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.
Brown’s Budget is Incomplete
We are pleased that Governor Brown’s budget reflects a fair measure of fiscal restraint and austerity. His desire for no new taxes, protecting Proposition 13, continuing to pay down the ‘wall of debt’ and establishing a prudent reserve is commendable.
However, it is what the Governor did not say that concerns us. CalSTRS huge unfunded liability continues to harm California’s financial health and a massive shortfall in the unemployment insurance fund will stunt job growth.
How Silicon Valley Could Destabilize The Democratic Party
Much has been written, often with considerable glee, about the worsening divide in the Republican Party between its corporate and Tea Party wings. Yet Democrats may soon face their own schism as a result of the growing power in the party of high-tech business interests.
Gaining the support of tech moguls is a huge win for the Democrats — at least initially. They are not only a huge source of money, they also can provide critical expertise that the Republicans have been far slower to employ. There have always been affluent individuals who backed liberal or Democratic causes, either out of conviction or self-interest, but the tech moguls may be the first large capitalist constituency outside Hollywood to identify almost entirely with the progressives.
Challenges Facing California’s Ports
Despite a history of success, 2014 will pose a number of challenges for public ports throughout California.
It is no overstatement to say that California’s economic wellbeing is dramatically and positively impacted when the volume of international trade flowing through our public ports is growing. Hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout California are directly related to international trade. In addition, port-related trade generates billions of dollars a year in local, state and general federal taxes.
Job Creation Needed to Save LA – “A City in Decline”
A Los Angeles city resident reading the newly released Los Angeles 2020 Commission report would be forgiven for immediately packing his or her bags and getting out of town. The independent commission of 13 members created by City Council president Herb Wesson issued a scathing report calling California’s biggest metropolis a city in decline.
No solutions are in the report … that is forthcoming in a second document from the commission.
But the commissioners did indicate the way out of a downward spiral — creating jobs.
Cancel the State of the State Speech
This month, I’m hoping we’ll see the last of a tedious California tradition: the annual state of the state speech. Every January, California governors deliver this address to the California legislature, and the tiny slice of the California population that closely follows state politics tunes in. It’s a political opportunity for the governor to make a case for his agenda. It’s also a waste of time.
State of the state speeches invariably end up defining the state of California by its government. But California state government is famously inflexible, out-of-date, stodgy, and mostly based in the north, while the state of California, as a culture and series of economies, is diverse, flexible, dynamic, fast-changing, and tilted to the south.
Ushering in 2014 with Laws that Government Unions and Greens Adore
California’s legislature passed, as usual, hundreds of laws that took effect on January 1st, but two of them are prime examples of how the Golden State has turned its governance over to an alliance of public sector unions, environmentalist extremists, and wealthy elites. Nowhere within this privileged claque is there any recognition of how difficult they are making everyday life for ordinary people.
Do you want to remodel your kitchen? Starting in 2014, you will have to install energy efficient “luminaires” (that’s bureaucrat-speak for “light”) that will not pass inspection unless they’re in hardwired sockets. Normal “screw base luminaires” do not qualify as “high efficiency.” Courtesy of the California Energy Commission, here is “Chapter Six – Residential Lighting.” If you want to know how to install lighting in your new or remodeled kitchen, you’ll need to wade through 58 pages of specifications.