Pols 103 - State & Local Politics, Exam 2

Front 1

Caucus

Back 1

-A group of people coming together to make a decision in a meeting
-Members informally meet, deliberate and then cast votes.

Front 2

Primaries

Back 2

"show up and vote" as opposed to caucus

Front 3

Closed Primary vs. Open Primary

Back 3

-Closed- Voters must be registered with a party
-Open Primary – Voters not required to register their party affiliation

Front 4

Party in the Electorate (PIE)

Back 4

• Partisanship
• Membership
• Fundraising
• Teams

Front 5

Party Organization (National) (PO)

Back 5

• Conventions
• Activists
• Platforms
• National Committee
• Executive Committee

Front 6

Party Organization (State & Local) (PO)

Back 6

• Mirror of National
• State Laws
• Prominent Community members
• State and Local Offices
• Primaries

Front 7

Party in Government (PIG)

Back 7

• Organization
• Staffing
• Unifying Agenda

Front 8

Three Faces of Political Parties

Back 8

Party in Government (PIG)
Party in Electorate (PIE)
Party Organization (PO)

Pig-Pie-Po

Front 9

What do state parties do in primaries?

Back 9

o Recruit Candidates
o Raise Money
o Maintain voter lists
o GOTV – “get out to vote”

Front 10

Party Fusion

Back 10

-Permits two or more parties to nominate the same candidate for Office
-e.g. An issue-oriented minor party will support a major party candidate
--Party fusion used to be common
-Now, 10 states allow it – Dems and Rep want to outlaw it, gives them more power

Front 11

Ranney Scale

Back 11

Some states are highly competitive, some have one party in charge

Front 12

Benefits of two-party states?

Back 12

Get more policy passed. More accountability to voters because you have to be reelected.

(one party states- no incentive to do something you don’t want to do)

Front 13

Minor (Third Parties)

Back 13

-Ideological
-Splinter
• Splinter groups off of major parties (Teddy Roosevelt – Bull Moose Party off of Rep)
-Personality based
-Historical differences
-Cooption

Front 14

Lobbying

Back 14

-Tends to complicate the democratic process

Front 15

Interest Groups

Back 15

-Lobbying happens from interest groups, business, etc.
-AARP – largest interest group in US
-Examples of Interest Groups: AARP, Chamber of Commerce, PTSA/PTA, NRA, PP
-Formed separately from parties and government
-Provide information to government

Front 16

Role of Interest Groups (at State & National level)

Back 16

-Help constituents to be better represented in the system
-Encourage citizen participation
-Educating people both up system and down to constituents
-Building an agenda (is their primary function) so people can decide and hear about what’s important
-Decide how to regulate legislative laws by providing program alternatives to legislators and executive branch
-Monitor programs and how they’re being administered

Front 17

Interest group formation

Back 17

-Must have a problem or threat
-Discovery/use of obtaining resources
--Resources= $, people, influence, political social
-Leadership

Front 18

Disturbance Theory

Back 18

Interest groups are formed because of a common problem that happens to an entire system
-Ex: Across country, people decide that we need to lower tuition increases

Front 19

Free Rider Problem

Back 19

-Individuals trying to benefit from good without paying for them
--Way to combat is selective benefits only available to members
• Ex: Power & efficacy, material benefits

Front 20

Business Groups/Professional Groups

Back 20

Ex: AMA, ADA,
• 70% of all interest groups
• Less varied

Front 21

Citizen Groups

Back 21

• Civil rights groups, community/grassroots social issues/movements

Front 22

Why does the US only have Two Major Parties?

Back 22

-Single Member Districts
• States are not constitutionally required to have SMD
-Plurality (First past the post)
-Winner takes all (No proportional representation)
-State Law
-Single National Executive
-Cultural Reasons (Socialization, Dualism, Parties themselves)

Front 23

Party Endorsements

Back 23

-Supreme court has ruled that individuals can associate with a party of their choice
-Court has said that State has no compelling interest to regulate party affairs
-Still, ¾ of the states regulate party structure

Front 24

Where did parties come out of?

Back 24

Congress

Front 25

Political Action Committees (PACS)

Back 25

-PACS – all about money.
-PACs can do something called bundling (having individuals write checks for the same candidate. Individual donors can write checks for up to 2,000 each)

Front 26

Super-PACS (501c4)

Back 26

-Super-PACS – advertisements (“this advertisment was paid for by…”)
o 501c3 – Educational entity
o 501c4 – Super PAC

Front 27

Solidarity

Back 27

-benefits you get that are larger than yourself (building identity)

Front 28

FECA

Back 28

Federal Election Campaign Acts (FECA) (1971, 1974)
 Established Federal Election Commission (FEC)
 Restricts contributions to election campaigns (set limits)
 Candidates must report all the money they receive and spend and where the money came from.

