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Political Powers
On November 7, Montana elected its first female governor in Republican Judy Martz. This paper will explore the formal and informal powers of governor-elect Martz and attempt to accurately predict the strength of her tenure in office.
Formal Powers
First, this paper shall examine the formal powers of the governor of Montana. This paper shall examine six different formal powers and rate them on a scale of zero (0) to five (5), with five being the highest.
In addition to governor, several other executive candidates are elected in Montana. They include lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, and auditor. This alone would give the Montana governorship a rating of three (3). To further understand the dynamics at work in the executive branch we can look at the candidates for each of these offices. The lieutenant governor of Montana is elected in the same way as the vice president of the United States. A candidate for governor files jointly with a candidate for lieutenant governor during the primary election. The governor and lieutenant governor of Montana will always be members of the same political party. The rest of the executive branch is elected independently of the governor. In this past election the office of secretary of state was won by Republican Bob Brown. The remaining offices of attorney general, superintendent of public instruction and auditor were won by Democrats Mike McGrath, Linda McCulloch, and John Morrison respectively. All four of these races were decided by 10% of the vote or less. The divided executive branch suggests that Judy Martz will have some difficulty in setting her agenda in its intended manner.
The second formal power comes from tenure potential. The governor of Montana, along with the rest of the executive branch, holds office for a period of four years. At the end of those four years, the governor may run for re-election. The governor may run for re-election only once. In the category of tenure potential governor-elect Martz gets a four (4).
The third formal power is the power of appointment. The Montana state constitution places the governor in the role of supervisor over all non-elected departments. This means that the governor appoints a single executive to head each department. However, the governor’s appointments are subject to senate approval. The departments include corrections, highway and welfare. An agency head appoints the head of the health department. Elected officials oversee kindergarten through twelfth grade education and the department of welfare. The governor’s composite rating for power of appointment is 2.5
The fourth power is the power to create the budget. Prior to each fiscal period, the governor submits a budget to the legislature. This budget will set forth a detailed account of all operating funds, expenditures and estimated revenue for the state of Montana. Moreover, the governor at any time can give the legislature budgetary information as well as suggestions for measures the governor deems necessary. A majority of the legislature is necessary to either pass or increase the submitted budget. Governor-elect Martz’s rating for budgetary power is a four (4).
The fifth power is the power to veto. All bills passed by the legislature shall be submitted to the governor. This excludes bills that do not propose amendments to the Montana constitution, bills ratifying proposed amendments to the United States constitution, resolutions and initiative and referendum measures. If the governor does not sign or veto a bill within ten days of receiving it, the bill becomes law. If a governor vetoes a bill while the legislature is in session, a two-thirds majority of both the Senate and the House of Representatives is necessary to overturn the veto. If the governor vetoes a bill that has been approved by two-thirds of the legislature and the legislature is not in session, the bill along with the governor’s reasons for veto are turned over to the secretary of state. The secretary of state polls the members of the legislature by mail about the bill and the governor’s reasons for veto. If two-thirds of each house votes to overturn the veto, the bill becomes law. The governor also has the power to veto items in appropriation bills. Thus, Montana’s governor receives a five (5) in the power to veto.
The sixth and final formal power is based on party-control of the legislature. This past election, Republicans won a majority in both Houses. Republicans control 57 of the 100 House of Representatives’ seats, or 57%, and 31 of the 50 Senate seats, or 62%. Since both percentiles are below 75%, the Republican Party is seen as having only a simple majority in each House. This gives governor-elect Martz a rating of four (4).
In summary, the governor of Montana received ratings of 3, 4, 2.5, 4, 5 and 4 in respective categories of separately elected officials, tenure potential, power of appointment, budgetary, power to veto and party-control of the legislature. These numbers average out to a score of 3.75 on a scale of 5. Martz has formal powers that should allow her to be a moderately powerful governor. The majority control of her Republican Party in both the House and Senate should also aid in her formal power strength. She does, however, face potential problems with the rest of the executive branch. The executive branch is divided evenly with three Democratic members and three Republican members, including the governor and lieutenant governor. This division in the executive branch could lead to some problems for governor-elect Martz.
Informal Powers
A governor’s informal powers are much more abstract and difficult to determine. There is no scientific way to code informal powers, as was done for formal powers. However, there are several different categories that can be explored to help gain a better understanding of possible informal powers.
The first category to help determine informal power is popular support. Since Mrs. Martz will not take office until January, public opinion polls cannot be used. The only source of information for popular support is the outcome of the election. Martz defeated her opponents, Democrat Mark O’Keefe and Libertarian Stan Jones, with 51% of the vote. O’Keefe received 47% and Jones 2%. Martz received almost 6,000 more votes than O’Keefe. Montana has 56 voting districts. Martz won 45 of these districts with victory percentages as high as 82% and as low as 51%. O’Keefe won the remaining 11 districts with a margin of victory ranging from 72% to 50%. Jones did not win any districts and polled no higher than 3%. While Martz won the majority of the districts, she only managed a scant majority in the overall vote. This points towards a lack of statewide consensus for Martz, which could be difficult. Moreover, Martz’s lack of an overwhelming majority of the vote seems to weaken her overall popular support. The people of Montana did not overwhelmingly support their governor-elect at the polls and they might not overwhelmingly support her during her time in office.
