Much of Politics Is Still Local: Multi‐State Lobbying in State Interest Communities

Abstract We explore the nationalization of state lobbying communities by examining all lobbying registrations held by organizations in the 50 states in 1997, with special attention given to the frequency of multi‐state registrations. Following discussion of the meanings and sources of nationalization among state interest communities, we develop and analyze several measures of the level of localism, examining what factors drive variation in multiple state registrations across group types and states. Finally, we discuss the substantive and measurement implications of the nationalization of state interest communities. Our findings identify an interesting paradox of interest representation before state legislatures: although lobbying responses and techniques may have become more nationalized, the composition of state interest communities remains predominantly local.     

The Inside View: Using the Enron E‐mail Archive to Understand Corporate Political Attention

For decades, scholars have debated the role of corporations in American politics. To date, they have relied on either interviews or publicly disclosed spending and lobbying reports. This article presents new methods and data that enable us to consider the internal processes of corporate political attention instead. Aided by automated content analysis, this article uses more than 250,000 internal e‐mails from Enron to observe its political attention between 1999 and 2002. These e‐mails depict Enron's employees as focused on monitoring and formally participating in political processes, including bureaucratic processes. Only a small fraction of their political attention focused on elections.     

Does Anger Towards the Partner Mediate and Moderate the Link Between Romantic Attachment and Intimate Violence?

The goal of this study is to evaluate a theoretical model of the link between attachment andcouple violence. The hypotheses state that experience and expression of anger towards the partner would mediate and moderate the association between an insecure attachment and couple psychologicaland physical violence. A sample of 316 couples representative of the French-speaking population ofQuebec filled out the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire, a couple version of the State-Trait Anger Inventory, and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales. The mediator model revealed that experience and expression of anger in couples (state anger, trait anger, and anger-out) explained the association between an insecure attachment and intimate violence. The moderator model showed that significant interactions between male anxiety over abandonment and anger indicated that anger in couples (trait anger and anger control) moderates the strength and the direction of the association between attachment and intimate physical violence. Different outcomes were obtained when gender and type of violence were considered.     

Residential Mobility and Delinquency Revisited: Causation or Selection?

Objectives

To assess the role of selection in the observed association between residential mobility and delinquency among adolescents.

Methods

This study draws on a sample of adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We first examine whether adjusting regression models for several well-established determinants of moving attenuates the association between mobility and delinquency. We then employ propensity score methods to estimate the effect of residential mobility on delinquency among a sub-sample of movers and non-movers who had similar likelihoods of moving.

Results

The association between mobility and delinquency is significant and positive in regression models, although it is somewhat attenuated by additional control variables that are rarely considered in prior work. However, the distribution of mobility determinants differs substantially across movers and non-movers, potentially biasing these estimates. After covariate balance is achieved using a propensity score approach, we observe no differences in delinquency between groups.

Conclusions

Results suggest that certain adolescents are more likely to move than others, explaining the observed association between mobility and delinquency. Future research should therefore be mindful of selection when trying to account for differential outcomes between mobile and non-mobile adolescents.     

Developing and transfering technology in state S&T programs: Assessing performance

By 1996, all states had established a program focusing on the development of technology and technology-based economic development. As more agencies move to performance-based management, state S&T programs are increasingly under pressure to report outcome and output data for their programmatic activities. This paper presents findings on the extent and use of performance measurement and evaluation efforts in state science and technology programs. The 1995–96 study was based on a series of eight case studies and a mail survey of science and technology-based programs in all fifty states. The findings show that three groups of measures emerged as most important to state science and technology programs: employment-related data, leveraged or matching fund data, and anecdotal evidence. State programs are especially pressured to report short-term outcomes, yet show economic benefits. Many state program managers find value in performance data—the reseacch shows that the primary reason that many states assess their performance is the value of performance information as a management tool. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations here are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the National Science Foundation. This research was supported under NSF Grant No. SBR-9422433 from the Program of Research on Science and Technology and through the second author's NSF Independent Research Plan. The research benefited greatly from the contributions of two tireless research assistants, Arlene Allen and Michael Turton.     

Assessing the influence of the Columbine shooting on federal sentencing outcomes

School shootings are not a new phenomenon in the United States or internationally. In comparison to other acts of violence experienced by youth, such tragedies are uncommon but garner extensive media attention. The Columbine High School shooting received more attention across a broader range of issues than any other school shooting, with only the Sandy Hook tragedy rivaling it for media attention. In the aftermath of the Columbine shooting, public sentiment regarding violence in schools became a central point of contention that bred fear and panic. Given the embeddedness of judges within the larger community context and the effects of community characteristics on sentencing outcomes, we wondered if the Columbine shooting – via moral panic and community upheaval – might have had an impact on judges imposing criminal sentences. To assess the effect of the Columbine shooting on judicial decision-making outcomes, the current study uses United States Sentencing Commission data from 1998 through 2001. In doing so, it contributes to the extant literature concerning the embeddedness of judges within communities and answers recent call for more research on the temporal context of sentencing disparities.     

