Power Influences and Public Input

Outside Influences and Public Administration: Audio Interviews Outside Influences and Public Administration Interviewer: What are some of the outside influences that affect public organizations and how, in your opinion, should public administrators manage these external influences?

Representative Keith Ellison United States Congressman, 5th District of Minnesota Washington, D.C.

Well, I think that clearly that there are special interests oftentimes associated with industry that will try to influence public organizations; whether you are talking about public utility commissions and rates and things like that, or schools, or any other kind of public organization you might mention, there are outside influences which stand to gain economically or want to assert an ideological stamp on the organization.

What I think that the public administrator should do is to be open and available to gauge input from all sides, but also to be alert that sometimes concerted special interest groups could have undo and a disproportionate influence on public policy that does not necessarily reflect the silent majority. So when the public administrators gets the sense that they are not hearing from everybody, they have got to make sure that they go that extra mile to make sure that all voices are included in the decision-making process.

This might mean having community forums. This might mean having town hall forums on the telephone, telephone conference where you can literally get in hundreds of people. It may mean a number of things.

But it is something that I think the public administrator/leader needs to know. Because I think that if you have—Margaret Mead is famous for saying, never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. In fact, that is all that ever has.

Well, that goes for everybody, that is not just a role for people who want to enhance opportunity and promote civil and human rights, that goes for people who want to do the opposite as well. So it is important that the public leader incorporate all points of view and be alert to when certain points of view are being projected in a disproportionate way.

State Senator Katie Sieben Minnesota State Senator, District 57 St. Paul, MN Certainly, the press through the media always influences public organizations and I think in the case of legislature that should be the case, or that should happen because we want to have a very transparent and open process.

In terms of other outside influences, I think that they should have access to legislators. There needs to be a balance, so it should never be where a legislator is only hearing from one side on an issue, but I think most of my colleagues are good at listening to both sides of an issue.

Ms. Deborah Chase City Council Member 1998 - 2003, Mayor 2002 - 2003 City of Kennmore Some of the outside influences at the local level include neighborhood groups, upset citizens, media coverage that focused only on the sensational and not the full story. So how you manage those external Page 1 of 2 Transcript 01 /25 /201 7 http://media.capella.edu/CourseMedia/DPA8404/outsideinfluences/DPA8404_outsideinf l... influences: you always listen politely, you have well thought out consistent messages and reply, and know that it is OK to say that you were not aware of the situation or had not considered that idea, as long as you get back to them with an answer in a reasonable timeframe. Page 2 of 2 Transcript 01 /25 /201 7 http://media.capella.edu/CourseMedia/DPA8404/outsideinfluences/DPA8404_outsideinf l...