Governing

by Ehrenhalt, Alan

• ISBN13: 9781568029955
• ISBN10: 1568029950
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-01
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

Distinguished author and editor Alan Ehrenhalt has chosen 40 articles that represent the best of what Governing has to offer: objective reporting about the issues that matter most, engaging writing by first-class journalists, and the ability to tell a good story while imparting important lessons about governance. With a focus on current controversies, hot policy debates, and recent political machinations, each reading comes from an issue published in the last two years. An ideal collection of applied case studies for public administration and management courses, this handy reader is especially useful for those instructors looking for more state and local coverage to supplement core texts.This second edition continues to focus on key management functions such as personnel, performance, and leadership, as well as on the impact of changes in federalism, technology, and regulation. This edition also includes more policy coverage on crime, health, and education as well as other pressing concerns like homeland security and ethics in government.

Author Biography

An insightful observer and writer on state and local matters, Alan Ehrenhalt is executive editor of Governing magazine. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Slate magazine and is the recipient of the Carey McWilliams Award (2000) for career contributions by a journalist to the field of political science Tom Arrandale is a Livingston, Montana, freelancer who writes primarily about government pollution control and resource management policy. He writes a regular Governing magazine column on state and local environmental issues, in addition to occasional feature articles. He holds a bachelor of arts in history from Dartmouth College and a master of arts in journalism from the University of Missouri Gary Enos is executive editor at Manisses Communications Group, a Providence, R.I.-based publisher of newsletters, books and a magazine for mental health and addiction treatment professionals. He is a freelance writer on a variety of topics, including economic development, health care and growth management. He was a staff writer at the former City & State newspaper in New York City and at the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Enos is a graduate of Brown University and has a master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Alan Ehrenhalt is the executive editor of Governing magazine, and an insightful observer and writer on state and local matters. His books include The United States of Ambition, The Lost City, and Democracy in the Mirror. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Slate magazine, and is the recipient of the Carey McWilliams Award (2000) for career contributions by a journalist to the field of political science Alan Greenblatt is a staff writer for Governing magazine, where he covers politics, health care and higher education. Before coming to Governing, Greenblatt was a writer for Congressional Quarterly, winning the National Press Club's Sandy Hume award for political reporting. He also writes frequently about books and the performing arts for the Washington Post and other publications Rob Gurwitt has written for Governing since its debut issue in 1987. He is now a freelance writer concentrating on how communities grapple with change. His articles have appeared in Mother Jones, Preservation, DoubleTake and The Wilson Quarterly. He graduated from Swarthmore College with a bachelor of arts in political science, and lives in Vermont Donald F. Kettl is Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also Nonresident Senior Fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution. He has previously taught at Columbia University, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. He is the author of and contributor to, among other works, The Global Public Management Revolution: A Report on the Transformation of Governance and Reinventing Government: A Fifth-Year Report Card. Professor Kettl has consulted broadly for government organizations at all levels of government and regularly contributes to discussions of public issues on radio and television. He has served as chair of the Wisconsin Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Campaign Finance Reform and chair of the Wisconsin Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on State-Local Partnerships Penelope Lemov is the associate editor of Governing Magazine. As a reporter for Governing, she has been covering municipal finance for 14 years. As associate editor, she is in charge of the Business of Government section of the magazine, which includes news coverage of state and local government activities in finance, infrastructure, economic development, technology, management and environment. Before coming to Governing, she was Business Editor of Builder Magazine Charles Mahtesian was a staff writer at Governing magazine from 1992 to 2000. He wrote extensively about governors, state legislatures and urban politics. Before that, Mahtesian was a political writer for Congressional Quarterly's Weekly Report and a contributing writer to CQ's Politics in America and Congressional Districts in the 1990s. A native of Philadelphia, Mahtesian earned his undergraduate degree from Catholic University and a law degree from American University in Washington, D.C. Ellen Perlman has been a reporter with Governing Magazine for six years and before that spent six and a half years as a reporter for City & State Magazine, another publication for state and local government officials that has since been incorporated into Governing. Her reporting focus is on technology and she covers trends such as state and local government outsourcing and governments' move to the Internet. In addition to writing technology features for the magazine she also writes a technology column that appears every other month. It also can be found on Governing's Web site. She has a graduate degree in journalism from Northwestern University and has won several awards for her work, including a National Press Club award for Washington correspondence Christopher Swope is a Governing staff writer based in New York. In four years with the magazine, he has covered housing, economic development, management and other state and local public policy issues. Before coming to Governing, Swope was a researcher in Washington, D.C. with Congressional Quarterly's Weekly Report. He studied journalism and political science at American University

