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