WEEK 12- Governors of American States

Gubernatorial powers include: proposing legislation; calling special sessions; proposing a budget; veto power; making appointments; bringing public pressure to bear; recognizing and flattering legislators. A bad economy can be dealt with by blaming one's predecessor, and doing things that do not require funds. This section is based on the book, The Best Job in Politics: Exploring how Governors Succeed as Policy Leaders, by Alan Rosenthal. Sage, CQ Press; 2013. Quotes are from that book.

Sources of gubernatorial success:

• Self-confidence (sometimes exaggerated), nourished by actual accomplishments. Also, be optimistic.
• Prior political experience is important. Elected to the state legislature, or as lieutenant governor are positions where one already has dealt with state issues. Knowing legislators personally is very helpful, as one can walk in their shoes. Tennessee Governor Ned McWherter, the former state house Speaker, had "empathy for individual legislators and what they needed for themselves and their constituencies." (p. 66) Law enforcement or mayor experience is not helpful. A business background often results in someone being used to getting his own way, such as Kirk Fordice of Mississippi, so it is not very helpful (An example of a federal executive is businessman Donald Trump.)
• Be respectful of the legislature. "... the legislature wants to be informed and consulted, and it wants to participate," was McWherter's orientation. (p. 75) Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas "was all over the place, testifying before committees and rounding up votes..." (p. 77) Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts was cocky and arrogant towards the legislature in his first term, so in his second term he changed and listened to them and partnered with legislative leaders.
• Don't be divisive and don't be too personal. Do not "dramatize the situation or exacerbate differences." (p. 78) Do not let fights with legislators become personal. Be pragmatic, be adaptable, and learn on the job. (This lesson is relevant to the relations between recent U.S. Presidents and the members of the other party in Congress.)
• Focus on a few important issues. William Winter of Mississippi got the 1982 Education Reform Act passed. Promoting the state economy is another important issue. (President Biden may be an example of a federal executive who tried to do too much in his first two years.)
• Give legislators "leeway to work out the details." (p. 110) Aim high but settle for less, like Reagan of California did. Incrementalism is often pursued. "Plan carefully but adjust constantly... Persistence is necessary." (p. 116) (At the federal level, President Trump was flexible on issues such as the North American free trade law, criminal justice reform, and COVID relief, and those measures were easily enacted.)
• Wooing legislators techniques: invite them to bill signings to share the credit; visit legislators’ places, such as walking the legislative halls, the cafeteria, their offices, committee meetings; invite legislators to the governor's mansion for cocktails, dinners, luncheons; find administration bills that legislators can co-sponsor; have them share the platform when the governor visits their district. Governor Bush of Texas was very active in meeting each state legislator, inviting them to dinners at the Governor’s mansion or visiting their offices.
• Show respect for legislative leaders: William Weld of Massachusetts rotated where he met them between his own office and theirs; Bush of Texas had Wednesday morning breakfasts and would occasionally drop by legislative leaders' (all Democrats) offices; Bush won both the House Speaker and the Lieutenant Governor over by "presenting himself as an eager and respectful pupil" (p. 138); Richard Snelling of Vermont would wait outside the House Speaker's office until he was invited in, so the Speaker respected his humility; get back to legislators as quickly as possible when they have a question or want a favor; both Reagan and Bush shared a lot of credit with legislators.
• Mobilize public support by: postelection campaigning, "getting around the state listening, learning, and communicating" (p. 156). Mississippi Governor William Winter organized meetings across the state of teachers and civil leaders where he advocated his Education Reform Act. Appoint a task force or council, such as North Carolina James Hunt's business council and Bill Clinton's education standards committee.
• Strategize carefully: watch your timing; might call a special session (after it failed in the regular session, Mississippi’s Winter called a special session which enacted his education reform act; be a mediator; compromise, which got Governor Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care plan enacted; the veto and line-item veto can also be used.
• Public approval ratings of the governor, and the governor's party margin in the state legislature are important components of success. So a governor must be attentive to his public job approval ratings. It is also wise for a governor or gubernatorial candidate to provide campaign support for the members of his party. (At the federal level, Presidential candidate Reagan in 1980 started his campaign by standing on the Capitol’s steps along with many GOP congressional candidates.)

