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.
NFL Football Players and California’s Income Tax Rate
Last month, prompted by the efforts to build a Los Angeles football stadium and lure an NFL team, I commented on how Proposition 13’s tax vote provisions were influential in the moves and countermoves on the stadium debate over public funding. But, the state’s sky-high income tax also is a factor when individual players consider accepting free agent contracts with California teams.
When All-Pro tackle Ndamukong Suh decided to leave the Detroit Lions he considered an offer from the Oakland Raiders. However, he ended up accepting an offer from the Miami Dolphins for $60 million.
A commentary on the sports website ESPN made the following point: (more…)
Let the People See What the EPA is Trying to Hide
In the Central Valley, exhaust and pollution from big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles gets blown in and trapped because of our topography. As a result, our air is notoriously worse than other parts of the country. Of course, we want to do whatever we humanly can to clean the air up, and we are.
But despite our progress, the EPA wants more. In fact, the EPA says science demands more. But there’s a big question here: ‘What science?’
Right now, the EPA is trying to impose harmful regulations based on scientific studies that no one can check—not the public, not independent scientists, not even the United States Congress. It’s called ‘secret science,’ and it’s wrong. If the EPA or most any agency is going to propose a rule, especially rules that add great costs to our economy and infringe on people’s private property, the people have every right to know why. (more…)
Black Caucus Brings Its Clout To CA School Funding Fight
The Local Control Funding Formula, enacted in 2013, is supposed to make sure more education dollars are used in ways that specifically help struggling students. Gov. Jerry Brown pushed for the education funding change because he said it was crucial to making millions of mostly minority students into productive citizens helping the California economy. Reformers saw the law as “a historic investment in high-need students.”
However, the Legislative Analyst’s Office surveyed 50 school districts around the state, including the 11 largest, and warned in a January report that not one had proper safeguards to prevent diversion of funds. In Los Angeles Unified, among other districts, the local teachers’ union last summer pointed specifically to new, incoming LCFF dollars as a kitty to tap for pay raises. (more…)
Big UC Changes May Come from Private ‘Committee of Two’ Meetings
Ironically, in the midst of Sunshine Week, designed to create more open government and freedom of information, the “Committee of Two” considering the financial situation of the UC system – Governor Jerry Brown and UC President Janet Napolitano – are not forthcoming in revealing details about their negotiations. Despite protests to the contrary, this may be a necessary thing.
Yesterday at the UC Regents meeting in San Francisco, both Brown and Napolitano did a two-step around whatever progress is being made in their talks about the proposed tuition increase. Napolitano and the Regents supported tuition increases if the university system did not get more money from the state. Brown refused to be bullied. (more…)
Sunshine Week: Ushering Public Records into the 21st Century
Monday marked the beginning of the 10th Annual Sunshine Week, a week dedicated to promoting the importance of civic transparency and the value of unrestricted access to public information. Founded by the American Society of News Editors, Sunshine Week underscores the simple idea that open government is good government.
Unfortunately, the State of California is still a long way from making government open and accessible to the people it serves. In an effort to get our state back on track, the Assembly Republican Caucus recently proposed a package of bills aimed at restoring the public’s trust in state government. (more…)
The Only Thing Worse Than Scandals Are California’s Attempts to Stop Them
Did we win in Bell?
There is no greater symbol of local California corruption than Bell, a city of 35,000 people, 2 ½ square miles, and many gas stations in southeast L.A. County. For years, Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo and his minions exploited every dark corner of California’s convoluted systems of local governance and finance. They paid each other scandalously high salaries (Rizzo’s package of wages and benefits was worth $1.5 million annually), used the city’s redevelopment agency like a piggybank, borrowed improperly, squirreled away money in illegal retirement accounts, purchased property off the books, approved illegal fees and taxes, and used a sham charter election to exempt themselves from state laws. (more…)