What are the most important informal resources of the governor and how are they important in helping ...

Ans. to #1

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Discuss the limitations on governors from relatively weak formal powers.
2. Identify and explain at least four of the six informal resources in Table 6-3.

Ans. to #2

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Explain that the governor's appointment powers are limited by the plural executive.
2. Explain that the governor makes appointments to boards and commissions subject to the approval of the Senate.
3. Explain that board members typically serve six-year terms, thereby limiting the governor's ability to quickly change policy direction.
4. Explain that boards may become captives of constituencies they are serving or regulating.
5. Articulate and defend a position on the governor's strength from appointive powers.

Ans. to #3

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Define plural executive.
2. Identify the major executive offices in Texas and how officials are chosen.
3. Identify the desire to limit the authority of the governor as the rationale for the plural executive.
4. Explain how independent elections of officials allow for independent power bases and potential conflict.
5. Explain how the executive structure makes it more difficult for the governor to influence policy direction and implementation.

Ans. to #4

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Identify and explain at least seven of the formal powers from Table 6-3 and group them in the categories of legislative, budgetary, appointive, judicial, and military powers.
2. Compare and contrast the identified powers with the parallel authority of the president and other governors.
3. Articulate and defend a position on the governor's formal strength, with a more compelling case needed for indicating a strong governor than a relatively weak governor.

Ans. to #5

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Explain how the veto authority works in terms of timing, overrides, and line-item vetoes.
2. Explain how and when governors can call special sessions, and how they set the agenda for those sessions.
3. Explain that in addition to actions by the governor, threats can influence the behavior of legislators.

Ans. to #6

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Identify formal qualifications as at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen, and a Texas resident for at least five years.
2. Indicate that all governors from the end of Reconstruction until the election of Bill Clements in 1978 were Democrats, that there have been two female governors, and that most have been white and had some background in the law and/or public service.
3. Identify the costs of political campaigns as a major impediment to seeking office.

Ans. to #7

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Explain that the state House is responsible for impeaching the governor and that the state Senate is responsible for conducting a trial of impeachment charges.
2. Explain that a number of states, but not Texas, allow for recall elections of governors.
3. Articulate and defend a position on the desirability of recall elections or other mechanisms for public involvement in removal of the governor.

Ans. to #8

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Identify reaction to Reconstruction policies and abuses of Governor Edmund Davis as reasons for limiting the governor's authority.
2. Explain how offices in a plural executive can be held by individuals of different political parties and how this has been more common in recent decades. Explain that individuals from opposite parties are more likely to disagree with one another.