CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

PPA 297:
California Executive Fellowship Program Seminar
Spring, 2000

OVERVIEW

This spring we will focus on five main substantive topics. The first is elections, public opinion, and the executive branch. The second is state-local relations, while the third is relations between the executive and legislative branches of state government. Our fourth topic will be the ethics of government service. The final topic will be the implications of specific, pressing policy issues such as gun control.

The last portion of the course will be devoted to seminar paper presentations.

Again, we will generally follow the CSUS academic calendar, except that we will meet in January while the University is on semester break. The CSUS spring break is scheduled for April 17-21, so we will not meet on April 21. Additionally, we likely will not meet during one or two weeks in early May, depending on the schedule for the Executive Fellowship selection committee.

Most of the readings will be copied and provided to you on a periodic basis (rather than in a single course packet). Several of the readings are case studies from the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) at Harvard University.

The following books also will be required, and will be made available to you by the Center for California Studies.

Mark Baldassare, When Government Fails: The Orange County Bankruptcy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998)

Gerald C. Lubenow, ed., California Votes: The 1998 Governor’s Race: An Inside Look at the Candidates and Their Campaigns by the People Who Manage Them (Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies, 1999)

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING

During the spring semester, graded assignments will include a seminar paper prospectus, two short individual papers, and the final seminar paper. Again, grades for the entire year will be determined in accordance with the following weights.

DETAILED SEMINAR DAY
INFORMATION

January 7: California Working Families Conference

I. Public Opinion, Elections, and the Executive Branch

In this section we consider public opinion and elections: what drives them, how people interpret them, and how they influence behavior in office. These are topics people often spend careers studying; we will only be able to consider the broad outlines. Nevertheless to do so is important, since perceptions about public opinion and electoral "messages" drive much of what happens in the state capital.

January 14: What Moves Public Opinion Regarding Elected Executives?

Readings

John R. Zaller, "Monica Lewinsky’s Contribution to Political Science," PS: Political Science and Politics 31 (1998), pp. 182-189

Susan B. Hansen, "Governors’ Job Performance and State Unemployment: The Case of California," State and Local Government Review 31 (1999), pp. 7-17

James A. Stimson, Public Opinion in American (Boulder: Westview Press, 1991), pp. 17-32

Discussion Questions

1. So... what does the Monica Lewinsky affair (pun intended) tell us about what moves public opinion about elected executives?
2. Is "life fair" to governors with respect to how the public evaluates their performance in office? Why/why not?
3. Why does the public’s "policy mood" change?

January 21: Public Opinion and Electoral Strategy: The 1998 Governor’s Race in California

Readings

Lubenow, California Votes, selections (to be identified later)

Article on electoral cycles in PS (forthcoming)

Discussion Questions

1. What did the public mood seem to be in 1998? How did the gubernatorial candidates attempt to exploit that mood?
2. To what extent did Gray Davis have an especially effective strategy? To what extent was he lucky?

January 28

Open Forum

February 4: Interpreting Election Results

Individual Written Assignment on Elections Due

Readings

Alfred J. Tuchfarber, Stephen E. Bennett, Andrew E. Smith, Erich W. Rademacher, "The Republican Tidal Wave of 1994: Testing Hypotheses About Realignment, Restructuring, and Rebellion," PS: Political Science and Politics 28 (1995), pp. 689-696

Nelson W. Polsby and Aaron Wildavsky, Presidential Elections: Strategies of American Electoral Politics, 5th ed. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980), pp. 273-279.

Discussion

Come to class prepared to discuss your assignment

How does the state government interact with local governments, especially counties? In this unit we address that question. To make this more concrete, we will do so through the lens of one of the most important events of the past decade: the Orange County bankruptcy. We will also draw from the expertise of the director of the newly established Institute for County Government at CSUS.

February 11: Lessons from the Orange County Bankruptcy

Readings

Baldassare, When Government Fails, chapters 1-3 (read chapter 3 especially carefully)

Discussion Questions

1. Why did Orange County and other local entities turn to risky fiscal investments?
2. To what extent was the state government responsible for what happened in Orange County?
3. To what extent were citizens themselves responsible for the Orange County debacle?