Regulating the invisible: interaction between the EU and Norway in managing nano-risks

Over the last decade, the need for governance of human health and environmental safety risks of nanotechnology (NT) has received increased attention at international, national and EU levels. There were early calls for increased funding of independent research, risk analysis and voluntary or mandatory regulation, but currently overall regulatory efforts have not materialised. One possible explanation is that research has revealed little need to regulate environmental and health safety risks of NT. Alternatively, there is a gap between politics and governance and the evolving state of knowledge. Such a gap can be caused by various factors including change in interests, saliency and organisation. Organisational challenges related to the science–policy interface at national, international and the EU can affect how new knowledge is channelled into decision-making processes. Decrease in public saliency is another possibility. Finally, opposition to regulation among affected producers may have increased and in turn stalled regulation through lobbying. The two explanations are analysed in a multi-level governance context. Norway is chosen as an interesting case: Highly profiled as a frontrunner i.a. in regulating gene technology, but currently awaiting regulations in the EU due to the European Economic Area agreement.     

Funding the Cause: How Public Interest Law Organizations Fund Their Activities and Why It Matters for Social Change

Most of the work of public interest law organizations does not make money. How do these organizations survive, given the economic realities of law practice? Drawing on survey data from a national random sample of public interest law firms, we investigate how funding models vary across public interest organizations and how funding sources affect these organizations’ activities. We find funding structures have, over time, shifted away from foundation support toward government grants. Compared to other organizations, however, conservative organizations draw significantly less of their budget from federal and state grants, and significantly more of their budget from private contributions. Conservative organizations are significantly less likely than other organizations to rely on funding that prohibits engaging in class actions, receiving attorney's fees, or lobbying. Respondents reported that funding restrictions hamper their ability to negotiate favorable settlements, bring about systemic change, and represent vulnerable client communities. We close with a comparative institutional analysis of different funding models.     

State social capital and individual health status

Recent studies have found that two state-level measures of social capital, average levels of civic participation and trust, are associated with improvements in individual health status. In this study we employ these measures, together with the Putnam index of state social capital, to examine several key aspects of the relationship between state social capital and individual health. We find that for all three measures, the association with health status persists after carefully adjusting for household income and that for two measures, mistrust and the Putnam index, the size of this association warrants further attention. Using the Putnam index, we find particular support for the hypothesis that social capital has a more pronounced salutary effect for the poor. Our findings generate both support for the social capital and health hypothesis and a number of implications for future research.     

Alaska public health law reform

The Turning Point Model State Public Health Act (Turning Point Act), published in September 2003, provides a comprehensive template for states seeking public health law modernization. This case study examines the political and policy efforts undertaken in Alaska following the development of the Turning Point Act. It is the first in a series of case studies to assess states' consideration of the Turning Point Act for the purpose of public health law reform. Through a comparative analysis of these case studies and ongoing legislative tracking in all fifty states, researchers can assess (1) how states codify the Turning Point Act into state law and (2) how these modernized state laws influence or change public health practice, leading to improved health outcomes.     

Buying Amendments? Lobbyists' Campaign Contributions and Microlegislation in the Creation of the Affordable Care Act

When do campaign contributions matter? This article advances the claim that a group that gives campaign contributions to US Members of Congress is more likely to achieve legislative success when (1) a single legislator can deliver to the group (2) a private benefit (3) without attracting negative attention. Using an original data set based on the written comments of nearly 900 interest groups lobbying the US Senate Finance Committee on health reform legislation in 2009, I link group requests to corresponding legislation. The analysis shows a significant relationship between lobby groups' campaign contributions and their legislative success, and at distinct units of analysis—the group, the side, and the group-senator dyad. The relationship is particularly strong in predicting senators’ amendments in committee. The rare data presented here offer compelling evidence that interest groups' legislative victories are sometimes connected to campaign contributions in a way that previous studies could not identify.     

Community supervision,prosocial activities,and recidivism

Research studying the relationship between intensity of community supervision and recidivism leads to two possible conclusions: (1) there is no consistent relationship, or (2) the relationship is indirect. In this paper we consider a theoretical model that is consistent with the latter possibility. Increased intensity of supervision is hypothesized to increase involvement in conventional and therapeutic activities; this, in turn, should be associated with a reduction in future offending. We examined the viability of this connection using data from four states, and drew the following conclusions: (1) intensity of supervision is associated positively with involvement in prosocial activities; (2) intensity of supervision is not associated consistently with involvement in new criminal activities; and (3) an inverse association exists between involvement in prosocial activities and involvement in new criminal activities after adjusting for measured factors that are thought to affect both outcomes.     

Targeting the Treatment: The Strategy behind Lyndon Johnson's Lobbying

Lyndon Johnson woke up studying whip counts, went to bed reading the Congressional Record, and invested countless hours in between translating that political intelligence into a lobbying offensive. The result, famously christened “The Johnson Treatment,” remains the archetype practitioners and political scientists cite when appraising presidential leadership on Capitol Hill. Yet Beltway folklore aside, we know little about how LBJ helped forge winning legislative coalitions. Stepping back from the (countless) colorful anecdotes, this study offers a new and systematic look at Lyndon Johnson's lobbying. Specifically, after exploring theoretical models of presidential coalition building, we then investigate their operational tenets using original data on all President Johnson's contacts, with each member of Congress, in both chambers, for every day he was president.     

