So Diligent!

True, not much activity here as of late, but we’ve been busy writing! Here are two recent papers on appointees:

Dull, Matthew and Patrick S. Roberts, 2009. “Continuity, Competence, and the Succession of Senate-Confirmed Agency Appointees, 1989-2009,” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 39:3 (September): 432-453.

Dull, Matthew M., Roberts, Patrick, Choi, Sang Ok and Keeney, Michael. 2009. “Appointee Confirmation and Tenure: Politics, Policy, and Professionalism in Federal Agency Leadership, 1989-2009″. APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1450719

Moreover, like almost all reform initiatives that actually take hold, the elements of Government 2.0 preceded its brand name. Examples abound, but my favorite is the story of Bush OMB official Robert Shea‘s decision to purchase the platform for USASpending.gov (mandated under the Obama and Coburn sponsored Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 ) from the gadflies at OMB Watch. A truly improbably alliance. But more importantly initiatives like this one have established the groundwork for what the Obama administration is attempting to accomplish with Recovery.gov and it’s broader efforts around Internet-enabled transparency. Again, as a student of these things, I can offer no wisdom about what will come of it, but it certainly is interesting to watch!

“Editing an information release.” United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Washington, D.C. 1937. Part of a series by Farm Security Administration photographer Arthur Rothstein.  Office of War Information Photograph Collection. Library of Congress.

Nudge is among the best of a growing list of recent books offering a popular synthesis of contemporary research in behavioral economics. Perhaps no part of the analysis better illustrates its potential political hazards than Sunstein and Thaler’s (tongue-in-cheek?) endorsement of what they term “Libertarian Paternalism.” Hmm, sounds like fodder for the blogosphere. Govexec.com‘s Brien Friel observes:

The regulatory system that Sunstein will oversee if he is confirmed affects the decisions people and businesses make across the spectrum of human activity. Regulations for the display of information on credit card bills, for example, can influence how much people pay each month on their outstanding balances. Health care regulations can change their decisions about how they deal with illnesses. Rules for energy usage could substantially alter the use of electricity in homes and workplaces.

“Unfortunately, we often choose poorly,” Sunstein and Thaler explain on the Web site, www.nudges.org, on which they have a blog to discuss their theories. They contend that the design of both government and private sector programs often tempts people to make the wrong decisions. For example, lining check-out aisles in grocery stores with candy nudges people to eat junk food rather than healthier alternatives. Programs requiring employees to opt in to 401(k)s make it less likely that they will participate, while automatic enrollment would make it harder for them not to do so.

When Management Matters discussed Nudge last summer, many readers had a negative reaction, arguing that it smacked of Big Brother and heavy-handed government. Individuals should be free to make their own choices, rather than have Uncle Sam steer them in one direction or another, critics said.

Posted in Appointees, Regulation ]]> http://policyandadministration.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/libertarian-paternalism-at-oira/feed/ 0 Matt http://policyandadministration.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/obama-at-langley/ http://policyandadministration.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/obama-at-langley/#comments Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:35:58 +0000 Matt Dull http://policyandadministration.wordpress.com/?p=371 ]]>

“I will be as vigorous in protecting you, as you are vigorous in protecting the American people.”

Setting aside the usual rock star welcome,  President Obama’s remarks during his first visit to the CIA headquarters in Langley, VA offers still another extraordinary moment in the interplay between the presidency and public sector professionalism. Here’s an article in the Post and a transcript of the President’s remarks – and here’s the video from cspan.org.

The Frances Perkins Center is hosting several upcoming events celebrating our first female cabinet member and still the longest-serving Secretary of Labor. The first is this Tuesday (4/21) at 4:00 PM at the Department of Labor’s Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Ave. The recent Perkins biography by Kirstin Downey is discussed here.

From Congress Daily:

Attorney general orders refresher courses for federal prosecutors
CongressDaily April 15, 2009

In the wake of the botched prosecution of former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Attorney General Eric Holder is ordering all federal prosecutors to take a refresher course in their requirements to turn over all evidence to the defense in criminal cases. Failure of prosecutors to give the Stevens defense team key documents led Holder to drop the case April 1…

In the coming week, Holder said “federal prosecutors throughout the department” will get supplemental training in their obligations to give the defense all evidence in criminal cases. Holder set up a working group of senior prosecutors and department officials to review practices in criminal cases. The group will be headed by the assistant attorney general of the criminal division and the chairman of the attorney general’s advisory committee.

Attorney General Holder is emerging as among the most intriguing figures in the Obama cabinet. The legacies of the Bush administration have created an environment favoring Holder’s efforts to revise and reinforce legal professionalism in DOJ. He is a “true believer” and seems intent on (re)infusing a particular set of professional values through the ranks. Unfortunately, from a scholarly perspective, this type of leadership strategy is not particularly well-structured. It seems to me there is room to think more systematically about the interplay between presidents and the variety of professionalisms -  PA, law, accounting, the sciences.

One knock on the Obama administration thus far is that it has not articulated a “management” philosophy – it’s all policy, leaving management in the lurch. History and the heavy hand of the Bush administration’s President’s Management Agenda (PMA) lead observers to expect a big set of administrative principles and priorities. The uncertainty one hears from managers across the agencies could become an important weakness in the administration’s efforts to enact a broad and ambitious set of policy commitments. And, no doubt, the failure of the administration to get many senior positions confirmed and in place has been an exacerbating factor. However, a contrasting perspective emphasizes instead an administrative strategy rooted in a professional as opposed to a managerial logic. (Here I am borrowing Eliot Freidson’s language). Rather than shape bureaucratic behavior through management and planning, a professional logic shapes behavior through  norms, prestige, and professional governance. I’m certain there are many counter-examples, but certainly at DOJ, FEMA, the agencies responsible for science policy – the Obama approach to the agencies seems rooted in a kind of contingent strategy oriented around varieties of professionalism. Naive? Perhaps.

Some of the appointed positions remain empty because of the high organizational hurdles to finding and clearing nominees quickly. Others remain empty because, as Conor Clarke put it, “Prospective candidates [for appointed positions are Treasury] are avoiding the Treasury like drug-addled teenagers avoid their parents.”  In other cases, Obama officials want to fill only the top two levels of an agency with outside appointees and use careerists for other posts, according to an administration source.

But are department secretaries like Treasury’s Timothy Geithner really “home alone” or “lonely at the top” without a cadre of appointees? What about the experienced careerists who are advising them now? Consider whether these careerists might be better advisors that some or even many appointees. Perhaps the Obama administration will realize that the dichotomy between administrative competence or control through appointees is a false one.