The Iranian election fiasco reminds us that all democracies have operational problems in managing fault-free elections. Not to equate our problems with what appears to be massive and systematic fraud on the part of the Iranian government, but we all remember Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 and Minnesota in 2008. Here in the US, voter fraud and voter suppression constitute major ethical (and legal) problems for political managers who will cross the line in an all-out effort to win at the polls.
The result of their actions systematically undercuts the essential legitimacy of our political institutions. Republicans firmly believe there is rampant voter fraud, as John Fund argues in Stealing Elections. Democrats charge that the "ballot integrity" efforts are nothing short of organized efforts to suppress turnout among loyal Democratic constituencies.
Over the last few days, people at the Campaigns and Elections "The Art of Political Campaigning" conference here in Washington, DC have commented that the profession of politics is not being hit by the recession like other industries are. When I posted this on Twitter, many disagreed. One tweet commented that the profession has been hit hard by the recession. To find an answer to this debate, I interviewed a number of people at the conference and asked them what they thought. In the end, it seems that the recession has had differing affects on the political profession, dependent upon what sector you are in.
Republican Fundraiser of more than 20 years, Nancy Bocskor.
Yesterday, the Young Republicans elected a new national leadership. When we were in Indianapolis at their convention, we wondered how the voting works.
A few weekends ago, a group of GSPM students helped to recruit some new students to the program. In return for their help, Professor Chuck Cushman, the Director of The Political Management Program, invited them to dinner at his house. Over pasta a few of them talked about why they like the program, here is what they said.
Beth Breeding, a first year student, had this to say:
I was in San Diego over the weekend, and in a small Mexican resturant not far from the beach, my friends and I came up with the Twitter Challenge.
We all know that Twitter is a great way to advertise, to update friends on what you are doing, to find events, and to make friends. But it is also a great way to find information and the people that have information. This led us to ask, "What if someone set out to write a college research paper, using nothing but Twitter as a research guide?" Are there enough people on Twitter? And is there enough information on Twitter, to fuel a research paper?
This summer in Washington, DC, there is nothing more coveted than an Executive Branch internship.
One GSPM student, Thomas Sanford, was talented enough to get one, specifically, in The Office of Space Commercialization. I asked Tommy to tell us a little bit about his internship:
Steve Billet, Director of Legislative Affairs at The Graduate School of Political Management talks about new campaign finance laws and why they have not seemed to work.
With President Obama’s appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, it’s a good time to review recent history of Court nominations – and how they ultimately fared. Over the past 50 years, 27 people have been appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and of those 19 (70 percent) were confirmed, 3 were rejected, 4 were withdrawn and no action was taken on one of them.
GSPM Career Services Director Mag Gottlieb talks about how to find a job in politics, her experiences in the field, and her newly released E-Book on careers in politics.
National Journal Online has a nice video link and a long write-up of yesterday's GSPM-sponsored lobbying forum. You can catch the action on their blog, "under the influence," which covers the DC lobbying industry. Theresa Poulson's entry, "White House's Eisen: K STreet Rules Evolving," tells the story and includes a series of video clips from the event. You can catch the story at http://undertheinfluence.nationaljournal.com/2009/05/white-house-ethics-adviser-lob.php
