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.
Direct Democracy or Direct Popular Decision Making?
Terms matter. And so do assessments. That’s true of direct democracy, as I was reminded again reading an important new paper by a leading international scholar on the subject.
I wish the paper’s author, David Altman, was better known, particularly in California. He’s a Uruguayan (which should be a direct democratic credential all his own, given the tiny South American country’s long history of referenda) who is a professor in Chile. He’s spent time in the U.S., and knows the initiative and referendum process in California well. But Californians, for all their open-mindedness about technology and culture, take a narrow view of the initiative process, and behave as though we’re the only people in the world who practice it. We aren’t. (more…)
Report: Redistricting Commission a Success
In California, when we identify big problems, we try to solve them with big solutions. California voters looked at political gridlock and a lack of transparency in Sacramento, and voted for an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC) to draw our congressional and legislative districts in a transparent, democratic and nonpartisan fashion.
The concept having been approved by voters through a ballot initiative, the state created and implemented a process to establish the CRC. Commissioners were chosen – ones who represented the diversity of our state – and they quickly began their work to ensure districts would be ready for the 2012 election cycle. (more…)
Unintended Consequences of the BART Strike
Question: What’s the one thing that could wipe the gay marriage celebration from the headlines in San Francisco?
Answer: A strike by Bay Area Rapid Transit workers.
The contracts between the taxpayer funded government transit organization that serves the region and it’s union workforce expired late Sunday night, bringing the first strike of workers since 1997.
This is a catastrophe which has stranded 200,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area who depend on BART daily – right before the July 4th holiday. Now, they must find another way to get around. Their options are limited since congested bridges don’t have the capacity to handle additional cars. (more…)
Empower Initiative Proponents
Expect an effort to give more power to initiative proponents to protect measures passed by the voters. This effort will not split the political community along ideological lines as many issues often do. All sides appear concerned by the possibility of elected officials essentially vetoing an initiative they do not like by not defending it in court.
Following the United States Supreme Court decision on Proposition 8 based on the fact that initiative supporters did not have standing to argue for their voter approved initiative in court when state officials refused to do so, trepidation has been expressed by groups and individuals of varying viewpoints on public matters including: The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Common Cause, UC Irvine Law School Dean Irwin Chemerinsky, and Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom.
Not everybody has expressed concern, however. (more…)
BART ‘s Kabuki Theatre
Every three to four years since the 1970s, the same ritual has been enacted in the Bay Area between BART and its unions.
Negotiations for a new contract commence several months before the end of the contract in late June. No resolution is achieved. The unions hold a very public vote to authorize a strike at which 99% of the vote is to authorize a strike. BART spokespersons note the high pay and benefits of BART workers. The workers deny, and say they care about the safety of riders. The two sides argue through the press. Settlement talks only become serious on the evening prior to the strike deadline. (more…)
The US Supreme Court Didn’t Threaten the Initiative Process. But AB 857 Does
To quote the character Ron Burgundy from the classic meditation on California local media, Anchorman, after a senselessly and murderous battle between rival news teams – “Wow. That got out of hand quickly.”
Over the past few days, commentators and thinkers from across the California political spectrum – from Erwin Chemerinsky to Jon Coupal – have lost their… well… you know what… over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Prop 8 case. The Californians’ problem with the decision had nothing to do with marriage equality and everything to do with the initiative process.
Their core fear: the court’s decision not to grant standing to bring a case to the original proponents of Prop 8 poses a gaping hole in the initiative process. Elected officials will be able to torpedo initiatives, the argument goes, by doing what Governors Brown and Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Harris did in the Prop 8 case: by refusing to defend the law. (more…)