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.
A Walk Into California’s Employment Future
Walk with me for a moment into California’s employment future, following a path I took on a recent afternoon.
We start at my law firm, Sedgwick LLP, headquartered at 333 Bush, on Bush near Montgomery in the center of San Francisco’s financial district. We walk down Montgomery Street to Market, passing the high rises that house San Francisco’s traditional economy of finance, law, real estate and professional services.
As we cross over Market at Second Street, there is no signpost announcing the emerging internet economy, but we have entered it. Wherever we turn are young women and men, most in their twenties and thirties, who are involved in an internet start-up or pursuing an idea for an internet start-up. (more…)
Government Insiders Threaten the Initiative Process
Are you and your neighbors fed up with the policies of your local officials? For over one hundred years, disgruntled Californians have had the option of responding to onerous local ordinances or other government decisions by using the initiative to affect change, but a recent appellate court decision may mean the end of the voters’ right to use the initiative process at the local level.
It is no secret that politicians and bureaucrats detest the initiative process. Government insiders find it annoying that average citizens have the option to place measures on the ballot which can spoil their best laid plans. (more…)
When it Comes to Pensions, California is not Detroit
Not surprisingly, within moments of news of Detroit’s bankruptcy, pension scare mongers took to their pedestals to place all the blame on pensions. California, Los Angeles, and other governments would surely follow Detroit’s footsteps in short order, they cried.
It’s simply not true, like most of the claims made by the anti-pension soldiers who have been trying for years to take away the retirement security of firefighters, teachers, police officers and other public servants.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti set the record straight, saying: “We’re nowhere close to being Detroit … We’ve got robust industries, they rely on one or two. We have arguably 10 or 12 primary industries here. And we’ve done the hard work with pension reform that Detroit didn’t.” In reality, Detroit is a single-industry city relying almost entirely on the automobile industry. California is home to more than 38 million people and an innovation economy that spans the tech industry in Silicon Valley to the entertainment industry in Hollywood. (more…)
Is California Reform finished?
California has embodied the new frontier since the Gold Rush. Stag Hunt’s inaugural magazine gets in that pioneering spirit by exploring how we might build a government in California that reflects the globalized and technologically connected world we live in. Below co-founder Patrick Atwater outlines the challenges Stag Hunt aspires to tackle.
For the first time in about a decade, our state budget is largely balanced. Governor Brown has made real progress in simplifying school finance, ending redeveloping and realigning prisons.
Still work needs to be done. Pensions, healthcare obligations, and the rest of the wall of debt loom large. California’s underemployment is still near 20%.[1] Our schools still have a long way to go in preparing students for the changing world we live in and graduate far too few students of color. (more…)
Judge’s Bullet Train Decision Could Encourage Congress to Say ‘No More Money’
California’s high-speed rail project took a hit from a state judge on Friday but the repercussions from that decision could reverberate all the way to Washington, resulting in another obstacle for the bullet train. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael P. Kenny decided that the California High Speed Rail Authority “abused its discretion by approving a funding plan that did not comply with the requirements of the law.”
The 2008 voter approved ballot measure/bond requires that the project must have identified all the funds necessary to complete the initial segment of construction. As the project is about to break ground the necessary funds are not in place. Private investors have not stepped up as anticipated by the bond supporters. While there is some state and federal money in the Rail Authority’s bank account, there is not enough to complete the first leg of the project and see that it is operational. (more…)
Immigration Reformers Must Tell a Better Story
In a recent column, Washington Post Wonkblog writers Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas ask: “Why hasn’t this been immigration August?”
Five years ago, they write, individual members of Congress were “engulfed by tea-partiers” protesting the Affordable Care Act at town hall meetings. But this summer, nothing approaching that level of intensity surrounds immigration – from either side.
Klein and Soltas go on to speculate that supporters of reform (1) “fear that clips of immigrants shouting down members of Congress at town halls will not be well-received” and (2) “hope that Republican lawmakers realize the absence of a hot opposition makes them realize they can probably vote for a bill without too much backlash.” (more…)