UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: May 22nd, 2006__ I, __Stephen Thomas Mergner_________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctorate of Philosophy, PhD in: Political Science, American Political Theory It is entitled: “The Implementation of the ‘Conciliated’ Model of Municipal Governance. Testing the Effectiveness Of ‘Hybrid’ Mayor Charter Reforms in Cincinnati, Ohio.” This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _Dr. Michael Margolis, PhD_____ _Dr. Alfred Tuchfarber, PhD____ _Dr. Barbara Bardes, PhD __ “The Implementation of the ‘Conciliated Model’ of Municipal Governance in Cincinnati, Ohio. Testing the Consequences of the ‘Hybrid Mayor’ Charter Reforms.” A dissertation submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) in the Department of Political Science of the College of Arts and Sciences May 2006 by Stephen Thomas Mergner B.A., University of Cincinnati, 1997 M.A., University of Cincinnati, 2003 Committee Chair: Dr. Michael Margolis 1 Copyright @ 2006 Stephen T. Mergner 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I cannot begin to express my thanks to all those who have offered their support over the years to complete this dream. Unquestionably, my wife Michele deserves all the accolades and praises for this achievement. Had it not been for her unwavering belief in my potential, this work would never have been completed. Far too many mortgage, car, and preschool payments have come down the line carrying with them a multitude of reasons to end this academic quest. For you Michele, I am eternally indebted. I would like to thank Stephanie Walls for all of her support and solidarity throughout graduate school. We shared virtually every class together, experienced the excitement of each other’s marriages and childbirths. Stephanie is a true friend and an academic comrade. Another constant supporter of my academic endeavors is Murphy Mergner, my beloved companion, who also happens to be my dog. Throughout all those nights of studying in graduate school, Murphy sat under the desk keeping my feet warm. Murphy never complained of another late night studying or writing and always offered her love freely. I thank my parents, Arthur and Barbara Mergner, Jr., who supported my decision to leave corporate America in search of a doctorate. I know that you hid your doubts deep inside, yet always believed that I would succeed. Once upon my academic path, you provided invaluable assistance that was both intellectually stimulating and emotionally comforting. I am so very proud to now be able to share this victory with you. The Department of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati is a wonderful place to attend graduate school. Department administrator Joe Waddle and accountant Cheryl Lindsey provided countless hours of support in helping graduate students get their paychecks and access to the raw materials that make our academic work possible. 3 Dr. Richard Harknett and the Taft Fund’s Broadcast Group was the only reason my dissertation was financially possible. His constant advocacy for my urban studies research resulted in an extremely generous grant of $12,000 over three years. Without this funding I would have had virtually no income. James Robert Masterson provided invaluable research advice as he assisted in bringing my SPSS skills back up to speed. Jim spent two long nights rowing through my datasets and tests with me to make sure they were all set up correctly. Jim’s advice shaved at least a year off my dissertation completion time. My dissertation chair, Dr. Michael Margolis, was incredibly supportive of my topic. He constantly encouraged my investigations and he challenged me to produce a level of work higher than I believed myself capable of producing. Dr. Margolis provided extremely swift and detailed reviews of my drafts and I always felt as if I was his only concern. Dr. Alfred Tuchfarber and Dr. Barbara Bardes both provided invaluable assistance in gathering background history and in setting up my datasets. They both believed in my research and made my work feel attainable and valuable. I could not have hoped for a better dissertation committee. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. Abstract 8 II. Review of the Literature a. Corruption and the Rise of Progressive Reform 10 b. Weaknesses of the Strong Council Model 13 c. The Adapted City and the Adapted Mayor Model 14 III. Research Design a. Empirical Test of the Hybrid Governmental Model 18 b. The Cincinnati Experience; 20 Strong Mayor Rule in a Hierarchical City c. The At-Large, Nine-X Reforms; 20 The Beginning of Adapted-Strong Council Reforms d. The Top-Vote-Getter Reform; 24 Continued Adapted-Strong Council Reforms e. The Hybrid Mayor Reform Movement; 25 Cincinnati as a Hybrid City f. Development of the Null Hypotheses 29 5 g. Quantifiable Testing; Research Procedures, Data and Methods 34 i. Legislative Leadership and Party Unity 36 ii. Committee Assignments 38 iii. Political Participation 39 iv. Media Perception 41 h. Implications