State Politics
and Policy Section Newsletter
August, 2003
Prepared by Thomas M. Carsey
Editor’s Note
At last year’s Section meeting held during APSA, we discussed
converting the newsletter to an exclusively electronic format. The
costs of producing and mailing a printed newsletter seemed to outweigh
the benefits given the wide access our members have to e-mail and
the Internet. The resources expended printing and mailing the newsletter
were deemed more effectively spent in other areas.
So, last year, Michael Berkman produced the first electronic-only
Newsletter which was distributed via e-mail. Following the Section
meeting, that newsletter was posted to the newly founded Section web
page. The web page is located at: http://www.fsu.edu/~statepol
and the direct link to the newsletters is at: http://www.fsu.edu/~statepol/section/news.htm
This year, I decided to send out a brief message about the newsletter
pointing readers to the specific link on the web where the entire
newsletter is posted. We all receive too many lengthy e-mail messages
and/or attachments already and I did not want to contribute to that.
I look forward to receiving any comments or reactions from Section
members to this approach.
Thomas M. Carsey, Secretary, Treasurer, and Newsletter Editor
Florida State University
tcarsey@fsu.edu
From the Section President
In a short time, we members of the APSA’s Organized Section
on State Politics and Policy will gather in Philadelphia to recognize
the achievements of our award winners and to attend the panels sponsored
by the section. I commend to your attention the six panels and a poster
session on State Politics organized by this year’s section representative
to the APSA’s program committee, Paul Brace of Rice University
(See below for more information). Paul has organized
panels ranging across the various sub-constituencies of the organized
section and gotten a large number of our most well-known and established
members to participate as paper-givers, panel chairpersons, and/or
discussants. It is critical that section members attend as many of
these panels as possible in that panel allocations at future meetings
will be partly determined by attendance at the panels at the Philadelphia
meeting. So please check out the panel listings in the preliminary
program published in the June issue of PS to determine which panel
sessions to attend. I especially want to draw your attention to the
poster session on State Politics which is scheduled for 10 AM on Saturday,
August 30. Paul has scheduled seven presentations for that poster
session and I am sure the poster presenters would welcome your stopping
by to ask questions and listen to their brief presentations.
We have a number of items on the agenda for our Section Business
Meeting (See below for more information). One important
item will be consideration of a proposal by Chris Mooney, the editor
of State Politics and Policy
Quarterly from the University of Illinois--Springfield. Chris
will present a proposal to the Section to link membership in the Section
with an annual subscription to the journal (Click
Here for the Full Text of the Proposal). This proposal will involve
deciding whether to increase the section dues and by how much to support
the journal. This proposal has received a favorable recommendation
from the section’s Executive Council and will be on the agenda
of the business meeting.
And, the Organized Section is also putting on a Short Course on
The Uses of Public Opinion Data in State Politics and Policy Research
beginning at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, August 27, at the Philadelphia
Marriott (See below for more information). I am still
accepting reservations for a few more spots in this short course.
So if you have not contact me about this, please do so soon.
As I conclude my two-year term as President of the Organized Section,
I am pleased to report that the section has over 460 members and is
financially healthy. I think we are well-institutionalized within
the American Political Science Association.
We have just issued a call for paper proposals for a fourth annual
State Politics and Policy conference and are seeking competitive bids
from institutions and individuals that would be willing to hold a
fifth annual conference in 2005. More information on both of these
events is provided below. All in all, I congratulate you on your loyalty
as a section member and look forward to many years of continued association
with you and other practitioners of the study of state politics and
policy.
Ronald E. Weber
University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee
rweber@uwm.edu
Paper Award Winners Announced
Several awards will be given out at the Section meeting at APSA
this year.
The award for the Best Paper given on a Section panel at the 2002
APSA meeting goes to David Lowery, Virginia Gray, and Matthew Fellowes,
all the University of North Carolina for a paper titled "Sisyphus
Meets the Borg: Understanding the Diversity of Interest Communities."
The award for the Best Graduate Student Paper given on a Section
panel at the 2002 APSA meeting goes to Seth Masket of UCLA for his
paper titled "Building Better Partisans: What California's Experience
with Cross-Filing Teaches Us About Party Effects."
