The Governor 1 member is the attorney general he is also member of the executive The attorney general decides if we appeal cases Governor Rick Perry is the head of the executive branch Formal qualifications age 30 residency American citizen citizen of Texas for 5 years and voter registration It s not hard to run for Governor of Texas Informal qualifications White Caucasian male middle aged 40 60 businessperson or an attorney access to money and party o Republicans have held the office of governor since 1995 but over all Texas has had 47 governors with 39 being democrats 6 republicans Tenure The governor serves 4 year terms with no term limits o The first state constitution of 1845 they had de facto fake term limits as in the governor s term were 2 years but they couldn t serve more than 4 out of 6 years as a governor So you serve 4 years take a 2 year break o The 1866 constitution increased the governor s term to 4 years but had de facto laws of 8 out of 12 years So you serve 2 terms take a term off o The constitution of 1869 removed term limits o The constitution of 1876 shortened the term back to 2 years o Finally in 1972 people got tired of voting every 2 years so we amended the constitution and changed the term back to 4 years o Some people believe that term limits prevent fresh blood from running because other opponents have money and name recognition So we need term limits Others say that if people are happy then why do we need to force them out Removal Once a governor is elected there is only 3 ways for the governor to leave office They are impeachment death or resignation Succession if one of those 3 things happens we need a new governor The lieutenant governor becomes the governor When Bush resigned the office of Governor lieutenant governor Rick Perry became the Governor year 2000 Rick Perry is also our longest serving Governor to Texas and when he got the position he wasn t even elected Compensation you work for 4 years 24 hour a day as a governor so they get paid 150 000 This is not much money However it does come with other perks o At one point Perry got to live in the Governor s mansion in Austin And now he gets 10 000 a month as a living allowance because the mansion was burned down o He also has an expense account to keep his house maintained and staffed o There is also a professional staff that is paid for by the state and is used by his office in Austin He needs a staff because he has limited time and a lot of duties is involved in legislative affairs and involved in appointments Staff looks over the appointments and makes recommendations Just like in the legislature the staff helps but doesn t do the job Tools of Persuasion Governor s Formal Powers legal are found in the Constitution They are o Power of Veto Governor has 10 days not counting Sundays to sign the bill into a law He has the option to veto the bill note his objections and return the bill to the state legislators He has 20 days to sign a bill if the legislature is not in session If he vetoes the bill and sends it to the legislatures they can overwrite it with 2 3 of the votes Most bills are passed at the end of their session so if they only give him 9 days it resets to 20 days because they are no longer in session o Line item veto Governor shares this power with the president This is the formal power of the governor to veto funds from specific projects without killing the entire bill This is good because it helps legislation go fast It can be overwritten by 2 3 votes The president doesn t have the power of the line item veto o Message Power once a year the governor has to give the state a state of address He will get up and give his view on texas his goals what he has accomplished what he would like to accomplish etc This is important because it tells the citizens what s going on what the governor would like to see happen This can also bit you in the butt if the governor gets up and states his plan with certain topic he is hoping that the citizens would say that it s a wonderful idea and that the senators would support him But in reality it could not work as intended and make matters worse This could decrease the governor s popularity and there goes the reelection o Fact finding commissions Governors along with the legislatures can appoint a blue ribbon committee this is a fact finding commission This blue book contains of influential citizens politicians and usually members of a concerned special interest group These groups will look at political ideas that are into consideration and do research to see if the ideas are in public favor or not This is also a way for the governor to play CYA because he gets to see how people react Maybe a year later if the plan doesn t work he will apologize saying that my experts said it would work This moves the blame from him to someone else o Informal Powers they are under the table cant find them anywhere o He can threaten a veto As a lieutenant governor you would think of what changes to make so it can pass o Bargaining We have pre session bargaining The governor lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house will get together and discuss their agenda what they would like to see done how they will do it what they should protect the other party from doing If pre session bargaining occurs we are all on the same page when the session begins The legislation will go smoother o Special sessions can be used as formal or informal Formal in the sense that only the governor can call it The governor dictates the legislative action and which bills are going to be considered It is informal in the reasoning that as long as the legislation is in session they go about their everyday business As in the impeachment proceedings could occur and continue to do whatever they want to do Any non legislative duties will continue Executive tools of persuasion the governor isn t very powerful Our constitution creates a floral executive We elect the governor lieutenant governor attorney general and comptroller The governor shares his power he can t order them around They all don t even have to be in the same party This makes the governor weak because the other elected official do what the people want not what the governor wants The constitution does give the governor some power o Appointive powers this allows the governor to place allies supporters in strategic locations in state government It is a critical need for him to carry out his …