Chapter 10 Notes Executing the Laws and Representing the People o George W Bush did not have experience in politics o Rare not to have experience because people want to see experience o Some have been elected via the whole state o District members can only be voted for if you live in that district o Some were senate members or congress members EXECUTIVE Recruitment of Governors Prior Experience Statewide Office State Legislature Gubernatorial Elections Partisan Contested o Can declare if they are Republican or Democrats o Don t leave any governor unopposed o Opposition party will always put someone in to run o Libertarian party will also have someone running for office for governors Incumbent Advantage o They have a higher advantage since they hold office already Governor s Careers after achieving the highest office in the state Federal Cabinet Presidency U S Senate Federal Judges Governor Duties Administrator 28 o Decide how to run the state Legislator 17 o Sign the bill to become law or veto Party 7 Ceremonial 14 Negotiator 14 o Attend ceremonies cut ribbons state and within the state Public Opinion 9 o Head of the party automatically o Greg Abbott is the head of the Republican party in Texas o Negotiate with other governors and political party opposition of the EXECUTIVE seriously Institutional Power Appointment o Want to run for reelection o Want to make sure people follow what you say National disasters you want for people to take your warnings o Power to appoint board members cabinet members o Informal power Power of persuasion All governors have the same powers and yet some governors have been more successful than others because of their persuasiveness More successful if you are persuasive When you have the appointment power you have the removal Tenure power Managerial Fiscal budget Legislative o Some states have term limits for governors usually 2 terms o Governor who stays in longer has more power States with term limits have governors who are not as powerful o Perry broke the record for being in power the longest o Different states have different agencies o More agencies more power of the governor o 1 Governor can propose the agenda to the legislature to create the o 2 Or Veto Line Veto the spending he doesn t want o Veto power line veto power o In Texas the governor has the power to call special sessions If the legislature does not do what the governor wants the governor will call a special session Our special sessions can last a maximum of 30 days but the governor can call multiple special sessions In Texas this is a strong power because our legislators do not want to live in Austin for 30 days Legislator salaries are low and they make their real money when they are not in Austin so staying in Austin is not appealing Governor s Institutional Powers Texas is a weak governor Rick Perry was the strongest governor we have ever had EXECUTIVE Governor s Personal Powers Rick Perry had more personal powers than institutional powers No correlation between formal and personal power Personal power is personality and leadership skills George W Bush worked very well with the Democratic Lieutenant Governor because he was persuasive Simply about personality Correlations with Governors Powers Personal power has a correlation with higher per capita income and TANF increases Achieve higher high school and college attainment o Personal power has more impact Governors Salaries Governors will have higher salaries if the state has a metropolitan economy o More urban the state the salaries of the governor is higher o Can be spurious that metropolitan population is positively correlated with income o People who live in urban areas have higher levels of income o Simply describing the states o States that are more complex will pass more bills Texas Executive Department Governor o Decentralized executive take away powers from governor and given to others to spread them out o EJ Davis created a lot of debt for Texas and could appoint judges so the governor position was changed drastically o All these other executives were given powers o Lowest institutional power o Speaker of the house is the strongest in Texas o Call special sessions Special sessions are expensive because you are paying for them to stay in Austin and for meals o Power to create executive orders Executive orders Statutory laws that carry weight of a law Temporary When the new president or governor comes in they can remove the executive order Obama stopped Bush s executive order that blocked funding for stem cell research Lt Governor o Governor cannot appoint their lieutenant governor in Texas EXECUTIVE o Independently elected o Lots of legislative power o Bills passed because the speaker of the house and lt governor pass Comptroller o Comptroller of public accounts o Sort of like CFO o Do anything financial Retailers send sales tax to Comptroller o Chief banker o Chief investment officer Stocks bonds treasury bills ect o Primary job estimate revenue Rules of the game is that we must have a balanced budget We have to create our budgets two years in advance Legislative session is biannual Whatever estimates she gives is that the governor legislature has to follow the revenue estimate Strong power because they can give and withhold spending money because they control all money Governor and legislature and comtroller create budgets Land commissioner o One of two states that came into the Union with our own public land o We can create revenue from leasing out our land for grazing or oil production Attorney General o Elected in a statewide election o Strong office Randering opinions His opinion is law Can make you guilty or not guilty and can decide if you can use race for admitting students to universities Can have same law but interpretation can be off o Don t have to change laws o Takes away power from the governor because the governor can t appoint the attorney general In other states the governor has all these powers but not in Texas Governor would appoint whoever lines up ideologically Left Class Secretary of State Appointed by Governor Health and Human Services Appointed by Governor Multimember Boards and Commissions Some are elected at large EXECUTIVE Railroad commission 3 person board and rotation every 2 years Regulating the output for mining industries anything that comes from land Put into different types of boards because they are already there Bond review board already in Austin Texas higher education board regulates
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