically requires cities and towns that want to come together with the state and form Joint Power Authorities to issue revenue bonds to put their measure on a statewide ballot.

That means that if residents in Los Angeles decide they want to make bridge safety repairs, then voters from Redding to Bakersfield would have the right to veto that decision. (more…)

Get Back, Loretta

Let me start with an admission of error.

I recently chastised Rep. Loretta Sanchez in this space for going to Spain earlier in the summer, instead of campaigning for the U.S. Senate. I argued that she needed to make a real full-time campaign, for her own good.

I was wrong to say that. Sanchez on the campaign trail is actually worse than Sanchez off the trail. She should get back to Europe–or to any place she can find far from California and representatives of any of its media outlets.

The more she talks, the worse she looks. (more…)

The Future of Latino Politics

The sad decline in race relations has focused, almost exclusively, on the age-old, and sadly growing, chasm between black and white. Yet this divide may prove far less important, particularly in this election, than the direction of the Latino community.

This may be the first election where Latinos, now the nation’s largest minority group, may directly alter the result, courtesy of the race baiting by GOP nominee Donald Trump. If the GOP chooses to follow his nativist pattern, it may be time to write off the Republican Party nationally, much as has already occurred in California.

Today, Latinos represent 17 percent of the nation’s population; by 2050, they will account for roughly one in four Americans. Their voting power, as the GOP is likely to learn, to its regret this year, is also growing steadily, to 12 percent of eligible voters this year, and an estimated 18 percent by 2028. (more…)

A Tale of Two Conventions

The decision as to which Party holds the first nominating convention is determined by the current White House occupant?

Advantage Hillary Clinton and the Democrats who have the benefit of knowing what was said and can now polish the rebuttals.

The over-riding theme of the GOP conclave was easy enough to identify. It was attack Hillary and keep attacking.

“Lock her up” was the resounding cry of the delegates who did not come to Cleveland for further affirmation of Trump’s presidential worthiness. The majority are already convinced despite questions that could shake that assumption to its core as the general election campaign begins. (more…)