My Choice for GOP Chairman: Howard Jarvis
If the California Republican Party wants to revive its fortunes with the selection of a new chairman, the best choice is clear: Howard Jarvis. Jarvis remains widely revered not only among the Republican rank and file, most of whom are old enough to remember him, but also among many Californians. His signature triumph, Prop 13, […]
It’s A Wonder Reporters Still Show Up For Assembly At All
Assembly Speaker John Perez may have lost his grip on reality. At the very least, he’s behaving as though people actually care what goes on in his house of the legislature. Assembly members are apparently so important, and their business so significant, that they can’t be interrupted by members of the press. Under a new […]
The Prop 13 ‘Reforms’ Only Embed Prop 13 More Deeply
Reading about all the planned reforms of Prop 13 contemplated by Democrats convinces me of this: Prop 13 will be with us forever. What these reforms have in common is this: they embed Prop 13 even more deeply in California governance. What these reforms don’t do is change the essence of Prop 13 – taking […]
If An Electronic Signature Is Good Enough for Fiscal Cliff Legislation…
News item: President Obama did not sign the legislation to avert the fiscal cliff himself, by putting a pen to paper. Instead, he ordered the legislation signed using an autopen—an electronic signature. Reaction: Will California’s elected leaders accept the legality of the legislation? Because those same leaders are convinced that an electronic signature has no […]
McCarthy Jumps Off a Cliff
Never say yes. That was the strategy of Assembly Republicans when Kevin McCarthy was their leader earlier in the last decade; they couldn’t even bring themselves to vote for the tight budgets of a Republican governor. And it’s still McCarthy’s mantra, now that he’s the Majority Whip in the House of Representatives. McCarthy voted no […]
Black Bart Nominees: Joshua Pechthalt and Rick Jacobs
Editor’s note: Joshua Pechthalt and Rick Jacobs are Joe Mathew’s nominees for the Fox & Hounds Black Bart Award. This annual award goes to the Californian of the year in the world of politics – decided by Joel Fox, John Wildermuth & Joe Mathews. The momentum to hand this award to Gov. Jerry Brown is […]
California Office Pool 2013
This marks the fourth annual version of the California Office Pool. It was inspired by the late, great New York Times columnist William Safire, who made a habit of writing a year-end column he called Office Pool. In it, Safire offered, multiple-choice style, a series of possible news events that could take place in the […]
My Christmas Wish: A New Initiative Process With a New Ballot Design
What do I want for Christmas? A new initiative process. Regular Fox & Hounds Daily readers know that I’m a fan of the Swiss three-question ballot initiative. Some have written to say it’s too complicated. Some say it’s politically unrealistic. It’s neither. State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has offered a counter-proposal of sorts […]
Five Tax Options for the Democrats
Democrats are now back in power, and many are saying they are not going to do anything more on taxes. Don’t believe them. It’s not merely that fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Democrats gotta tax. It’s that there are good reasons to change the state’s tax system. The question is: which path will Democrats […]
Democrats Are Still the Minority Party – If the Other Parties Come Together
You wouldn’t know it to listen to Democrats talk triumphantly about their legislative supermajorities. But the Democratic Party remains very much a minority party. That’s a hard numerical fact. Fewer than 44 percent of California’s registered voters are Democrats. Which is to say that there’s a 56 percent majority out there of people who aren’t […]