Front 29

Supreme Court Campaign Finance Cases?

Back 29

-Citizen’s United vs. Epic (2010)– because cooperation are legal citizen’s, they have free speech

-Federal DC District case- PACs that don’t give money to campaigns, do not have to follow donation restrictions (Super-PACS – advertising “this was paid for by…”)

Front 30

Why Campaign Finance Laws matter?

Back 30

• Parties operate as a way around these problems
• Money that is donated is not limited by state election laws

Front 31

Role of the Parties (function)

Back 31

-Representing interest groups
-Simplifying choices
-Making policy

Front 32

What role should money play in elections?

Back 32

The debate is dominated by a tension between two opposing views.
1. Money is a form of freedom of speech (1976) - Freedom
 V.
2. People should be treated equally regardless of wealth – Equality


Question: Does money = access

Front 33

BCRA

Back 33

-Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act (aka McCain-Feingold Act) (2002)
--Soft money ban
-Banned “soft money” contributions to and expenditures by political parties and PACs. In other words, all money given to political parties, candidates and PACs would be regulated and restricted money.
--“Electioneering communications”
-Defined as ads that refer to a federal candidate (i.e. uses his/her name or image or uses such language as “the Democratic candidate for Senate”) within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary or caucus.
-Corporations or labor unions are prohibited from running these kinds of ads or contributing money to groups that run those ads.
-Individuals and interest groups were prohibited from doing this as well.
-Only campaigns and PACs could produce ads that name a candidate within the above time limits.

Front 34

Who becomes governor?

Back 34

o Lawyers
o Educated people
o Previous office holders
o Progressive ambition
--Eventually think they could be president

Front 35

Governors' Duties

Back 35

-Chief Executive
--Administrator
--“Steering the Ship of State”

-Chief Policy Maker
--Agenda setter

-Overall perspective
--Party Leader
----Appoint new party leaders

-Intergovernmental relations manager
--State’s liaison
--Money

-Play a role in attracting business to their state

Front 36

Governors' Formal powers

Back 36

o Control over the budget
o Veto powers
o Appointment powers
o Term length and limits
o Executive orders
o Two ways to formally influence the legislative agenda:
--State of the State Address (SOS)
--Ability to call a special session

Front 37

Trial Courts

Back 37

o Entry level to the judiciary system
o Establish facts about the case
o Apply relevant law to those facts
o Process is adversarial argument and adjudication
o Jury might make the decision
o Much disputes are settled before trial

Front 38

Courts of Appeal

Back 38

o Question of law
o Not facts
o Reviews process of case, actions of law enforcement and not evidence

Front 39

State Supreme Courts

Back 39

o Policy-making implications
o Procedures
o State court administration
o Professionalization

Front 40

Policy Making in the Courts

Back 40

-Judges make laws
-One can question the propriety of this, but it is inevitable
-Statutes often have grey areas
-Variables aside from facts can influence judicial policy making
--Judge ideology
----There are conservative views of the law- constitution is law
----Other way is the constitution is a living document
--State population

Front 41

Judicial Selection

Back 41

-Legislative or gubernatorial appointment
---How we choose judges has an impact on the way judges rule
---Partisan elections
---Nonpartisan elections
---Merit Plan (Missouri Plan)

Front 42

Which judicial selection process tends to produce the most qualified judges?

Back 42

Nonpartisan and appointment processes tend to produce more qualified judges

Front 43

Judicial elections

Back 43

o Judicial candidates do not reveal as much personal information
o Campaigns can be bitter and nasty
o Conflict of interest after a campaign can crop up
o Could a battered successful candidate still appear competent and fair?
o The legal profession frowns on traditional campaign activity

Front 44

Judicial appointment

Back 44

However, appointed judges tend to be elites based on social hierarchy
o Drawback to appointment system? Tends to be who the governor knows

Front 45

Why judges leave office

Back 45

o Higher office
o Corporate or Non-profit
o Scandal

Front 46

Governor election cycle

Back 46

o Most states have a four year cycle but are on an off year
o Some are the same as Presidential election
o Some are on the 1st (2013) and 3rd year (2015)
o Virginia and New Jersey have elections right before Presidential elections (3rd year)