Links to the Constituency
PS 426
Links to the Constituency
lCasework, both in
lSymbolic legislation – naming
post offices, honoring sports teams, etc.
lPork barrel policies
lNewsletters
lTown hall meetings
lPublic speeches and other events
lMedia outreach (press
releases, press conferences, etc.)
lMember web sites
Constituency service (Rep. Baldwin)
lHow I Can Help – I may
be able to assist you if you have a problem involving federal agencies or
programs, including the Social Security Administration, Medicare, the Internal
Revenue Service, Immigration and Naturalization, the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA), federal Workers' Compensation or one of the military services.
lWhat I can do for you –
My staff and I can help in communicating with federal agencies,
and advocating on your behalf, if you have already gone through proper channels
yourself and are facing difficulties. If
you are not sure where to turn for help, we are here to help direct you to the
right agency. Communicating with federal
agencies can be a frustrating process and my office can act as a liaison
between you and the agency. Also, if you
have filed an application or petition and time has passed without a response,
my office will be happy to check the status of your case. While I cannot force
an agency to act in your favor, I can ask for full and fair consideration of a
claim, for expeditious handling of a case or claim, and I can point out any
failure to follow laws or regulations.
Typical Work Days for Rep. Tammy
Baldwin (
(Votes scheduled throughout the day)
9:00-10:00 Briefing
hosted by Sen. Clinton – discussion of the federal marriage amendment, hate
crimes legislation, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, federal benefits and
HIV-AIDS
3:45-4:30
Meeting with Swiss Parliamentarians and Officials (New Glarus,
WI in
Typical Work Days for Rep. Tammy Baldwin (in the
district)
Morris Fiorina: “Congress: The
Keystone of the
lThe argument of Keystone:
members of Congress get reelected through constituency service. It’s not about policy, it’s about
implementation. Protecting the little
guy. Albert Wynn in the shopping
mall. Chris Matthew’s story about, “I
didn’t want to start that high.” They have an incentive to create an inefficient
bureaucracy because it serves their reelectoral needs
by creating a demand for their services. Rep. Beilenson:
there are “not 100 members out of 435 who are serious legislators.” Difficulty
in establishing this empirically – direction of the causal arrow?
lNational and local component
of midterm elections. “All politics is
local.” What does this mean? Why the increase in the national component
and decrease in the local component?
lFiorina
says that the big problem today with Congress is not the over-attentiveness of
members of Congress to their constituents (through service or pork), but that
the national debate is dominated by the “wing nuts” of the parties (the 10% of
extremists on either side). Do you
agree?
Evidence on the other side
lPolitics is still local. “Running Scared” article from last week,
“Capitol Flight” article from this week.
Are “citizen legislators” a good thing?
What are the pros and cons?
lTip O’Neill and “people wanted
to be asked.” Also, “what have you done
for me lately.”
lBreaking down of bonds between
members makes it harder to forge legislation, especially across the aisle. Hershey retreat.
Richard Fenno and “Home Style”
lPresentation of Self: one-on-one presentation, issue independence
(“I am not one of them”), issue-focused appeals, pork, emphasis on leadership.
lAllocation of resources –
lExplaining
lChanges in home style over the
course of a career – districts evolve and change. Redistricting may pose the biggest challenge.
lLinkage between home style and
Washington style: Dan Quayle, Bob Kastenmeier.
William Bianco and trust
ltrust
in members based on their home style and other member characteristics.
lMembers who share certain
characteristics with their constituents may be granted more leeway on voting.
lMembers with certain
backgrounds may be trusted more on specific issues: millionaires and the pay raise. They don’t need it, so people are more willing
to listen to alternative explanations.
Pork barrel politics
lWhat is pork?
–Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) definition (one of seven
criteria). Earmarks (appropriation for a
specific purpose tucked into a larger bill)
–Others argue that
it cannot be objectively defined: Pork
is in the eye of the beholder
–Examples: the bridge to nowhere in Ketchican,
Alaska. Ted Stevens and Don Young. The Iowa rainforest, non-competitive research
grants to universities.
lNumber of
earmarks have exploded in recent years:
4,155 earmarks worth $29 billion in 1994, 15,268 worth $55 billion in
2005. But in constant $, the amount
spent has actually dropped.
Pork barrel politics, cont.
lArguments against
–Pork rewards
special interests at the expense of taxpayers.
–Pork produces a
biased distribution of spending
–Pork is the
“currency of corruption”
–Pork distorts the
competitive market, corrupts academia, and impedes scientific research
–Pork may override
local priorities
–Pork entrenches
incumbents
–Pork contributes
to budget deficits
Pork barrel politics, cont.
lArguments for
–One person’s
waste is another person’s essential spending (ice sled example)
–Necessary grease
to the legislative process: helps pass
important legislation
–Only less than 1%
of the federal budget
–Arguments against
pork are often smokescreen for general opposition to government spending.
lMiddle-ground reform adopted
by Dems in 2007:
more openness and accountability.
No more secret earmarks. However,
“stealth pork” is on the rise. Rather
than requiring earmarks, members of Congress “ask nicely.”
Frances Lee’s chapter
lGeography comes into play in
terms of serving constituent interests more broadly than just pork.
–For geography to
come into play, costs or benefits have to be concentrated by geographic
area: natural gas, coal, and oil;
agricultural products, etc.
–Senate versus
House
lInterest groups – links to
constituency make their appeal more compelling.
lPublic opinion and salience
lPork is actually smaller as a
% of the budget today. Also,
side-payments are unlikely because most margins on important bills are
relatively large.
Race and Representation
lSome of this evidence is the
most objective of any in the book: The racial composition of members’ staff,
location of members’ district offices, and racial composition of pictures in
constituency newsletters did not require any subjective interpretation.
lThe racial composition of
members’ staff
–Why is this
important?
–Differences
between white and black members and difference/commonality members.
lLocation of members’ district
offices
–Finding about the
commonality members was most interesting.
Race and Representation, cont.
lConstituency newsletters: why are these a good
measure of racial representation?
–Content of
stories
–Pictures in
newsletter (maybe at least people look at the pictures, even if they don’t read
the newsletter).
lNewspaper coverage – examined
the racial content of more than 11,000 newspaper stories in the members’
districts and in the national newspapers.
Nearly 4,900 of these stories came from African American weekly and
daily papers.
–Measured the
member’s point of view (if evident) and the topic of the story.
–Differences
between African American weeklies and daily papers?
–Differences in
coverage between white and