scholarly journals Attention to the COVID‐19 Pandemic on Twitter: Partisan Differences Among U.S. State Legislators

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taegyoon Kim ◽  
Nitheesha Nakka ◽  
Ishita Gopal ◽  
Bruce A. Desmarais ◽  
Abigail Mancinelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
State Legislators

Empirical evidence from state legislators: How, when, and who uses research.

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-424
Author(s):  
Karen Bogenschneider ◽  
Bret N. Bogenschneider
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
State Legislators

Electing the Senate

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy J. Schiller ◽  
Charles Stewart III
Keyword(s):  
Original Data ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Senate Elections ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Seventeenth Amendment ◽  
The People ◽  
Election Process

From 1789 to 1913, U.S. senators were not directly elected by the people—instead the Constitution mandated that they be chosen by state legislators. This radically changed in 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving the public a direct vote. This book investigates the electoral connections among constituents, state legislators, political parties, and U.S. senators during the age of indirect elections. The book finds that even though parties controlled the partisan affiliation of the winning candidate for Senate, they had much less control over the universe of candidates who competed for votes in Senate elections and the parties did not always succeed in resolving internal conflict among their rank and file. Party politics, money, and personal ambition dominated the election process, in a system originally designed to insulate the Senate from public pressure. The book uses an original data set of all the roll call votes cast by state legislators for U.S. senators from 1871 to 1913 and all state legislators who served during this time. Newspaper and biographical accounts uncover vivid stories of the political maneuvering, corruption, and partisanship—played out by elite political actors, from elected officials, to party machine bosses, to wealthy business owners—that dominated the indirect Senate elections process. The book raises important questions about the effectiveness of Constitutional reforms, such as the Seventeenth Amendment, that promised to produce a more responsive and accountable government.

Euthanasia Legislation: A Survey and A Model Act

1976 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-99
Author(s):  
Ronald P. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Solution ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Death With Dignity ◽  
Frequency State

With increasing frequency, state legislators have been proposing legislation which would permit euthanasia—the allowance of “death with dignity”—under certain circumstances. These proposals indicate varying degrees of awareness of the issues and problems involved in drafting euthanasia legislation. This Article focuses on such issues and problems, studies the methods proposed by legislators to deal with them, and offers a Model Euthanasia Act designed to achieve their optimal solution.

scholarly journals Does direct democracy increase communicative responsiveness? A field experiment with Swiss politicians

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 205316801770073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anouk Lloren
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Popular Belief ◽  
Quality Of Democracy

Many argue that direct democracy improves the quality of democracy. In particular, many scholars claim that it increases the representation of the public’s preferences by fostering communicative responsiveness between politicians and citizens. While studies have come to mixed conclusions about the effect of direct democracy on policy outcomes, little is known about how direct democratic processes affect politicians’ responsiveness. Using a field experiment, this study examines whether direct democracy increases the responsiveness of Swiss state legislators to citizen-initiated contacts on policy concerns. Contrary to popular belief, our results show that direct democracy does not enhance politicians’ responsiveness to policy requests.

Medical Anti-Shock Trousers: Blind Faith, Poor Judgment and Patient Jeopardy

1989 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Mattox
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Clinical Trials ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Special Interest Groups ◽  
Interventional Treatment ◽  
Clinical Observations ◽  
American College Of Surgeons ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Historic Development ◽  
Blind Faith

The oft-repeated historic development of the pneumatic lower body compression suit (MAST, PASG) for the presumed treatment of hypotension has been well-documented by McSwain(l). While the experimental and anecdotal clinical observations of Crile, Gardner, Wangenstein and Kaplan are interesting, they are not prospective, controlled, randomized clinical trials in humans(2,3,4,5). In the early 1970s, the EMS community was ripe for the bandwagon reflex to grasp at any and all gimmicks and gadgets which became available, regardless of a lack of evidence regarding their safety or danger to patients. Inventions such as the esophageal obturator airway, various darts, MAST, external cardiac bumpers, percutaneous trachea obturators, and many others simultaneously were thrust upon the unsuspecting and unprotected patient community. Some of these innovations may have been beneficial but others were dangerous. Contending that some intervention in a “life threatening, good Samaritan situation” was better than no interventional treatment or “stabilization” at all, the paramedics' blind faith in these modalities persisted. The Medical Device Amendment of 1976 (6), which requires safety and efficacy for devices, similar to that long in effect for new drugs, had not yet been enacted into law to require premarketing clearance of new medical devices. Building on blind faith and premature recommendations regarding in the unproven concept of MAST, the EMS community exercised poor judgment in recommending to state legislators that this unproven device be “required equipment” on board ambulances. Furthermore, this small cadre of “special interest groups” lobbied to have the MAST mandated as essential equipment in trauma centers(7,8). Although the minutes of the trauma planning meetings do not reflect the debate at the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, numerous voices of advised constraint, said “go slow” on including the MAST as part of the ATLS course and the ACS optimal resources document.

scholarly journals Washington State's Public Records Act: A Battle in the 2018 Legislature and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Peggy Watt
Keyword(s):  
Washington State ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Crucial Point ◽  
Public Records ◽  
Citizen Activism ◽  
Court Action ◽  
Voter Initiative

This case study documents the battle over the Washington State Public Records Act, which raged from 2017 through the end of 2019, reaching a crucial point through an extraordinary combination of citizen activism, journalistic pressure, and court action. The act, adopted in 1972 by a voter initiative, covers all “agencies,” but state legislators rejected the classification and refused to honor records requests. Journalists successfully challenged the Legislature in court, and in response lawmakers attempted to update the act to allow for secrecy, but failed. Lessons learned from the scuffle may be applied by legislators and transparency advocates in Washington state and throughout the country.

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