Finally, the second annual SPPQ award for the Best Paper
given on the topic of State Politics and Policy given at any professional
meeting in 2002 has been won by Raymond Wolfinger of the University
of California-Berkeley, Ben Highton of the University of California-Davis,
and Megan Mullin of the University of California-Berkeley for their
paper titled "Between Registering and Voting: How State Laws
Affect the Turnout of Young Registrants." This paper was presented
at the 2002 APSA meeting.
Congratulations to all of our award winners! Also, thanks to the
selection committees for their hard work.
Panels/Events at the 2003 APSA
Section Short Course: The Section is holding
a Short Course on The Uses of Public Opinion Data in State Politics
and Policy Research at the upcoming APSA Meeting in Philadelphia.
The Workshop will be held at one of the main convention hotels on
Wednesday, August 27 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This workshop will
focus on a number of recent ways scholars have chosen to employ public
opinion data in state politics and policy research. The presenters
will report upon the various measurement techniques employed, the
validity of their measures of state public opinion, the venues in
which public opinion data are best employed, and the overall problems
in employing public opinion data in state politics and policy research.
The presenters will provide hands on applications of their data for
the participants and generally highlight the most appropriate ways
to incorporate public opinion data in their research. Our Short Course
presenters will include: Paul Brace (Rice University), Barbara Norrander
(University of Arizona), Gerald Wright (Indiana University), Robert
Erikson (Columbia University), John McIver (University of Colorado),
Michael Berkman (Pennsylvania State University), and Eric Plutzer
(Pennsylvania).
Section Meeting: The annual Section meeting
will be held Thursday, August 28, 6:15 to 7:00 p.m. in Room 305 of
the Philadelphia Marriott. A number of important issues will be considered,
including the election of new council members and a new Section President.
Also, Chris Mooney, SPPQ Editor, will be presenting a proposal regarding
a potential merger between SPPQ and the Section (Click
Here for the Full Text of the Proposal). The meeting will be followed
immediately by a reception hosted by the Section.
Jewell to Receive Career Achievement Award:
The Section's Third Career Achievement Award will be given to Professor
Malcolm E. Jewell (University of Kentucky). The Award is given every
biennium to a political scientist who has made a significant lifetime
contribution to the study of politics and public policies in the American
states. The award will be presented to Professor Jewell during a Section-sponsored
reception at the upcoming APSA Meetings on Thursday, April 28, 7:00
to 8:30 p.m., Room 306, Philadelphia Marriott. This event is open
to all Section members, as well as to the friends and acquaintances
of Professor Jewell. Please try to stop by the reception and honor
Professor Jewell for his contributions to our field.
APSA Panels: This year the Section is sponsoring
or co-sponsoring six panels. Please try to attend these panels as
our allocation for next year will depend in part on attendance this
year. Web links to the APSA preliminary program for the panels are
listed below.
29-1 The
Impact of Term Limits on State Legislatures and State Legislators
29-2 How
Should State Judges Be Chosen?
29-3 New
Perspectives on Measuring Key Concepts in State Politics Research
29-4 The
Politics of Taxing and Spending in the American States
29-5 New
Perspectives on Parties and Political Organizations in the American
States
29-6 Public
Preferences and Policy in Subnational US Politics
Elections for Officers
The Section will be electing several officers at its 2003 meeting.
These include electing a President and three council members, all
of whom will serve two-year terms, and one council member to serve
the remaining year of Melinda Gann Hall's term. Melinda has stepped
down in order to take on the task of organizing the Section's program
for the 2004 APSA meeting (Thanks Melinda!).
Anyone interested in serving or nominating someone to serve should
contact the Chair of the Nominations committee, John McIver (University
of Colorado) at john.mciver@colorado.edu,
by August 11, 2003. Other members of the committee are Margie Ferguson
(IUPUI) and Tom Holbrook (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee). Thanks
to all for their service.
Third Annual State Politics Conference in
Tucson a Big Success
On March 14 and 15, 2003, the University
of Arizona and State Politics
and Policy Quarterly co-sponsored the 3rd Annual State Politics
and Policy Conference, which was held at the Westward
Look Resort in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the conference
was to provide scholars interested in state politics and policy -
broadly defined - the opportunity to gather and share the latest research
developments in the field. We also wanted to provide mentoring to
our graduate students in this field. The underlying motivation for
the conference was to bring together a distinguished group of political
scientists, economists, and policy analysts. I received over 130 proposals
from scholars and students at institutions all over the United States
and many from other countries. The final program consisted of 40 papers,
90 participants/attendees, and represented over 30 universities, colleges,
and schools. I am delighted to note that 18 of the participants were
graduate students, who received additional stipends to subsidize the
expenses of the conference. In addition to the typical stipend given
to all paper presenters, I also was pleased to offer resort lodging
at a significantly reduced rate for everyone.
