Lecture Notes #4

POLS 220

N BERCH

SPRING 2014

 

Bureaucracy

 

I.                     Comparison of WVU bureaucracy with that of Marlboro College

 

II.                  Size of bureaucracy (as % of workforce)

A.       1954—federal = 2.4%            total = 7.2%

B.      1984—federal  = 2.9%            total = 16.0%

C.      pretty stable since then

 

III.                Reason for rise of bureaucracy

A.       complexity of society—two ways

B.      complexity of legislation—leads to puff-ball

C.      fiscal federalism

 

IV.                 General characteristics of bureaucracy

A.       merit-based civil service

1.        didn’t used to be (Garfield)

2.       states were slower to eliminate patronage—moralistic states moved most quickly

B.       testing—rule of 3

C.      hierarchy

D.      specialization—Jimmy Carter and the mouse

E.       job security—has advantages and disadvantages

F.       adherence to rules

 

V.                   Problems with bureaucracy

A.       tough to abolish useless agencies

B.      overlap between agencies

C.      impersonality

D.      lack of control by elected officials (especially with part-time government at the local level)

E.       hard to fire people

 

VI.                Good points

A.       Fairness?

B.      regulation is often needed and good for the public

C.      any better ideas?

 

VII.              Checks on bureaucratic power

A.       Budget control

B.      oversight

C.      gubernatorial appointment—some

D.      sunset laws

1.        theory behind

2.       drawbacks—morale and recruiting

3.       WV has limited sunset laws

 

 

The Judiciary

 

 

I.                     How are judges chosen?

A.       Partisan elections

1.        high on responsibility

2.       low on independence

3.       costly—involve interest groups

4.       can exclude qualified judges

5.       democratic

6.       couldn’t campaign on judicial issues—now changed

7.       fairly high turnout

B.       Nonpartisan elections

1.        lower turnout

2.       still costly

3.       are they really non-partisan?

4.       popularity contests

C.       gubernatorial appointment

1.        often with confirmation

2.       appointed by elected official

3.       sometimes a payoff

4.       sometimes happens in other systems

D.       legislative elections—leads to ex-legislators

E.       merit systems

1.        often a variation on the Missouri Plan

2.       panel chooses candidates

3.       governor picks

4.       sometimes confirmation

5.       retention election

6.       merit may not work

7.       non-retention is a rarity

 

II.                   Key issues facing judicial system

A.       Plea-bargaining

B.      backlogs

C.      jail space

 

 

Local Government

 

I.                       General  impressions of local government

A.       accessible

B.      less competent (perhaps)

C.      honesty?

D.      spoils system

 

II.                  local government deals with complex, heated issues

A.       often NIMBY (sometimes PPIMBY)

B.      resources

C.      waste

D.      education

E.       race and class

 

III.                Four structures

A.       council-mayor (strong)

1.        responsible executive

2.       often has an administrator

3.       big cities of Northeast and Midwest

4.       too much power?

B.       council-mayor (weak)

1.        small towns (and others)

2.       power in hands of council

3.       Jerry Springer

C.       commission

1.        expertise

2.       fiefdoms

3.       largely discredited

D.       council-manager

1.        removes politics from administration

2.       usually in medium-sized cities

3.       manager can control council

4.       council can try to micromanage

 

IV.                 Morgantown

A.       council-manager

B.      seven members chosen by ward—sort of

1.        about 4000 people per ward

2.       elections are city-wide—hurts student representation

C.       mayor chosen by council

D.      non-partisan elections, but many party ties

E.       some conflicts with managers before Boroff.  After Boroff??  Looks like more conflict

F.       college towns are different