Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 One Problem Shared by 50 Governors
- 2 The Roots of Executive Power
- 3 What Do Governors Propose?
- 4 Gubernatorial Success
- 5 Do Governors Set the Size of Government?
- 6 The Power and Perils of Popularity
- 7 The Item Veto A Negative or a Positive Power?
- 8 Legislative Professionalism and Gubernatorial Power
- 9 Governors and the Comparative Study of Chief Executives
- References
- Index
9 - Governors and the Comparative Study of Chief Executives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 One Problem Shared by 50 Governors
- 2 The Roots of Executive Power
- 3 What Do Governors Propose?
- 4 Gubernatorial Success
- 5 Do Governors Set the Size of Government?
- 6 The Power and Perils of Popularity
- 7 The Item Veto A Negative or a Positive Power?
- 8 Legislative Professionalism and Gubernatorial Power
- 9 Governors and the Comparative Study of Chief Executives
- References
- Index
Summary
I have suffered a series of problems with regard to the Administration bills which I have drafted. The problems have arisen, I believe, primarily because the legislators selected to sponsor the bills have not been sufficiently informed about the contents of the bills. For instance, Senator Dunn sponsored and introduced the Urban Aid bill without realizing that Elizabeth was the only city which would not receive an increase. Assemblyman Pellechia sponsored and introduced the Uniform State Building Code without knowing that it would preclude his beloved plumbing code. I think we can do something to prevent the embarrassment and hard feelings which result from such situations.
– internal memo from Ark Winkler, Assistant counsel to New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne, March 26, 1974Members of the Legislature have requested that they be forewarned, if possible, of announcement pertaining to major departmental expenditures, new projects, etc…that affect their respective districts.
– Memo from Jeff Ketterson, secretary to the cabinet, administration of Gov. Brendan Byrne, February 1, 1974Internal memos from the first year of New Jersey governor Brendan T. Byrne's administrations how that governors can and do make mistakes, complicating the efforts of observers and scholars to predict executive productivity. The almost comical mistakes noted in the Byrne memos failing to inform key sponsors of potentially embarrassing details contained in the governor's bills and failing to notify lawmakers prior to major budgetary announcements affecting t heir districts – reveal a new governor and his administration struggling to master the informal and often perplexing levers of executive power.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Power of American GovernorsWinning on Budgets and Losing on Policy, pp. 250 - 260Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012