The quality of the papers was outstanding and we had many thought-provoking
discussions throughout the week-end (Click
Here to see all the papers online). I was especially pleased with
the feedback from the many graduate students who participated in the
conference—I received an overwhelming amount of positive comments
from graduate students who said they experienced meaningful mentoring
opportunities and were given thoughtful and constructive feedback
on their research. Everyone thought the poster sessions were a great
success. In addition to the scholarly exchanges, we also enjoyed great
food, terrific scenery and weather, and wonderful conversation with
our colleagues. Many also commented that the reception at Bill Mishler’s
home was fantastic.
Based on the tremendous feedback I received, I would have to say
that the conference was a huge success. Of course the success of the
conference was in large part due to the participants who attended
the panels and poster sessions, presented top-notch research, and
engaged in the question and answer part of every panel. In addition
to the participants, there were many people who contributed much of
their time and support. In particular, I must thank the following
people for their help in making the conference a success: Denise Allyn,
Brad Jones, Tom Carsey, Kris Kanthak, Bill Mishler, Chris Mooney,
Barb Norrander, Ron Weber, and Teena Wilhelm. Financial support was
provided by the Department of Political Science and the Office of
the Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Arizona. The University
of Arizona Bookstore, the New York Times and SPPQ provided
lots of extras for participants, including free T-shirts and copies
of SPPQ. Lastly, I owe a great deal of gratitude to the wonderful
staff at the Westward Look Resort. THANK YOU TO ALL!
PS: my massage at the Resort was wonderful—thank you for the
thoughtful gift!
Laura Langer
University of Arizona
llanger@u.arizona.edu
Fourth Annual State Politics Conference Headed
to Kent State
The Fourth Annual State Politics Conference will be held April 30-May1,
2004 at Kent State University.
Go to the 2004 Conference
Homepage for more information. The "Call
for Papers" has been issued, and the deadline for submitting
proposals is November 14th, 2003.
The proposed conference theme, public policy in the American states,
is broad and should allow a diverse range of paper presentations on
both procedural policy-making and substantive policy issues. See the
“Call for Papers”
for more information on the conference theme and deadlines. The first
day of the two-day meeting will be on Kent State's campus and the
second at the Sheraton Suites Cuyahoga Falls conference facilities,
giving participants easy access to their rooms. We will provide lunch
and dinner for all conference participants, and transportation from
the conference hotel to the Kent State campus. We will offer a stipend
to all paper presenters to cover a significant portion of their expenses.
The Sheraton hotel overlooks consecutive waterfalls on the banks
of the Cuyahoga River, and all rooms have a river view. It is located
next to a park in a safe area, and is within walking distance to numerous
shops, restaurants and coffee houses. All rooms at the Sheraton are
suites with a living room and a sleeping area. The hotel will provide
reasonably priced shuttle transportation from both Cleveland International
Airport and the Akron/Canton Airport. The room rate includes a full
buffet breakfast each morning.
We have planned many events for the conference, including dinner
and speakers at the University of Akron on Friday evening, a walking
tour of the May 4th, 1970 Memorial on Kent State's campus, a catered
picnic in the scenic Cuyahoga Valley
National Park, and an optional outing in downtown Cleveland on
Sunday, for baseball, museums, or sightseeing (the Cleveland Indians
2004 schedule has not yet been released, but our plan is to organize
a ballpark afternoon). The hotel is a 10-minute drive from the Cuyahoga
Valley National Park, which has hundreds of miles of hiking and
running trails, and the historic tow-path trail that is 20 miles stem
to stern. The tow-path follows the route of the historic Ohio and
Erie Canal, with a series of locks used to tow horse-drawn barges
from Lake Erie to Akron in the nineteenth century. We have planned
free-time on Saturday afternoon for golf, hiking, shopping, etc.
