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Predicting Political Influence on State Ethics Commissions: Of Course We Are Ethical—Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink
Author(s) -
Rauh Jonathan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/puar.12290
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , autonomy , politics , state (computer science) , commission , public administration , affect (linguistics) , political science , function (biology) , legislature , sociology , law , communication , algorithm , evolutionary biology , computer science , biology
This article explores the ability of elected officials to affect the autonomy of state ethics commissions. The author examines autonomy as a function of the capacity of ethics commissions to control their finances and personnel decisions and how the presence or absence of that capacity affects whether bureaucratic structures can function independently of politics. Using data from the 2011 State Integrity Investigation, the analysis extends previous arguments concerning political actors’ desire to affect ethics commissions. Findings suggest that elected officials use their positions to control the makeup of commission leadership and financial resources, with the goal of decreasing commissions’ ability to act autonomously .