POLS 207 2nd Edition Lecture 14 Outline of Last Lecture I Succession to the Governor s Office if Vacant II Removal from Office Impeachment and Recall III Roles of the Governor IV Powers of the Governor a Formal Tenure of Office Appointment Power Vetoes Budget Power Reorganization Powers b Informal Popularity Access to Media Leadership Qualities V Governor of Texas A Weak Governor VI Other Executive and Branch Officials Outline of Current Lecture VII Government and the Bureaucracy VIII Characteristics of a Bureaucracy IX Sources of Bureaucratic Power a Implementation Regulation Adjudication Discretion Bureaucratic Goals X Variations in Bureaucracy Among States XI Bureaucracy Democracy and Responsiveness Patronage versus the Merit System XII Role of the Centralized Personnel Management XIII The Issue of Representativeness in Bureaucracy XIV Reading Homework Notes Current Lecture GOVERNMENT AND THE BUREAUCRACY Reading Governor State Politics Chapter Up Close Section 3 Scandal Ridden Governors Embarrass Their State in page 266 269 Bureaucratic Chapter Up Close How to Win at the Budget Game page 303 Politics of Budgeting page 303 306 Government and the Bureaucracy Bureaucracy state agencies departments commissions that are implementing government policy o the people the implement policy o legislature passes law allocates budget but then assigns implementation to the bureaucracy Characteristics of a bureaucracy o chain of command in which authority flows downward who reports to who authority delegates a responsibility down to next level managers in next labor further delegate out responsibility etc o division of labor in which workers specialize in their tasks 1 Specialization in individual tasks Human Resources Budgeting Education etc 2 Specialization in certain policy areas Agriculture Policy etc o clear lines of responsibility who do I answer to o Specific organizational goals Agriculture to regulate agriculture to keep products and workers safe to promote agriculture business etc o Impersonal treatment of all persons equally and according to rules to get driver s license need certain forms everyone has to have these same forms 2 benefits more efficient example where to cut off grades 89 5 is an A then apply to everyone too difficult to change grade cut offs for everyone equality everybody treated the same Sources of Bureaucratic Power Implementation o Bureaucracy puts policy into action o exercise power in how the policy is implemented o choices in how to implement Regulation o regulation the formal rules for implementing legislation o bureaucracy is given legislation and budget o example bureaucracy told by the legislature to limit emissions from factories how are they going to limit what is the safe level what happens if a factory violates once twice what forms are required what are the cut offs o when a bureaucracy writes regulation it has to be publish before can implement it in order to give affected parties a chance to comply and a chance to respond with their opinion allows affected parties to try to change the regulation Adjudication o adjudication decision making about individual cases o Bureaucratic official goes to inspect a factory how does the individual factory comply o official can be lenient or strict with regulation and when inspecting Discretion o discretion choice o overarching source of bureaucratic power o goes back to when the law was passed by the legislature if the legislature writes a really detailed bill if covers all possible cases they leave very LITTLE discretion for the bureaucracy bureaucracy does not have much choice to be lenient strict just implement the bill o in laws that are very general protect worker safety then bureaucracy has a LOT of discretion in how to implement the law the more vague the legislation the GREATER the discretion Bureaucratic goals o 2 TYPES both push for a BIGGER bureaucracy more resources more responsibility etc personal professional bureaucratic goal no matter who you work for most people want to earn more money to get promoted so push to get more responsibility and more resources agency goal after working for a specific industry for a while hopefully the officials actually do care so push for new responsibilities because care about the industry they are regulating pushes for more resources responsibilities for agriculture etc Variations in Bureaucracy among the States some are larger than others Texas has a larger bureaucracy than some other states o larger state more people etc Bureaucracy Democracy and Responsiveness how responsive are state governments to the public bureaucrats are not elected yet they have a lot of power they are writing regulations which feel like laws to the public control in a large way how the government affects the public How are they hired Bureaucratic Personnel Systems o Patronage System be a supporter of the winning candidate then candidate might give you a job rewarding supporters with a job strengthens political parties also sounds a little corrupt do we end up with the most competent person NO just the person who supported the winner patronage still used today some president picks cabinet members why allows president governor to get his agenda done otherwise competent members that have been there 20 or so years might not like his agenda but obviously that leader was elected for what he stood for so wants go get some of it done o Merit System US moved to a merit system in the late 1800s federal gov was the 1 st to moved Pendleton Act of 1883 states slower to act role of federal gov in moving states toward merit systems of hiring pressure from federal gov to hire with the merit system a lot of money states have comes from the federal gov so federal gov started saying we will only give you money for this policy if you hire the workers with a merit system New York was the 1st state to move to a merit system of hiring merit system skills qualification competence Other reasons for the move what if have to fill tons of positions it becomes a pain can t reward all supporters some supporters get angry when not rewarded will be judged as mayor by how well government is run so want to pick competent people anyway used to reward with labor jobs school custodians etc but with rise of immigrants these jobs are not as attractive want people qualified like engineers Centralized Personnel Management most states have a Centralized Personnel Management o the goal of which is largely to implement merit in
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