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
STRUCTURE
Are City Councils a Relic of the Past?	1	(6)
One of America's oldest political institutions isn't adapting very well to 21st-century urban life
Rob Gurwitt
Anatomy of a Merger	7	(6)
Greater Louisville is about to be born. How much greater will it be?
Alan Greenblatt
In Search of the Ideal Legislature	13	(3)
A new look at how state legislatures have changed
Alan Ehrenhalt
The Phantom of New York	16	(5)
Quasi-governmental authorities spend billions of dollars of Empire State taxpayers' money every year. They don't have to answer many questions about it
Christopher Swope
MONEY
The Great Gasb	21	(3)
States and localities now have to account for the real value of everything from city halls to drainage systems
Michele Mariani
Insufficient Funds	24	(5)
Half of the states are embroiled in lawsuits charging that school spending is inadequate. How much money is enough---and where will it come from?
Dennis Farney
The Well That Dried Up	29	(4)
Pittsburgh has weathered some tough economic times and there are encouraging signs. If only the government weren't broke
Anya Sostek
Risky Ventures	33	(6)
Private investors are pushing a complex venture-capital scheme that involves big risks and uncertain rewards for states
Christopher Swope
HUMAN RESOURCES
Worth the Money?	39	(5)
The competition for top talent is producing a cadre of highly paid public executives
Jonathan Walters
Going Outside	44	(5)
The push to privatize is expanding beyond service delivery into the areas of policy making and program design
Jonathan Walters
Payout Planning	49	(3)
As older workers retire, state pension funds are finding they've made more promises than they can keep
Christopher Swope
Civil Service Tsunami	52	(5)
Florida's radical overhaul of its personnel system is making big political waves
Jonathan Walters
TECHNOLOGY
The Dot-Bomb's Silver Lining	57	(3)
In the wake of the tech sector's tumble, governments are finding it easier to fill IT positions
Ellen Perlman
Legislators Who Get IT	60	(4)
Politicians hold the purse strings for big technology projects. But few are interested in or informed about IT issues
Ellen Perlman
Dealing in Data	64	(4)
Forget about building a big all-purpose database. There are other ways to integrate state and local information
Ellen Perlman
Honey, I Shrunk the Deficit!	68	(5)
Computer games offer citizens the chance to see how government works and the trade-offs involved in policy making
Christopher Conte
REGULATION
Trading for Clean Water	73	(3)
States and localities are intrigued by proposals to create market mechanisms for solving intractable water-pollution problems
Tom Arrandale
The E-mail Mess	76	(3)
A new federal law is riding roughshod over tough state efforts to stop unwanted---and often indecent---spam
Ellen Perlman
Who's Afraid of the DMV?	79	(4)
For most people, motor vehicle offices are the face of government. It's not a pretty face
Jonathan Walters
Unscrambling the City	83	(4)
Archaic zoning laws lock cities into growth patterns that hardly anybody wants. Changing the rules can help set them free
Christopher Swope
POLICY
Crime
Murder Mystery	87	(6)
In the 1990s, New York and Boston achieved dramatic decreases in homicide. One of them is still improving. The other is getting worse again. Why?
John Buntin
Revising Sentences	93	(3)
State budget problems have sparked pragmatic, bipartisan debates about alternatives to incarceration
Christopher Swope
Health
Deadly Strains	96	(5)
SARS, West Nile virus and bioterrorism are the big scares. But the greater threat is the gradual erosion of public health services
Christopher Conte
Maine's Medical Gamble	101	(4)
Can broader insurance coverage bring health care costs under control? One state is betting on it
Penelope Lemov
Education
The Left Behind Syndrome	105	(5)
The federal government is telling school systems exactly what they must accomplish. It isn't doing much to help them accomplish it
Alan Greenblatt
Edge-ucation	110	(6)
What compels communities to build schools in the middle of nowhere?
Rob Gurwitt
Homeland Security
Politics and Promises	116	(5)
Rhetoric meets the reality of a slowdown in home-land security funding
Christopher Logan
Breaking and Entering	121	(4)
Protecting government networks against terrorists requires being relentlessly vigilant
Ellen Perlman
FEDERALISM
Enemies of the State	125	(5)
State-versus-local tension is getting worse. Locals fear state budgets will be balanced at their expense. They may be right
Alan Greenblatt
Made in Sacramento	130	(5)
California is using its clout to fill what officials there view as a national policy void on key issues. Is the state overstepping its boundaries?
Christopher Swope
Squeezing the Federal Turnip	135	(4)
This isn't the easiest time for localities to get money out of Washington. But they aren't about to quit asking
Alan Greenblatt
HUD the Unlovable	139	(5)
The federal housing agency changes its focus every couple of years. The only constant is local frustration
Christopher Swope
ETHICS
The Avengers General	144	(4)
State AGs have accumulated an enormous amount of power. Too much, some people think
Alan Greenblatt
That Clean-All-Over Feeling	148	(4)
Maine's reformers believe they are washing the special interest money out of state politics. But critics say they are just laundering it
Alan Greenblatt
Addicted to Corruption	152	(5)
San Bernardino has been crooked for years. It will take years to clean it up
William Fulton
Paul Shigley
The Soft-Money Crackdown	157	(5)
There's a lot that state political parties still don't know about the new campaign finance law. They need to learn fast
Alan Greenblatt
LEADERSHIP
Sugar Daddy Government	162	(5)
A new generation of billionaires is remaking American cities. The cities are better off; the democratic process sometimes suffers
John Buntin
How to Win Friends and Repair a City	167	(5)
Atlanta needs all the help it can get. Luckily, it has a mayor who knows where to get it
Rob Gurwitt
Capital Gains	172	(5)
The District of Columbia, once the nation's poster child for managerial incompetence, is staging a comeback
Jonathan Walters
Huge Turnover in Hard Times	177	(4)
A bumper crop of new state leaders will move in next January. Some may soon wonder why they wanted the job
Alan Greenblatt
Index	181