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.
Trump-ing the GOP
The dust having settled on the first GOP debate, the bad news is Donald Trump has apparently been given a free pass to continue his rants before a growing TV audience mesmerized by the thought of what comes next.
The good news is the “Donald” has about as much chance of capturing the presidency as Kim Kardashian. The biggest difference is he thinks he can.
Trump sees this race as just another annoying, long drawn-out, but necessary business negotiation where he expects his offer will prevail over all others put on the table. (more…)
Will California Republicans Be Defined as Anti-Vaxx?
California Republicans want to bring back childhood diseases that killed millions.
That’s not a wild opinion. It’s a fair allegation, based on the facts.
And that’s a huge problem not only for public health but also for the party, which already has too many huge problems. The party has positioned itself firmly against legislation to end personal belief exemptions for vaccines.
It’s not everyone in the party. Republicans like Andy Vidak and Ron Nehring have, to their credit, been clear in supporting vaccines. But the hard truth is that overwhelming majorities of California Republicans in the legislature voted against requiring all children to be vaccinated (unless they have a health reason for not being vaccinated). And Tim Donnelly, a former Republican contender for governor, is leading an effort to qualify a referendum on the law. (more…)
Ballot Title Won’t Deter Pension Reform
Costly government pension deals are devastating our public services – and this simple initiative gives voters the ability to stop sweetheart and unsustainable pension deals that politicians concoct behind closed doors with government union bosses. That’s why the politicians and union bosses oppose this initiative – and why they continue to try to mislead the public on what the initiative does. Despite their attempts to mislead, we are very confident the voters will understand the plain English requirements of this measure and overwhelmingly pass it in November 2016.”
The next step in the campaign will be to commission a legal review the ballot measure “Title and Summary” concocted by state politicians. Once that review is completed, we will kick-off their signature drive to qualify the measure. (more…)
Pensions as Economic Stimulus? Breaking Windows Works Better
Chuck Beckwith’s column competently lays out all the usual public employee arguments justifying their opulent pensions. A cursory review of the logic reveals just how breathtakingly flawed this reasoning is.
First and foremost: His core point is that pensions provide economic stimulus. This is the classic “Broken Window Fallacy.” Essentially, “If I break your window and you have to pay to repair it, that stimulates the economy and we’re all better off.”
The fallacy is this omission: What would you do with your money if the window wasn’t broken? Beckwith’s inference is that you’d burn it. I suspect that such is not the case. (more…)
Coming Clean on Energy Costs
When the Obama administration revealed a plan last week to force power plants to dramatically cut carbon emissions, some Californians gloated. “Climate plan should be a breeze for California,” read a front-page headline in the Los Angeles Times. The thrust: California has been throttling carbon emissions for years. We’re way ahead in all this.
Well, yeah. But California also is way ahead in charging its people and businesses much more for electricity.
According to stats from the federal government’s Energy Information Administration, if you were to move to Arizona, your residential electricity rate would be cut 27 percent on average. If you moved your commercial operation to Nevada, you’d save 36 percent. And if you moved your industrial concern to Texas, assuming your use remained the same, your electric bill would be chopped in half. (more…)
What’s Missing From California’s Transportation Special Session
Most of the attention in the special legislative session tasked with finding money for transportation infrastructure has focused on how state agencies (Caltrans) and local governments (cities and counties) could use new funding streams to repair local roads and state highways. With existing revenues (exhibit A: the gas tax) failing to keep pace with transportation needs—and with the statefacing a $59 billion backlog in deferred road maintenance—a coalition of business and labor groups released a set of ideas this week for increasing user fees and gas taxes to produce $6 billion in new revenue annually for the state’s roads.
These are big numbers—so big they make it easy to focus only on the dollar signs. But the special session shouldn’t overlook another, equally important element of a lasting transportation funding solution: the enormous potential for making investments at the regional scale, not just by raising new state taxes, but by fostering collaboration across California’s diverse regional economies and providing taxpayers with confidence they will improve results. (more…)