The Governor as Chief Administrator

In recent years most states have strengthened the formal powers of governors, especially budgetary and appointment powers, in an effort to increase gubernatorial control over agencies of the executive branch. It is not entirely clear, however, how successful governors have been in using these powers to gain control over the administrative agencies of their states. Because of the short tenure of most governors and the difficulty they often encounter when attempting to penetrate bureaucratic routines, it is quite likely that the administrative machinery of many state governments remains under the control of administrators rather than the governor. In fact, some of the available evidence suggests that governors may not actively seek to influence state administrative activities. For example, Martha Weinberg's analysis of the Sargent administration in Massachusetts emphasized that the governor was more a reactor to administrative actions than a leader of state administration.I As chief administrators, governors can be said to wear three hats.2 They are formally in charge of management, program development, and external relations. The management role entails directing and coordinating the activities of executive branch agencies so that program objectives may be achieved in an efficient manner. The role of program development involves the formulation of new programs and the modification of existing ones. The external relations role amounts to gubernatorial interaction with the legislature, interest groups, and policy makers at other levels of government. How the performance of these three roles affects gubernatorial influence over state administration is the question addressed by this article. Information regarding gubernatorial performance of these roles results from a mail survey of administrative departments3 in 50 states. Out of a total population of 1,119 state department heads, 70 percent (778) responded to the survey. All 50 states are represented in the sample with no state having a response rate of less than 54 percent. As defined in this article, gubernatorial influence consists of two dimensions. First, gubernatorial influence is evident if administrators take into account the governor's policy position when making their own decisions. Second, gubernatorial influence occurs whenever governors have more impact on state agency decisions than other political actors seeking to influence those same decisions. The literature on administrative politics indicates that a number of actors influence governmental agencies. Wright found legislatures to be more influential than governors;4 Palley and Hale noted the deleterious effects of federal agencies and grants (through picket-fence federalism) on gubernatorial influence;5 and the centrifugal effect of interest group and agency linkages on chief executive influence is widely discussed in the literature.' To be forceful chief administrators, governors must be able to exert more influence than their competitors.