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.
Job Creators
With the news that California’s economy is now the sixth largest in the world and that the state’s economic growth last year exceeded nearly all other states, it is worth celebrating the state’s economic standing. Still, no one should lose focus on the number one issue for Californians—job creation.
The May Public Policy Institute of California poll respondents named jobs as the most important issue, nearly twice as high as the second place issue of water and drought.
Job creation should be a prime emphasis of the legislature. The California Chamber of Commerce has gained notoriety over the years for its list of job killer bills—those bills that the Chamber feels will prevent job creation or reduce the number of jobs in the state. Since the job killer list has existed, legislators and governors of both parties have paid close attention to the Chamber’s concerns, often siding with the Chamber on these bills. (more…)
Worlds Apart: California’s Partisan Divide and the 2016 Election
With the June 7 primary behind us, it’s time to reflect on what we have learned about California’s likely voters as we look ahead to the November 8 election.
The December 2015 PPIC Statewide Survey reported a profound schism between Republicans who wanted “new ideas and a different approach” and Democrats who favored “experience and a proven track record” in a presidential candidate. Last Tuesday’s election provided more evidence of these attitudes. Donald Trump, a businessman with no political experience, won the Republican primary while Hillary Clinton, with a long record of public service, won the Democratic primary. It is now obvious that Californians’ candidate preferences are just one example of a deep partisan fissure that has emerged in the 2016 PPIC Statewide Surveys. (more…)
Budget Deception: Weird Accounting Diminishes Accountability
This week, after reaching agreement with Governor Brown, the California Legislature will pass the state budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year. In so doing, it will meet its Constitutional deadline of June 15th.
A few weeks ago, this column attempted to provide some clarity to ordinary citizen taxpayers on basic state budget issues. This included an explanation of the difference between “general fund” expenditures and “special fund” expenditures. The column also reviewed California’s higher than average level of taxation and its legendary wasteful practices.
Those budget issues are confusing enough but there is something else going on that confounds even those of us who have at least some familiarity with government finance. Specifically, California has manipulated accounting rules that are, at best, confusing and, at worse, intended to conceal the true condition of state finances. (more…)
The House Unveils Task Force Solutions to Grow Our Economy and Help Small Business
Long before I was elected into public office I was a small business owner. My very first business I created was the age of 20. It was a small deli in the city of Bakersfield, California. With every business I had I learned three lessons: As a small business owner you’re the first one to work, you’re the last one to leave, and you’re the last one to be paid. It was hard work, but it was rewarding to provide a good product to your neighbors.
But there’s one other lesson that I learned, and one that I feared the most. And it came from Washington. It was a faceless, nameless bureaucrat that could change the direction of my business, that wasn’t listening, and could not hear. You know, year after year, that’s what bureaucrats do behind us inside the Department of Labor. If you just look in the short time frame: overtime rule tying down the employees that we want to give flexibility to, or fiduciary limiting the financial advice others could actually have, or silica just adding massive cost to the builders. And that’s just one department here in Washington. (more…)
The First “Gut and Amend” Initiative?
In what may be fairly called the first “gut and amend” initiative, the California Supreme Court backed Governor Jerry Brown’s effort to move his judicial reform initiative forward despite initiative proponents offering substantial, altering amendments to the original measure after public comment period closed.
Anyone who follows legislative action is familiar with the term “gut and amend.” It happens every session when a bill making its way through the legislature is stripped of its content and replaced with a completely different subject that does not have to go through the committee obstacle course. Often little time is available for legislators to study the new bill. (more…)
Prop. 30 Extension Represent CA Taxpayer-Funded Bailout
Perhaps the best decision California voters can make at the polls this November is to vote “NO” on the initiative extending the Prop. 30 temporary tax increases that expire in 2018.
Why? The short answer is that extending the Prop. 30 tax extensions effectively bails out California State Democrat politicians for their inability to take any steps to curb spending and prepare for the expiration of the Prop. 30 tax increases.
On the contrary, the California Democrat Legislature has taken it upon itself to break all the significant promises it made to sell Prop. 30 to voters in 2012, and now most Democrat politicians want voters to approve another 12-year extension to cover huge program expansions and out of control government spending. (more…)