February 18: Deeper Into State County Issues

Special Meeting Time: 10 a.m.- 12 noon

Guest Speaker

Matt Newman, Director, Institute for County Government, CSUS

Readings

Matthew Newman, "A Perspective on County Fiscal Constraints," Legislative Analyst’s Office, 1996

Baldassare, When Government Fails, chapters 8-9 (skim chapters 4-7)

February 25

Open Forum

III. EXECUTIVE-LEGISLATIVE RELATIONS

Elected executives and their appointees can do relatively little without obtaining legislative support. For this reason it’s very important to understand what type of arguments move lawmakers, and what accounts for gubernatorial success (or failure) in the legislative branch. We focus on such issues in this unit.

March 3: What Moves Lawmakers?

Seminar Paper Prospectus Due

Readings

"Against All Odds: The Campaign in Congress for Japanese-American Redress" (KSG case)

"California Welfare Reform" (KSG case)

Edward L. Lascher, Jr., The Politics of Automobile Insurance Reform: Ideas, Institutions, and Public Policy in North America (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1999), pp. 12-21

Discussion Questions

1. What convinced federal legislators to support redress? Why?
2. To the extent David Swoap and Art Agnos were in part able to overcome their prior disagreements about welfare reform, what explains their changed views?
3. How do lawmakers make sense of the mass of information they receive about policy issues?

March 10: How Executives Should (and Should Not) Deal with Legislators

Readings

"Public Conversations and Legislative Deliberations" (KSG case)

James Richardson, Willie Brown: A Biography (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996, pp. 295-313

Discussion Questions

1. How would you evaluate Barbara Roberts' strategy for dealing with the Oregon State Legislature?
2. How would you evaluate Governor Deukmejian’s strategy for getting what he wanted from the California State Legislature under the Willie Brown regime?

People in all kinds of work situations often face ethical issues. However, issues facing public servants are often especially complex because of the competing obligations they may face (e.g., duty to an elected superior, responsibility to constituents and "taxpayers"). We will explore such issues in this unit.

March 17

Readings

John R. Walton, James M. Stearns, and Charles T. Crespy, "Integrating Ethics Into the Public Administration Curriculum: A Three-Step Process," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 16 (1997), pp. 470-483

Michael Quinlan/Arthur Applbaum, debate in Governance 6 (October, 1993), pp. 538-558

Discussion Questions

1. To what extent are administrative personnel ethically obligated to follow the dictates of top appointed officials within executive agencies?
2. What options are available to agency personnel who confront unethical behavior within their organization? Which options should be used first, and which last?

March 24

Individual Written Assignment on Administrative Ethics Due

Readings

"California Rural Legal Assistance" (KSG case)

David Nacht, "The Iran-Contra Affair" in Amy Gutman and David Thompson eds., Ethics and Politics: Cases and Comments, 3^rd ed. (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1997)

Discussion

Come to class prepared to discuss your assignment.

March 31

Open Forum

In this segment we consider three issues that of late have been on the decision agenda for state government leaders and/or the California electorate. The aim is to enrich people’s understanding of what should be considered in making decisions in these areas.

April 7: Gun Control

Readings

Forthcoming

Discussion Questions

1. To what extent does easy availability of firearms prevent crime and violence? To what extent does itpromote such problems? Why?
2. If further gun control restrictions are to be adopted, where should the focus be?
3. What gun control proposals are politically feasible? What are not?

April 14: Urban Sprawl

Readings

Forthcoming

April 28 (no seminar April 21; spring break): The Knight Initiative, "Tolerance" Toward Gays, and "Tolerance" Toward the Christian Right

Readings

Proposition 22 ballot arguments (forthcoming)

George P. Fletcher, "The Instability of Tolerance," in David Heyd, ed., Toleration: An Elusive Virtue (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 158-172

Discussion Questions

1. What does tolerance of gays require? What does it not require?
2. To what extent should those who disagree tolerate the arguments and positions taken by those on the Christian Right?
3. In general, to what extent is toleration a virtue?

V. SEMINAR PAPER PRESENTATIONS

The last four course days will be devoted to seminar paper presentations. Each Fellow will make a presentation on his/her topic. Because of uncertainty about the dates for my Executive Fellowship selection committee obligations, I will not set precise dates until later in the spring.

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