The second informal power that shall be analyzed is the prestige of office. Martz has an obvious advantage here. The governor of Montana is obviously the chief executive of the state and as governor Martz will be able to make useful connections in and out of government and attract much needed business to the state. The prestige of the governor’s office gives Martz unlimited ability to ‘pork barrel’ and to use patronage. This informal power, however, would have been the same for O’Keefe or Jones if they had been elected, so it seems to be a negligible point when comparing the three.
The third factor that will influence Martz’s informal power is her prior political experience. Martz served as a field representative for the Republican Senator Conrad Burns from 1985-95. Martz also served as lieutenant governor under Marc Racicot during his four years as governor. During her term as lieutenant governor she chaired the Drought Advisory Council. She also chaired Montana’s Promise and co-chaired the Montana-Alberta Boundary Advisory Council. Her duties with the Drought Advisory Council included overseeing preparations for potential weather conditions that could threaten Montana’s agricultural families and economy. While co-chairing the Montana-Alberta Boundary Advisory Council, she led programs to facilitate constructive relations with Canada over concerns such as transportation, agriculture, trade, education and the arts. Her work for Montana’s Promise helped raise more than $400,000 for statewide youth mentoring programs. Her involvement with these groups as well as her position as lieutenant governor no doubt helped her to learn who has the power in Montana. Martz’s prior experience could be very beneficial providing she learned enough in her four years as lieutenant governor. Her ten years as field representative should also aid her (“Martz known for sticking her neck out”).
Martz will also draw on her informal power of public relations. During her campaign Martz was careful to present herself as a small-business person. Her involvement in government for the past 15 years might be a deterrent for some voters, but Martz made a point to emphasize herself as a candidate of the people and an advocate of smaller government (“Martz known for sticking her neck out”). Martz also received endorsements from the Montana Chamber of Commerce and the Motor Carriers Association.
Martz’s informal powers are strong. A large majority of her informal strength however, is based on the prestige of the governorship. However, Martz does have a solid background in politics and seems to have good public relation skills. The way Martz applies her background and her public relation skills will play a large role in defining the extent of her informal power. If used properly, she could have a great number of informal powers to draw on. Her lack of strong public support, however, could be problematic.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Martz has several strengths to draw on during her upcoming term as governor. Her political background could be very beneficial. The degree of usefulness, however, depends on just how much she learned during her prior political experience. Also, her 15-years in Montana politics could be detrimental if she has made enough enemies. Martz also comes across as very comfortable with the media. She probably learned several useful skills by observing Racicot during his term as governor. She also understands the importance of her public image and is careful to draw a balance between her political experience and connections to the common man. Her greatest strength will be her position. Martz’s position as governor will give her prestige and power not available to other politicians in the state.
The greatest weakness that Martz currently faces is her popular support. Her close victory in the election will give her poor footing as she begins her journey as governor. Martz stands to make up ground quickly if her policy is successful. Much of her platform was based on bringing better paying jobs to Montana in order to bring the state out of its current place in the national economic cellar. If Martz’s plans draw business and jobs to Montana quickly, her popular support will escalate. Another weakness that Martz will face is the possible political division in the executive branch of Montana’s government. If Martz can gain popular support and work in concurrence with the rest of the executive branch she will have a very successful term as governor.
Probability for Success
As mentioned before, Martz’s success hinges on her ability to gain popular support and to work with the Democratic members of the executive branch. Martz’s formal powers are not overwhelming, but with a Republican majority in both Houses, she should be able to pursue her policy with relative ease. Her informal powers have great potential. The prestige of her office is obviously her greatest strength. Her prior experience and media skills could also play a big role in her ability to operate smoothly as governor.
The wild card for Martz, however, is the presidential election. Current Montana governor Marc Racicot has been a very visible supporter of George W. Bush during the ongoing controversy in Florida. Racicot has appeared several times on the national news speaking out for the Bush campaign. If Bush does win the presidential election, Racicot seems to be the forerunner for Secretary of the Interior. With its former governor in a cabinet position Montana stands to gain a good deal. Martz could gain even more prestige because of her service under Racicot as lieutenant governor. The early months of Martz’s term will play a major role in her overall ability to successfully pursue her agenda. If Martz gains internal support from the voters and from Democratic members of the executive branch and external support from Racicot and the rest of the possible Bush administration, she should have great success in implementing her agenda.
