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University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 6-30-2016 Being Strategic: Black Legislative Representation In The Republican-Controlled South Carolina House of Representatives Willie James Black University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Black, W. J.(2016). Being Strategic: Black Legislative Representation In The Republican-Controlled South Carolina House of Representatives. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/3519 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BEING STRATEGIC: BLACK LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATION IN THE REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED SOUTH CAROLINA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES By Willie James Black Bachelor of Arts Coastal Carolina College, 1977 Master of Public Administration University of South Carolina, 2000 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2016 Accepted by: Kenny J. Whitby, Major Professor Todd C. Shaw, Committee Member Laura Woliver, Committee Member Larry Watson, Committee Member Lacy Ford, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies © Copyright by Willie James Black, 2016 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION To Gertrude, my wife, who provided endless love, support and encouragement over the course of my studies. To all of my children, daddy loves you and wants each of you to “keep on keeping on”. Also, to the memory of my parents Leander James and Rosa Belle McAllister, for their enduring patience, love, and parental guidance as I traveled through this journey of life. To my siblings, -especially to my dearly departed siblings Rasheed, Carl, and Betty- THIS ONE IS FOR ALL OF YOU! iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude for those who accompanied me on this journey: First and foremost, I thank God because He gave me the inner strength to complete this project while enduring the trials and tribulations of both fatherhood and graduate school. To my dissertation committee members: Dissertation Chair and Mentor Professor Kenny J. Whitby, for providing the firm guidance, words of encouragement, and very helpful critiques throughout this endeavor. To my Committee members: Dr. Laura Woliver, Dr. Todd Shaw, and Dr. Larry Watson, for your help in pushing me over the finish line. Thank you ALL so much for your comments, insight, and encouragement during this process. To all of you, I am deeply in your debt. iv ABSTRACT Under what circumstances, can descriptive representatives produce a representation, which may not be merely descriptive, but still substantive in nature? In other words, do descriptive representatives provide representation that produces salient black constituency policies, yet not be strictly black interest substantive policies? Do these black Democrats still “substantively represent” their black constituents and if so, to what extent? More importantly, what legislative actions do they undertake to represent their black constituents? Moreover, can these black Democratic legislators form strategic alliances successfully to prevent passage of policies detrimental to the interest of their black constituency? Can they form alliances to enhance passage of their strategically sponsored measures? Some empirical studies find that black lawmakers’ descriptive representation behavior translates into meaningful, substantive representation. A few studies have disputed this claim. However, most empirical works that examine the descriptive versus substantive representation issue only look at the black legislators’ legislative bill sponsorship and bill passage count. They have neglected other important dimensions of representation where the black lawmakers’ strategic behavior may be a key explanatory factor. This research fills this gap by presenting a new theory- A Theory of Strategic Representation. This theory posits that minority caucus members strategically engage in three distinct legislative actions to pursue interests germane to their minority constituents v when acting as representatives in a politically constrained legislative environment. Specifically, this research determines the effect of The South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus members’ behavior of (1) strategic bill sponsorship; (2) strategic self-selection committee assignments; (3) and strategic coalition formations, including negative veto coalitions, on the substantive representation of their black constituents. These questions are answered by examining the legislative Black Caucus members’ strategic introduction of primary and secondary measures, strategic preference for black interest committees’ appointments, and strategic coalition formations during selected roll call votes. Quantitative analyses of the 109th, 110th, 114th 115th, and the 119th legislative sessions of The South Carolina House of Representatives are conducted. The findings show that strategic representation by black descriptive lawmakers yields substantive representation in a politically constrained state legislative chamber when measured by legislative activities beyond bill introduction and bill passage count. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: THEORIZING STRATEGIC REPRESENTATION .................................19 2.1 HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF BLACK LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA ....................................................................................19 2.2 COMPETING THEORIES OF REPRESENTATION .......................................45 2.3 EXPECTATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS: BILL SPONSORSHIP, COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS AND COALITIONS FORMATION ............57 CHAPTER 3: BILL SPONSORSHIP BEHAVIOR: A MEASURE OF STRATEGIC REPRESENTATION .........................................................................................................68 3.1 HYPOTHESES: STRATEGIC BILL SPONSORSHIP AND EFFECT OF PARTY CONTROL ON SPONSORSHIP AND PASSAGE ............................71 3.2 RESULTS: SCLBC STRATEGIC REPRESENTATION THROUGH BILL SPONSORSHIP, STRATEGIC BILL CHOICE AND BILL PASSAGE SUCCESS ..........................................................................................................82 vii CHAPTER 4: HOUSE COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS: SCLBC STRATEGIC SELF- SELECTION ....................................................................................................................105 4.1 SCLBC LEGISLATORS COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS: ANOTHER MEASURE OF STRATEGIC REPRESENTATION ......................................106 4.2 RESULTS: ARE SCLBC LEGISLATORS MAKING STRATEGIC COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS REQUESTS ................................................118 CHAPTER 5: STRATEGIC REPRESENTATION THROUGH COALITION FORMATION ..................................................................................................................136 5.1 EXAMINING SCLBC COALITION FORMATION STRATEGY .................138 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS .................................................177 6.1 OVERVIEW: STRATEGIC REPRESENTATION IN A POLITICALLY CONSTRAINED LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENT .....................................182 6.2 IMPLICATIONS ..............................................................................................184 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................188 APPENDIX A - LIST OF CURRENT AND FORMER LEGISLATIVE BLACK CAUCUS MEMBERS .....................................................................................................196 APPENDIX B- LEGISLATORS’ OVERALL BILL SPONSORSHIP AND BILL PASSAGE BY SESSION AND PARTY ........................................................................201 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 South Carolina Comparison by Race, 2010 .......................................................31 Table 2.2 Trend of House Descriptive Representation 1971-2012, Selected Years ..........33 Table 2.3 Rates of Registration and Turnout in South Carolina and Neighboring States, 2012 Presidential Election .....................................................................38 Table 2.4 Registration in Counties where one-third or more of the population is black, 2010 General election.............................................................................40 Table 2.5 Registration in Counties where less than one-third of the population is black, 2010 General Election .............................................................................40 Table 2.6 Black and White Voter

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