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.

Kashkari Sings an Old GOP Tune in Governor’s Race

Once again, a new Cincinnatus of the GOP has surveyed the political landscape, put down his, ah, spreadsheet and marched off toward Sacramento to restore fiscal order to the state.

“I owe it to the people of California to share my wisdom with them,” he tells the waiting scribes. “But only if I can be the boss.”

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

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March of the Regulators

Which industries have shown the most employment growth in California over the past eight years? Software development, check. Computer systems design, check. On-line retail, check. Specialty health care services, check.

Information services and health care are among­ the few industries you would expect to thrive in California, even through a recession.

Add to that rarefied group of job creators one more employment engine: state regulatory agencies.

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Desalination Can Mitigate California’s Water Woes

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy dedicated the nation’s first saline water conversion plant. A public-private partnership between U.S. Department of Interior and Dow Chemical, the Freeport, Texas plant converted seawater from the Gulf of Mexico into 1 million gallons a day of fresh water.

“No water resources program,” said Kennedy, “is of greater long-range importance than our efforts to convert water from the world’s greatest cheapest natural resources – our oceans – into water fit for our homes and industries.”

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Suing a 14 year Old is a Complete Foul!

I have seen many bizarre lawsuits in my life, but the civil summons filed in Placer County recently against a 14 year old boy takes the cake. Joe Paris’s son was racing towards home plate to score the winning run during a Lakeside Little League baseball game last spring when the boy threw off his helmet in celebration. The helmet struck the Achilles tendon of Alan Beck, his little league coach, and tore it.

Now, Beck is suing the 14 year old for $500,000 in pain and suffering and $100,000 in lost wages and medical bills. It is interesting to note that Beck’s attorney, Gene Goldsman, has a somewhat colorful past according to the State Bar of California. Goldsman has twice been suspended by the state bar, in 1996 and 2001. This is the same guy who was quoted as saying, “I don’t think the boy meant to harm him. But, this wasn’t a part of the game. A guy who volunteers his time to coach should not be subjected to someone who throws a helmet in the manner he did. What the kid did, it crossed the line.”

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Statement on FPPC-SBAC Agreement

Following is the statement SBAC issued on the judgment announced by the FPPC today for disgorgement of funds:

We have long stated, and, at the conclusion of their investigations, both the FPPC and Attorney General confirmed, that SBAC PAC had done nothing wrong and were not aware of any violations by anyone else. Even so, as a result of an obscure law, the FPPC was required to seek a judgment for disgorgement.

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Can Kashkari Beat Donnelly?

Can a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage Obama-voting Republican who is also a Hindu win the hearts and minds of GOP votes and save it from a horrid disaster in 2014?

Former assistant Treasury Secretary Neel Kashkari, someone no one knows, has announced for governor and will face off against retiring Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, also someone no one knows, for the right to face a governor named Edmund G. Brown whose name first appeared on a statewide ballot in 1946 and who represents California’s most enduring political dynasty.

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