Public interest versus interest groups: a political economy analysis of allowance allocation under the EU emissions trading scheme

In a theoretical analysis, we use a common agency model to show that lobbying by energy-intensive sectors covered under an emissions trading scheme (ETS) shifts the regulatory burden of an economy-wide emission constraint to sectors outside the ETS. The emission tax on the latter becomes inefficiently high such that lobbying does not only induce burden shifting but also efficiency losses. A complementary empirical analysis for a cross section of German firms under the EU emissions trading scheme supports our theoretical result on the role of lobbying on allowance allocation.     

From the Halls of Congress to K Street: Government Experience and its Value for Lobbying

Lobbying presents an attractive postcongressional career, with some former congressional members and staffers transitioning to lucrative lobbying careers. Precisely why congressional experience is valued is a matter of ongoing debate. Building on research positing a relationship between political uncertainty and demand for lobbyists, we examine conditions under which lobbyists with past congressional experience prove most valuable. To assess lobbyist earnings, we develop a new measure, Lobbyist Value Added, that reflects the marginal contribution of each lobbyist on a contract, and show that previous measures understate the value of high‐performing lobbyists. We find that former staffers earn revenues above their peers during times of uncertainty, and former members of Congress generate higher revenue overall, which we identify by comparing revenues generated by individuals who narrowly won election to those who narrowly lost. These findings help characterize when lobbyists with different skillsets prove most valuable and the value added by government experience.     

Do Term Limits Restrain State Fiscal Policy? Approaches for Causal Inference in Assessing the Effects of Legislative Institutions

Scholars of state politics are often interested in the causal effects of legislative institutions on policy outcomes. For example, during the 1990s a number of states adopted term limits for state legislators. Advocates of term limits argued that this institutional reform would alter state policy in a number of ways, including limiting state expenditures. We highlight a number of research design issues that complicate attempts to estimate the effect of institutions on state outcomes by addressing the question of term limits and spending. In particular, we focus on (1) treatment effect heterogeneity and (2) the suitability of nonterm‐limit states as good counterfactuals for term‐limit states. We compare two different identification strategies to deal with these issues: differences‐in‐differences (DID) estimation and conditioning on prior outcomes with an emphasis on synthetic case control. Using more rigorous methods of causal inference, we find little evidence that term limits affect state spending. Our analysis and results are informative for researchers seeking to assess the causal effects of state‐level institutions.     

Rational lobbying and EU climate policy

Using a simple rational choice model as a heuristic device, this paper explores the lobbying behaviour of environmental and business organisations in the field of climate policy and discusses why their lobbying behaviour differs. I find that environmental organisations lobby less than what would be considered rational according to the simple rational choice model, and argue that this might largely be explained by tight budget constraints. I also find that business organisations lobby more than what would be considered rational according to the model, and argue that this might be explained if one applies a long-term perspective on rational lobbying in the policy field rather than a short-term perspective on single policy decisions. Moreover, I find that the type of lobbying differs. While environmental organisations focus on single policy decisions, business organisations also invest in general lobbying. The analysis is based on interviews with interest organisations lobbying in the field of climate policy at the European Union (EU) level.

对我国行业协会性质错位的思考

行业协会作为民间经济组织,在维护企业共同利益,促进企业和行业发展,监管企业生产经营活动,协调国家与企业、行业的关系等方面发挥了巨大的作用。但行业协会在我国由于过多地受到政府行政干预甚至左右,因此发生了性质错位。通过分析其性质本原,可以纠正目前我国行业协会发展中的性质错位现象,以促进行业协会的正常发展。     

我国社团立法的现状与展望

我国社团立法虽已取得一定成就 ,但因存在立法思想有所偏差、立法滞后于社会现实、立法的权威严重受政策左右以及立法层次较低等问题 ,社团畸形发展 ;完善社团立法不仅是经济发展提出的挑战 ,而且是建设社会主义民主、法治、精神文明 ,甚或规范海外社团的活动的迫切要求 ;应当以社团与国家之间的和谐为指导思想 ,循序渐进地建立有机统一、多层次的社团法律制度 ,并注意完善鼓励和支持社团发展的配套制度。     

Differential Social Support,Differential Coercion,and Organized Criminal Activities

Utilizing differential social support and coercion theory, the study examines how levels of social support and coercion lead to involvement in organized criminal activities through the development of anger, low self-control, low social control, and access to illegitimate social support. The findings show that the association between social support and organized criminal activities is mediated through anger, self-control, social control, and access to illegitimate social support. Similarly, the relationship between coercion and organized criminal activities is mediated through anger, self-control, and illegitimate social support. The results also reveal that coercion has a direct effect on crime. The study offers preliminary theoretical support but more theoretical and empirical work is required to clarify the causal continuum of erraticness and consistency of central variables.