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.
Will the Brown Administration’s War on Climate Change Doom the State’s Logistics Industry?
California Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. has long had a tortuous relationship with state transportation policy. The latest episode, involving his administration’s proposals to sharply reduce the harmful air emissions associated with the movement of goods is no exception.
Last December, the state’s Transportation Agency published the 263-page California Freight Mobility Plan. Among other things, the document expressed grave concern that “competing freight systems in other states and countries” could pry businesses and jobs away from California.
It turns out that lots of businesses and jobs are involved in moving goods in California. (more…)
Angelenos Never Cared Much About Local Politics
Greetings from the City of Los Angeles, where no one knows your name. At last estimate, Los Angeles’ population topped 3.9 million. In 1850, when the city was first incorporated, approximately 1,600 people lived here. In the last 165 years LA’s size and population have changed in almost every conceivable way.
But this growth hasn’t been accompanied by any growth in our aspirations for being represented by public officials who know us and our concerns firsthand. Indeed, our aspirations in this political arena — to be fairly represented and to prevent the concentration of power — may have atrophied. Though much change has occurred, Los Angeles stubbornly remains a place designed to defeat those who might accumulate power and wield it. (more…)
Perhaps A Tea Party Speakership!
Since the Republican leadership in the House appears unwilling or incapable of governing maybe it should hand over the Speakership to those who think they can.
Perhaps the next Speaker should be a Tea Party member with unassailable credentials ready to rescue the majority from its untenable position.
The GOP is in a permanent state of war between a tiny but determined faction of radical insurgents who are obviously unappreciative of their more pliable brethren well to the Right who do not pass the Conservative test. (more…)
Wrestling with Funding Plans to Fix the Roads
There is consensus that California’s road and highways must be fixed. There is no consensus how the fix should be paid for. The Special Session legislative meeting Friday was called a first step in finding agreement to the funding problem. The Democrats see tax increases as part of the mix; Republicans want to prioritize the use of existing dollars for the roads. The tricky part of compromise is the push for any taxes in the context of so many other tax increases that could be presented to voters.
Governor Jerry Brown has proposed a yearly funding package for the roads of $3.6 billion. The package includes a 6-cent gasoline tax increase, an 11-cent diesel tax increase, both tied to inflation, a $65 car fee and cap-and-trade funds. His proposal is little more than half what legislative Democrats and a coalition of business, labor and construction groups have called for. (more…)
Marinucci’s Move
I was glad to see the great political reporter Carla Marinucci land a new gig at Politico. I was sad to see her leave the San Francisco Chronicle, still a great and important newspaper. But there are lessons in such a move that go beyond her case.
In a recent Zocalo Public Square column, I wrote about the LA Times and its abbreviated move to take a more political and engaged stance under now-fired publisher Austin Beutner. There are many reasons for that, but one I didn’t get to talk about in the column is money.
Just as money has flowed out of newspapers and other mainstream media in the last several years, money has flowed into politics. Billions in fact, are going into politics and lobbying, and newspapers in particular have gotten little while Politico, among other publications, has prospered by following that money and getting a cut of it. The new, stronger California operation of Politico will grab even more of our political money, and that’s good, at least for Politico. (more…)
CA Confronts a Prop. 47 Crime Wave
Nearly a year after California voters overwhelmingly agreed to lessen sentences and release inmates convicted of minor crimes, statistical and anecdotal evidence has cast doubt on the wisdom of Proposition 47.
A souring trend
Change has been swift, but results have been mixed, with little to suggest the dynamic is soon to shift. “In the 11 months since the passage of Prop. 47,” the Washington Post reported, “more than 4,300 state prisoners have been resentenced and then released. Drug arrests in Los Angeles County have dropped by a third. Jail bookings are down by a quarter. Hundreds of thousands of ex-felons have applied to get their previous drug convictions revised or erased. But along with the successes have come other consequences, which police departments and prosecutors refer to as the ‘unintended effects.’” (more…)