DAY 13 – HOME STYLES AND HILL STYLES (CONT’D)

July 16, 2013

Reading for Monday

Read all of Chapter 5 in DOL DO NOT READ Fenno (1977) article

Hill Styles

Who are the legislators? How do they compare to general population in terms of:

Education http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/12/us/across-the-board-gro

wth-in-college-degrees.html?ref=education&_r=1&

Occupation How has this trend changed recently?

Race Gender Sexual Orientation Religion

What is the fastest-growing category in recent surveys? Age Tenure

How does Congress rank in terms of descriptive representation?

What is collective representation?

Congressional Roles

Legislator Crafting, shaping, debating on laws. Shaped by norms and seniority

Constituency Servant Individual contact with members Procuring pork-barrel projects for entire constituencies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/immigration-deal-would-boost-defense-manufacturers/2013/07/01/d1c115e4-df63-11e2-b2d4-ea6d8f477a01_story.html

“Byrd Droppings” - http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/04/us/how-do-west-virginians-spell-pork-it-s-b-y-r-d.html

Citizens Against Government Waste - http://cagw.org/ Partisan

“Constituency Servant” or “Partisan”? What does this graph suggest?

Source: Sides, “Gerrymandering is not what’s wrong with American politics”

“Traditionally, representation has been treated mostly as a structural relationship in which the congruence between the policy preferences of the represented and the policy decisions of the representative is the measure of good representation. The question we normally ask is ‘How well does Representative X represent his or her district?’ And we answer the question by matching and calibrating substantive policy agreement. But our view here is that there is an intertwining question: “How does Representative X carry his or her district?” Richard Fenno, 1977, “U.S. House Member in

Their Constituencies”

Fenno. “U.S. House Member in Their Constituencies: An Exploration”

Asks two central questions related to representative-constituency linkage What does an elective representative see

when he or she sees a constituency? What consequences do these perceptions

have for his or her behavior?

Types of Constituencies

Geographic and Demographic constituencies Homogenous vs. Heterogeneous

constituencies Political and personal constituencies

Supporters The reelection constituency

Loyalists The primary constituency

Intimates The personal constituency

Members and the Media

Direct Mail Local media

Most favorable coverage of Congressmen Limited resources give legislators more opportunities to

control the message and set the agenda. Example: Glenn Thompson local coverage

WJAC – TV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Rr9C46n6w WTAJ - TV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alTE0OwBU8s Jet24 Erie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU1SKAYi_0I

Study found that 6% of local news stories are critical. National Coverage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU1SKAYi_0I