The Thicket at State Legislatures

Lead with the Money

by Gene Rose

Forget "follow the money." The mantra, according to a couple of speakers at NCSL's Fall Froum last week, should be "lead with the money."

State legislators and staff know full well that the budget is where hundreds of policy decisions are made. Sometimes parts of budgets represent significant change, but most often the decisions made within state budgets fly under the radar of public scrutiny.

On Wednesday, medical author Marianne J. Legato, M.D., presented research information suggesting that -- despite significant research -- men die at all age groups at a higher rate than women do. While her comments caught the attention of this male, she said something at the end of her remarks that I found nearly as intriguing.

She suggested that if state legislators believe more research needs to be done in particular health areas, then they should create funding opportunities for scientists and researchers to do that type of research. They will, she said, "follow the money." In other words, if prostate cancer rates are becoming unacceptable, then states should create funds to attract research in that area. Through the budget process, "you have great power," she said.

On Thursday, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters encouraged more public-private partnerships on transportation projects, noting that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley made public statements recently that the private sector may do a better job on transportation projects than the public sector.

The presentations prompt several questions. Should legislatures take a more active role in generating funds that attract research (not just in health, but any public policy area)? Should more seed funds be created that prompt public-private partnerships to address critical areas (like transportation) that maybe have outgrown government capabilities? Or should these types of decisions be left to the agencies in charge of these activities?

One can easily argue that state budgets don't allow for the types of discretionary spending to "lead with the money." Others will say that this is not a proper role for state governments and that innovation and research should come from the private sector. There are plenty of small examples where states have directed money for economic development or offered tax incentives to encourage investment. Should these be considered for other public policy issues, too? What do you think?

New Biography of Jesse Unruh

by Karl Kurtz

Bill Boyarsky, a retired Los Angeles Times reporter, has written a new biography of Jesse Unruh, the legendary former speaker of the California Assembly, state treasurer and nationally powerful political leader who was partly responsible for the legislative reform movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, entitled Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics.

A promotional blurb for the book by University of Southern California historian Kevin Starr captures Unruh as I remember him, as "this flamboyant but enigmatic politician, this gruff giant, this wizard of the legislative process, this ardent advocate and fierce opponent, the late great Jesse Unruh." 

The LA Times has a good review of the book by Peter Schrag.  Perhaps even more interestingly, the Times has reprinted all of "Chapter One: The Death of a Boss." The perhaps too titillating first paragraph of this excerpt reads:

The last days of Jesse Marvin Unruh were a fitting end to the life of a great American political boss: drinks, stories, and friends and family mourning, not only for the boss but for themselves. He was dying of prostate cancer, having refused to permit his prostate to be surgically removed. Unruh spoke to several people about this decision, including family and friends. A radical prostatectomy might have saved him but he dreaded that it would leave him impotent, taking him out of a game that was very important to him, the game of sex, played over and over again, with many, many women. Impotence in sex, politics, or anything else was unacceptable to this domineering man, who had raised himself from Texas sharecropper poverty to becoming, at the height of his power, the single most influential politician in California, first as an assemblyman, then as state assembly speaker, and finally as state treasurer. Unruh was one of those rare elected officials whose power reached far beyond the offices he held. Other state assemblymen, assembly speakers, and state treasurers have served and been quickly forgotten. Unruh took these jobs in new directions, and during his lifetime and long afterward, he exemplified the word politician in its finest sense.

Just in case the LA Times links go away sometime soon, I will include several other paragraphs from the Schrag review and the book's first chapter below the jump.

Rising Stars of American Politics

by Karl Kurtz

The Aspen Institute recently named 24 young political leaders to its Aspen-Rodel Fellows program.  The institute's press release says in part:

Following an eight-month search involving input from over 1,000 business, political, and civic leaders, the Aspen Institute has selected a group of the nation's top young elected officials for a fellowship program honoring public leaders identified as "the true rising stars" of American politics.

Drawn from the ranks of federal, state, and local governments, and representing 22 states, the Class of 2007 will form the third class of the Aspen-Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership, designed to bring together “the very best of the nation's emerging leaders” to discuss broad issues of democratic governance and effective public service.

Of the 24 leaders named, 10 are state legislators:

Bill Baroni, New Jersey House of Representatives
Mike Bishop, Majority Leader, Michigan State Senate
Glenn Coffee, President, Pro-Tem, Oklahoma State Senate
Justine Fox-Young, New Mexico House of Representatives
Veronica Gonzales, Texas House of Representatives
Rachel Kaprielian, Assistant Majority Leader, Massachusetts House of Representatives
Hannah Pingree, Majority Leader, Maine House of Representatives
Kasim Reed, Georgia State Senate
Marco Rubio, Speaker, Florida House of Representatives
Derek Schmidt, Majority Leader, Kansas State Senate