Budget Requests and Agency Head Selection Methods

In this article I use pooled time series data from more than 500 agencies in thirteen states to assess the effects of agency head selection methods on levels of gubernatorial support for agency budget requests and expansion of agency budgets. I find that elected agency heads from the governor's political party receive greater support for both short-term budget success (the current request) and long-term success (increases to the previous year's budget). Elected officials from the opposition party to the governor do not receive the additional gubernatorial support for budget requests or growth. Consistent with the findings of Sharkansky, Lauth, and Thompson, state legislatures continue to take their budget cues from the governors. In more than 60 percent of the cases in the data, the final appropriation is closer to the governor's recommendation than to the agency request.