Congressional Communication

Transcription

1 Congressional Communication

2 Congressional Communication Content & Consequences Daniel Lipinski University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor

3 Copyright by the University of Michigan 2004 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid-free paper No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lipinski, Daniel. Congressional communication : content and consequences / Daniel Lipinski. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. United States. Congress Constituent communication. 2. Communication in politics United States. I. Title. JK1131.L '0731 dc

4 This book is dedicated to my parents, William and RoseMarie Lipinski, whose innumerable sacri ces gave me the opportunities to learn, grow, and begin to ful ll the gifts God has given me.

5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Some time has passed since I wrote the acknowledgments for this project when it was a doctoral dissertation, but I need to begin this book by repeating those thanks because they will never be enough. Many thanks go to those colleagues who provided suggestions, and most importantly friendship and encouragement, down the long road of graduate school. I would most like to thank John Rattliff, Danielle Vinson, Karen Kedrowski, Zoe Oxley, and Mark Berger. Troy Dostert and Jim Battista deserve thanks for serving as trustworthy research assistants as well as valuable colleagues in graduate school. And I would also like to thank all my friends at the Duke Catholic Student Center who encouraged me in my pursuit of this long sought-after goal while never letting me lose sight of what I ultimately strive for. Many members of Congress and their staffs, all of whom will go unnamed to protect the anonymity of their contributions, aided me in this research. I am deeply indebted to these people for their opinions and insights. Two people on Capitol Hill whom I can publicly thank are Jack Dail and Karen Buehler at the House Franking Commission. My dissertation committee deserves many thanks for their aid both during the dissertation phase and afterward. Bill Bianco was especially in uential in the development of some of the important insights in this book. John Aldrich inspired and guided me from my rst class at Duke through the completion of this book. David Paletz supplied me with many insights and my rst professional opportunities. John Brehm helped me through many methodological questions. In addition I would like to thank David Price for the advice and insights he provided before being called to serve in Congress. I would also like to thank R. Michael Alvarez and Paul Gronke for providing important data and ideas that helped shape chapter 5. A National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant (SBER ) aided me in my research for this project.

6 Acknowledgments There are many more people I would like to thank for their assistance in the development of this book. Richard Fenno provided numerous valuable insights throughout the entire development of the project. David Brady, John Hibbing, and Glen Parker gave helpful advice as I worked on the revisions. I would also like to thank Paul Herrnson and the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland for support during a summer of book revisions. I would like to thank my wife, Judy, for all the support and encouragement as I completed the revisions for this book. Judy was not with me when this project started, and it is possible that I would have completed this book without her; but without Judy I know that my life would not be lled with the joy we now share. This book is dedicated to my parents, William and RoseMarie Lipinski, who have given me countless opportunities to learn and grow. Growing up in a middle-class bungalow in ethnic Chicago, they promised me that they would support me through all of my schooling (although I don t think they imagined how many years it could be). This book is a token of my appreciation for all the love and support that they have given me that I will never be able to repay. Without the help of all of these people, completion of this book would not have been possible. They contributed much to this book, but I remain responsible for any errors or shortcomings. viii

7 CONTENTS List of Tables xi Chapter 1. Studying Congressional Communication 1 Chapter 2. Measuring Members Messages with Mail 9 I. CONTENT Chapter 3. Members Messages Regarding Congress 19 Chapter 4. Running with the Party 47 II. CONSEQUENCES Chapter 5. Members Success in Communicating Information to Constituents 73 Chapter 6. The Electoral Impact of Members Messages 89 Chapter 7. A New View of Members Behavior and the Representative-Constituent Connection 101 Appendixes 111 Notes 125 Bibliography 135 Index 141

8 LIST OF TABLES 1. Members Who Sent Any Messages about Congressional Performance Members Sending Positive Messages, Negative Messages, No Messages, and Mixed Messages Members Sending Positive and Negative Messages by Party Members Sending Positive and Negative Messages about Policies and Processes by Party Members Sending Positive and Negative Messages by Type of Mail Factors Affecting the Probability of Sending Negative Messages, No Messages, or Positive Messages in All Mail Factors Affecting the Probability of Sending Negative Messages, No Messages, or Positive Messages in Districtwide Mail Factors Affecting the Probability of Sending Negative Messages, No Messages, or Positive Messages in Targeted Mail Factors Affecting the Probability of Sending Negative Messages, No Messages, or Positive Messages about Policies Factors Affecting the Probability of Sending Negative Messages, No Messages, or Positive Messages about Processes Factors Affecting the Probability of Sending Negative Messages, No Messages, or Positive Messages about Processes, with Cohort Variable Members Who Publicized Vote for Each Level of Media Market Congruence 83

9 List of Tables 13. Factors Affecting Respondents Perceptual Accuracy of Their Representative s Vote on the Persian Gulf War Use of Force Resolution Factors Affecting Respondents Perceptual Accuracy of Their Representative s Vote on the 1993 Budget- Reconciliation Conference Report, Democratic Representatives Only Factors Affecting Probability of Defeat in Probability of Defeat by Loyalty Score 97 xii