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.
Lawsuit Means Filner Ordeal Won’t End Soon
If anyone thought the Bob Filner ordeal would resolve itself because a bunch of adults came to town and played dress-up in the slow month of July, they were wrong. We now have a Gloria Allred-led lawsuit, and this will be ugly. The lawsuit is against both the City of San Diego and Bob Filner.
I would say that city government will come to a standstill, but the mayor has already acknowledged his ineffectiveness and handed the operational keys over to former county CAO Walt Eckard.
Here are the grafs you need from Craig Gustafson’s article in the UTSD for water cooler discussions: (more…)
California is Clearly a Top State for Doing Business
When it comes to being one of the Top States for Business, there are those who talk about their potential and those who exercise it. For the Golden State, the past year has been all about the latter. Driven by smart, pragmatic leadership from Governor Brown, continued strength in our key economic sectors and recently approved statewide development tools, California has had a year of remarkable economic recovery. And in an accelerating economy, with new opportunities to drive growth, we’re poised to build on that recovery and increase opportunities even further.
So last week, when CNBC released their poll of the Top States to do Business, I was looking forward to seeing some of our success reflected in our results. Sadly, it wasn’t there. As California continues to come back strong from the deepest recession in modern memory, the story’s editors seemed unaware of the incredible economic activity that’s made it possible. From the jobs created to the industries innovated to the business revenue generated – somehow they missed all the real economic activity that recently raised California to the 8th largest economy in the world. It seemed to me to be a tremendous oversight on their part. (more…)
Trial Lawyer Efforts to Change MICRA Is A Lose-Lose Proposition For Democrats
I rarely find myself smiling at anything Senator Darrell Steinberg says these days. But his recent comments to the Capitol Press Corps that he wants to see legislation to erode California’s Medical Injury Reform Act, or MICRA in Sacramento parlance, brought a big grin to my face.
To be sure, I’m a strong supporter of MICRA, which limits speculative “non-economic” damages in medical liability lawsuits. And I strongly oppose efforts by the trial lawyer lobby to erode MICRA so lawyers can file more frivolous lawsuits against doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers and generate big fees for themselves. (more…)
Publishing Pension Data Has Its Drawbacks
It’s a good thing Calpers last week delayed a plan to post a database online displaying the specifics of all the pensions it administers. That delay should become permanent.
Posting unvarnished numbers like that without context would not inform the public, it would only open hardworking middle-class pubic servants to another round of attacks from Wall Street critics looking for their own political gain.
Let me explain what I mean. The details of pension payouts are already public information. Any Californian can find out how much a public servant is getting paid in their retirement. If they ask, here’s what they’d see: (more…)
CALA Kicks off Small Business Summer Campaign in Chico
CALA kicked off its Small Business Summer campaign in Chico, California on Friday, July 12. Now I know you are asking: what is Small Business Summer?
Small Business Summer is designed to accomplish three goals. The first goal is to raise awareness about the impact of lawsuit abuse on small businesses. Small businesses are too often the victims of lawsuit abuse, and just one abusive lawsuit can mean the difference in whether a small business succeeds or fails. CALA wants to raise awareness of this issue and make sure that everyone understands how lawsuit abuse hurts small businesses. (more…)
L.A. Business Dissected in Roundtable/Urban League Study
As I reported here last month, the California Business Roundtable and the Los Angeles Urban League have teamed up to study the effect of regulations on business development in local communities, in particular focusing on job creation.
The organizations hosted a second review of data prepared by UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs last Friday at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
The UCLA academics focused this session on the city and county of Los Angeles. In a word, they found the economies of these areas “struggling.” (more…)