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THEN
Governor George W. Bush, who encouraged bipartisan cooperation, was elected to a second term with
69 percent of the vote.
NOW
After a first term featuring not only a lack of bipartisanship but
also conflict within his own party, Rick Perry is reelected with 39 percent of the vote in 2006.
NEXT
If Democrats continue to narrow the gap in the state legislature, will Perry move toward
bipartisanship?
Will prominent Republicans be able to bridge the gap between fiscal and social conservatives?
Will Perry's third-term policies reflect the values of the social conservatives who strongly supported
him?
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PREVIEW
This chapter examines the structure and the functions of the offices and agencies within the executive
branch.
FIRST, we investigate the roles of the governor within the Texas political system. 1.
SECOND, we explore the governor's powers, both formal and informal. The governor has formal
executive, legislative, judicial, and military authority as well as informal influence as party leader and
head of government.
2.
THIRD, we analyze the administrative agencies of state government in Texas and compare their
structure with the structures of executive branches of other states.
3.
The governor is the most salient political actor in state government. Whether the true power center of the
state is embodied in the occupant of the office or somewhere else, the office is the focal point of state
government and politics. The governor is expected to perform many tasks and is blamed for not doing others,
even if the office is formally very weak. The expectation is that governors will be leaders in their state.
The power and respect accorded to governors have varied greatly over time. During the colonial period, little
power or respect was afforded the officesome have argued that the American Revolution was a war against
colonial governors. The experiences of southern states following Reconstruction led to a return of weak
governors in the South. There is an old Texas saying: The governor should have only enough power to sign
for his paycheck. In recent times, the power and prestige of the office have increased, as evidenced by recent
presidential politics. In both Democratic and Republican parties, many presidential candidates have been
former governors. In the past twenty-seven years, only former President George H. W. Bush and President
Barack Obama had not served as governors before becoming president. Today, the office of governor has
assumed new significance because of a change in attitude toward the role of the federal government. The
Republican Congress of the 1990s promised to return power and responsibility to state governments and to
allow states more flexibility in administering programs funded by the federal government. Even without the
renewed significance of the office, and even though many governors have little formal power, governors are
important players in state politics.