1. Bureaucrats and Legislators in Michigan: A Complex Relationship Complicated by Term Limits.
- Author
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LeRoux, Kelly, Strate, John M., Elling, Richard C., Sarbaugh-Thompson, Marjorie, and Thompson, Lyke
- Subjects
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LEGISLATORS , *CIVIL service , *STATESMEN , *TERM limits (Public office) , *TERM of office of public officers , *PUBLIC officers - Abstract
The relationsip between legislators and bureacrats is a complex one that includes collaboration, cooptation, delegation and monitoring. Legislative term limits have the potential to alter this relationship in a number of ways. This paper explores the impact of term limits on the relationship between state legislators and bureaucrats, using data from personal interviews with both pre and post-term limited members of Michigan’s House of Representatives. Three measures are used: The extent to which legislators rely on bureaucrats for information and guidance, the level of priority legislators assign to monitoring state agencies, and how well members evaluated themselves as a chamber in monitoring the implementation of programs. Overall, we find that term limits has some important, but limited effects on the relationships between legislators and bureaucrats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2002