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Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: Techniques, Democracy, and Responsible Governance

Explore the techniques used by Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, how he justifies his actions as democratic, and the relationship between the political and administrative processes. Learn about Plunkitt's views on honest and dishonest graft, his opposition to civil service, and his thoughts on the citizens and elected representatives. Additionally, examine other perspectives on city management, discretionary funds, and transit decision-making. Finally, delve into Henry's arguments on the pillars of public administration and the role it plays in democracy.

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Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: Techniques, Democracy, and Responsible Governance

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  1. Plunkitt of Tammany Hall What techniques does Plunkitt use? How is he able to explain what he does as “democratic”? What is the relationship between the political process (getting elected, connecting to voters) and the administrative process (delivering services, managing government)? What does he mean by honest and dishonest graft? Why is he so against civil service? What does he think of the citizens? In what sense is he responsive? What are the responsibilities of elected representatives? What things does Plunkitt do that seem truly corrupt? ICMA video: Citizens should not think about government when they wake up in the morning; the services shiould just happen. How would Plunkitt respond?

  2. White, “City Affairs Are Not Political” • What does he claim about the management of cities? • What methods does he advocate for the management of cities? • How does he differ from Plunkitt and Tweed?

  3. Commission Discretionary Funds • In what ways are commissioners behaving like Plunkitt? • The amount of funds does not seem that large, so why are they so valuable? • What are the benefits and costs of the discretionary funds? • Why are we so suspicious of them? • What is the alternative? How should we distribute resources? • In what sense is this responsive?

  4. “Transit Bows to Politics” • What is alleged by the employee? • Why is this a problem? • Why would such practices exist? Who benefits? • What is the alternative? How should we determine service levels? • In what sense would this be responsive?

  5. Lecture Preface for Chapter 1: • Henry argues that the three pillars of good government are democracy, honesty, and competency, and that public administrators are essential to all three. Indeed, he asserts (on page 3) that “Public administration is the device used to reconcile bureaucracy with democracy.” He then goes on to make the claim that, even though it is an American tradition to limit the power of executive authority at all levels of government, bureaucrats (who are often demonized unfairly) have considerable influence over the structuring of policy alternatives and even in policy-making, especially at the local level.

  6. Noetic authority, or the authority that derives from their superior knowledge of complex social matters, is their primary tool in this process, though he acknowledges that their power also comes from the longevity of institutions (staying power) and their role as stoppers (impeding the implementation of policies decided by others). The role of the bureaucracy is, therefore, to translate increasingly complicated issues into terms that can be understood by and used in a democracy.

  7. A great deal of the book will be devoted to issues of honesty and competency, but it is clear that Henry believes that public administration is also essential to democracy. So it is interesting that he ends the chapter with the following quotation: “would we trust the unemployment numbers if, every time a new president came along, he replaced the entire Bureau of Labor Statistics with a new crop of cronies and campaign aides?” This suggests that public administration acts, at least in part, as a barrier to democratically elected officials doing whatever they want with the bureaucracy: this is more than bureaucratic inertia (the stopping power of bureaucrats), for Henry implies that it is good that public administrators do not allow the Bureau of Labor Statistics to be the tool of elected officials. That is, it would appear that this is a case in which noetic authority trumps democratic responsiveness as a means of advancing democracy.

  8. In what sense is this a case of public administration aiding democracy? On what grounds could you make the argument that elected officials should be able to replace entire departments with political supporters? On what grounds could you make the case that it would be inappropriate to allow them to do so?

  9. What do I need to know from this chapter and why is it important? • According to Henry, what are the three pillars of public administration? • American public administration is characterized as . . . • At the local level, public administration is characterized by unusually weak . . . • In 1978, California passed Proposition 13, which slashed . . . • According to Henry, because of their noetic authority, the role of the bureaucracy is to . . .

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