Kent State University (35,000
students) is located in Kent, Ohio, approximately a 15 minute drive
from the hotel in Akron/Cuyahoga Falls. The main campus is ideally
situated in the northeastern section of the state, in rolling terrain
dotted by spring-fed lakes and in close proximity (15-30 minute drive)
to two major urban areas, Akron and Cleveland. The main campus is
composed of more than 826 acres and 113 buildings. The university
also boasts a 291 acre-airport and an 18-hole golf course. Flying
lessons can be arranged, as can 18 holes of golf.
Note also that the conference will overlap with the University of
Akron's annual Joint Project on Term Limits April 29-30, 2004, which
includes numerous scholars and members of the National Conference
of State Legislatures. Some conference panels, meals and speakers
are being coordinated between the University of Akron and Kent State.
Participants will be able to enjoy both conferences in one exciting
weekend.
Caroline Tolbert and Karen Mossberger
Kent State University
ctolber1@kent.edu and kmossber@kent.edu
Want to Host the Fifth Annual State Politics
Conference?
By all accounts the Annual State Politics conferences have been a
success. More information about past and future events can be found
on the Annual Conference
website. Wouldn't you like to host one of these events at your
university soon? The Section has established a committee to help coordinate
the scheduling of future State Politics Conferences. The committee,
currently chaired by Tom Carsey, works to assist those who want to
host a conference. The committee's mission is to help coordinate the
scheduling of future conferences. An official Call
to Host the 2005 conference has been posted. Proposals should
be sent no later than November 1, 2003 to Tom Carsey (tcarsey@fsu.edu)
to insure full consideration.
Report on State Politics and Policy Quarterly
Having just shipped off the page proofs for Volume 3, Issue 4 of
State Politics and Policy
Quarterly, it is my pleasure to report that the official
journal of the section is thriving as it moves into toddlerhood. A
check of the Tables of Contents for the first three volumes (see the
SPPQ website: http://ilsc.uis.edu/sppq/)
shows the wide range of topics and scholars that the journal has published.
We strive to publish articles that are theoretically important, empirically
rigorous, and well written, and I believe we have succeeded.
As we move into our fourth year of publication, I have two important
items to report.
First, after working energetically for four years to create the SPPQ’s
Data Resource and “The Practical Researcher” section,
Associate Editor Kevin Smith (University of Nebraska- Lincoln) will
be stepping down from his post in the summer of 2004. We are in the
process of searching for a new associate editor. See the full announcement
about this search at: http://ilsc.uis.edu/sppq/call_for_editor.htm.
Please contact me with any nominations (including self-nominations)
for this important post.
Second, our contract with the University of Illinois Press to publish
SPPQ expires in October 2004. I have put together a committee
to select a new publisher. Over the next several months, we will be
soliciting bids to publish SPPQ from a variety of publishers.
Our main criteria for selecting a new publisher are that it:
- Maintain the impeccable academic and production standards that
have been the hallmarks of SPPQ since its inception.
- Market of the journal aggressively, especially to libraries and
other institutions, to achieve visibility and financial solvency
for the journal.
- Develop a sophisticated on-line presence for SPPQ, including full-text,
on-line access for subscribers.
My early discussions with potential publishers leave me very optimistic
that we will be able to enter into a contract with a publisher that
will meet these criteria.
Finally, I will be presenting a proposal at the Section Business
Meeting at APSA regarding a potential merger between SPPQ
subscription and Section membership (Click
Here for the Full Text of the Proposal). I look forward to hearing
your thoughts about this proposal.
Please continue to think of SPPQ as your outlet of choice
for publishing your best research on state politics and policy.
Chris Mooney, SPPQ Editor
University if Illinois at Springfield
mooney.christopher@uis.edu
New Section Website Launched
The State Politics Section has re-launched its website (something
you already noticed if you found this newsletter online!). The new
State Politics Section Home is located at: http://www.fsu.edu/~statepol/
and is maintained by Tom Carsey. Like all websites, this one is still
under construction. However, you will find links to official Section
news, all of the Annual
State Politics Conferences, SPPQ,
and other useful links. You can sign up on the State
Politics Listserv. Also, links to the Second
and Third Conferences
include drafts of all of the papers presented at those conferences.
Plans for expanding the content of the website to possibly include
state politics teaching materials, research links, and a working papers
archive are underway.
