To get some answers, I called a long-time source, Burdett Loomis of the University of Kansas. Loomis has written important books about legislatures and lobbying, and over the past year he's been working for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius -- a Democrat who appears to be a shoo-in for reelection in an otherwise solidly Republican state.
Loomis took leave from teaching Poli-Sci to serve as communications director for Sebelius. (He's back at KU now). Not surprisingly, he still sounds like something of an acolyte, praising his former boss' skill in processing information, staying on message and making a flood of decisions. Still, he offered some insights that are broadly relevant to questions about how governors govern and how minority party leaders can thrive.
It's clear that because the Republican Party in Kansas has grown more conservative, Sebelius has been able to claim a lot of room in the political center on issues such as education and health care. But it's also the case, as Loomis points out, that a Democratic governor in a red state can "simply cherry-pick issues that would be the natural issues, perhaps, of Republicans and conservatives."
His prime example is the military. "Kathleen Sebelius has done a terrific job of supporting the military within Kansas," he says, "both the National Guard and the substantial presence of the regular Army and Air Force."
This is more than a matter of offering support to the troops. Sebelius can take some credit for a substantial increase in troop commitments -- and thus civilian jobs in support -- during the most recent round of base closure and realignment.
What was most striking to Loomis, as a student of government, was "how many decisions are made just on a daily basis by the governor." It's hardly surprising that a governor has to keep the whole broad field in mind, as opposed to a legislator who can specialize in a particular issue or topic of interest to her constituents. But Loomis says he was still amazed how many decisions are made in the space between the two ears of the person occupying the top office.
"If there's an issue with something that happens to a [Kansas] soldier in Iraq, or if there's an unexpected breaking of a dam," Loomis says, "it does not pass go -- it goes directly to the governor."
A governor can't make every decision, obviously. One frustration Loomis had in his job as message chief was that, although he gives Sebelius credit for doing a good job of framing almost every public statement around a handful of major issues and themes, her cabinet members were a bit less successful when it came to singing in such close harmony.
If there's always give and take between players in the executive branch, there's bound to be more tension between that branch and the legislature. This is especially true in a state where members of the opposite party have a stranglehold on both chambers.
"If a minority party governor is going to really govern and pass major initiatives," Loomis says, "than that minority party governor simply has to find ways to effectively work with the legislature."
Sounding more like an academic again, he added: "That problem remains the outstanding major question for this governor."