This section is from Haley Barbour's book, America's Great Storm: Leading through Hurricane Katrina. Quotes are from that book. Some lessons learned:

• Everyone makes important contributions in a successfully resolved crisis: Ingalls shipyard and many Gulf coast hotels and casinos closed by the storm kept paying their employees for 90 days; the governor's office ensured that Mississippians would get "regular doses of good news, news to give hope and confidence that their communities would come back" (p. 82); the daily Sun Herald kept publishing, calling for "recovery, rebuilding, and renewal," speaking for "the strong, resilient, self-reliant people of South Mississippi," who would overcome a disaster "and build their communities back bigger and better than before" (p. 83); nearly one million volunteers were involved, most from faith-based groups such as churches; business leader Jim Barksdale donated $1 million for the Barksdale Commission on recovery, everyone on it served for free, and when told about a cost delay in rebuilding the Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge responded, "I will either give $9 million or I'll get others to help me raise it" (p. 124); committed and dedicated state employees had "no time off, no vacations," and "worked every day for months on end" (p. 196).
• It pays to have been gracious towards other political leaders, since the cooperation of other political leaders is essential: Democratic state House Speaker Billy McCoy, though "personally opposed to gaming," supported permitting casinos to rebuild on land even though "support for the bill was not in his political best interest," but he cared more about what "was in the best interest of Mississippi" (p. 97); Florida governor Jeb Bush legally adopted three Mississippi Gulf Coast counties so they could get first response support immediately (end running FEMA’s bureaucracy); the state's congressional leadership got federal funds that replaced the economic loss to the state's economy, with key leaders being Senator Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (and his chief of staff Mark Keenum), and congressmen Roger Wicker and Chip Pickering; liberal Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts told Governor Barbour in a chance D.C. meeting that he would support Mississippi's Katrina recovery plan: "I want to help. Get me your plan, and I'll write a letter to every Democratic Member of the House and ask them to support it." (p. 148)

Other lessons from recent Mississippi governors, which combine these sources of gubernatorial success:

• William Winter- Education Reform Act- he spoke to civic and education groups across the state; Boat Rocking Time speech to the state legislature; supporting evidence included our Mississippi Poll (which showed public support for public education) and education reports (documenting the state’s education problems); special legislative session called; the Jackson Clarion-Ledger won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the state's education problems, and one of its editorials had pictures of legislators in its Hall of Shame for not supporting the education program.
• Bill Allain- private industry created an interest group, AHEAD, Advocating Highways for Economic Advancement, which mobilized support for the 1987 Highway Bill, which four-landed one thousand miles of the state's highways by the end of the century; the state legislature exercised leadership and overrode the governor's veto by a two-thirds vote in each chamber.
• Ray Mabus- failed leadership, a stalemate between the governor and each legislative chamber resulted in a dead gubernatorial education plan, and big budget cuts including of public education at all levels during a recession. Critics of the governor accused him to arrogance and refusal to compromise.
• Kirk Fordice- Legislative leadership shown, as the legislature increased taxes to restore cuts in education at all levels with a two-thirds veto override vote. Legislature also overrides governor's veto of a bond bill providing new university library buildings.
• Ronnie Musgrove- as lieutenant governor, he got the Adequate Education Bill passed, and appointed the most African American committee chairs in history. As governor, he couldn't get the state flag changed to remove the Confederate emblem. He raised teachers' salaries, but public higher education (IHL) was cut. He lost reelection.
• Haley Barbour- won Governing Magazine's Profile in Courage for Hurricane Katrina leadership. Tort reform. He restored IHL cuts, as he saw universities as "engines of economic development."
• Phil Bryant- known for economic development, attracting businesses and jobs to Mississippi. Also, he was an articulate defender of the conservative ideology (as is Senator Roger Wicker).