of Research 45 IV. Results of Testing a. Statistical Analysis of Each Hypothesis i. Hypothesis # 1: Legislative Leadership 46 ii. Hypothesis # 2: Party Unity 53 iii. Hypothesis # 3: Committee Chair Assignments 66 iv. Hypothesis # 4: Political Participation 69 v. Sub- Hypothesis to #4: Issue 4 Support 72 5a. Party Affiliation 78 5b. Race 83 5c. Level of Education 89 6 5d. Median Family Income 93 vi. Hypothesis # 5: Media Perception 99 b. Conclusions: Judging Luken’s First Term 103 c. Implications for Future Research 121 V. Attachments a. Bibliography 125 b. #1 Sample Newspaper Coding Sheets 131 c. #2 IOC Source Sheet 6 Years 133 d. #3 Party Affiliation of Chairmanships 12 Years 134 #4 Box Plot for Median Family Income 135 7 I. ABSTRACT The City of Cincinnati has experienced a wave of governmental reform of a magnitude that has not been felt since the 1920s. Frustrated with racial unrest, a lack of accountability and legislative inefficiencies, local political leaders and public activists called for greater accountability and decisiveness from their urban government. Blame for these failures landed squarely upon the backs of the City Council and the weak Mayor system. As a consequence of this pressure, Cincinnati reformed its city charter to incorporate a ‘Hybrid’ Model of municipal governance. This is not just a specific modification of the current charter, rather it is an attempt at a full governmental reform in order to change the very seat of legislative and leadership power. Within the field of political science, urban governance literature is founded solidly upon qualitative case study research. Because of the time consuming nature of gathering, encoding and statistically analyzing large volumes of data, the study of the impact of charter reform measures has remained relatively devoid of quantitative research. This dissertation offers a quantitative based analysis that reveals that there are certain statistically significant consequences that have resulted from this governmental reform. My research analyzes five critical hypotheses that the qualitative scholarly literature and political reformers determined would change as the result of a city adopting this governing model. Hypotheses tested involve Legislative Leadership, Party Unity, Committee Assignments, Media Perception and Political Participation. This dissertation illustrates that the primary consequences of reform have occurred within three areas; First, an increase in party unity within the (minority) Republican Party. Secondly, an increase in negative attitude towards the Hybrid Mayor 8 post-reform in the city’s newspaper reports. Third, a small increase in the percentage of ordinances the mayor proposed before Council. The results of this analysis argue that the expectation of broad changes within municipal governance has not occurred. These findings suggest that more drastic shifts in the structure of power are necessary if major changes are desired. 9 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE: CORRUPTION AND PROGRESSIVE REFORM Before the municipal reforms of the Progressive era were enacted, the Mayor- Council Model dominated America’s municipal landscape. Versions of this form of government were found throughout all local, state and national governments and represented what was believed to be the natural distribution of power in a republic. It was generally understood that in order to have a successful republican form of government one must have separate political institutions sharing power within a structure of checks and balances. Also know as the “Strong Mayor” Model, the Mayor-Council system represents the hierarchical structure of government in its purest form. (Frederickson, et al., 2003). The system’s core source of motivation is within the competition of political parties for the control of legislative and administrative power. By winning seats in political posts, a party takes the reins of government and will be accountable to the voters at the next election. One key weakness within this model is its assumptions of both fair, competitive elections and a lack of corruption. The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries witnessed what is arguably municipal democracy at its worst. The era is best described with terms such as corruption, bossism, favoritism, and patronage (Hansel, p.1, 2003). The party boss was the central figure and he carefully dispensed city jobs to his “trustees” in exchange for their loyal service and votes. City contracts and construction permits were dispensed as political patronage (Patton, p.18, 1981). It was commonly believed that there was little, if any, hope of the creation of an honest municipal government. 10 How widespread was the problem of corruption? It is not clear as to a percentage but it is generally accepted that the “perception” of universal corruption was accepted. The trend to reform government began at the federal level with the 1883 Pendleton Act that established the Civil Service Commission and brought about merit-based reforms.