Governor Jim Justice has grown increasingly frustrated with the drawn out budget discussions with lawmakers. “I want this to be over, and I want it to be over right now,” Justice said during a press conference Tuesday.
Justice has tried to bring what he maintains is a new approach to the Governor’s office, one that excludes politics. In fact, he recoils when members of his team try to advise him on the politics of a particular situation.
It appears that to Justice the politics of public policy making are the equivalent of “political games,” and therefore they are to be derided or ignored. It’s true that there is often an unseemly underbelly to politics, but to dismiss the debate, conflict and compromise of governing is a mistake.
At its core, politics is the struggle for power to implement policies. Without power, policies are nothing more than easily discarded notions.
Social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven, in their often-referenced 1959 study on leadership, identified five bases of power: Coercive, where someone is forced to do something; Reward, where an individual is motivated by a benefit; Legitimate, where power is derived from a sense of obligation to authority; Referent, where the leader has high personal approval that causes loyalty; and Expert, where the leader’s knowledge instills confidence and trust.
A successful politician knows how to tap into each of these bases to achieve their ends. We often think of this process negatively, as in a “power hungry politician,” and there are plenty examples of public figures who have abused the public trust for their own gain or glorification.
Unfortunately, those bad apples shame a process that is legitimate and functional. Public policy without politics is impossible in a free society.
Justice brings to the Governor’s office vast experience in the private sector, where he was used to telling people what to do. That’s what bosses do, libraries are full of research and theories on how managers get the best out of their people.
He should be able to bring to government the most valuable lesson of the private sector—the necessity of measuring results and holding people accountable, functions often lacking in the public sector. However, government also has something to teach Justice and it’s about politics.
Justice should not run away from politics, but rather embrace it and study it. He benefits from a larger-than-life persona and an insatiable drive to “do something.” But he can’t do it alone. Government is split into equal branches for a reason and many of his counterparts in the Legislature understand and practice politics.
The power to make change is directly linked to politics and once Governor Justice realizes that, a world of new possibilities for West Virginia that he talks about constantly will open up to him.