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Page 1 of 12 Last Updated: 9 / 1 /2021

GOVT 2306 Page 1 of 12 Research Project on Texas Legislators

Profile of YOUR Member s of the Texas Legislature

Text Reference: Jones, et al, Texas Politics Today, 19th Edition, Chapter 7

We can learn a great deal about the operation of the Texas legislature and its role in the policymaking process by focusing on individual members of the body. You can learn about your Texas state representative and Texas state senator from a number of library resources as well as on the Internet.

For this research project, you will need to find out which of the

  • 150 members of the Texas House of Representatives serves your district.

--- AND ---

  • 31 members of the Texas Senate serves your district.

To find your Texas rep and Texas senator,

  • Go to https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home.
  • Enter your address information.

The search will return a number of people who serve your district.

You want the representative who serves YOUR Texas House District ##.

You want the senator who serves YOUR Texas Senate District ##. That means, you are NOT profiling John Cornyn or Ted Cruz.

Resources for Completing the Profile

The official websites for your representative and senator will include biographical data and information about committee assignments. It will probably also tell you something about the member's pet issues and viewpoints. Keep in mind that the member's office provides the content of his or her website, so don't expect anything critical or negative to appear. (If you rely solely on a member’s website for information, you may be subsequently embarrassed to discover that the member has been involved in a serious or at least interesting scandal that was not reported on the website.)

So, in addition to your legislators’ websites, see other online sources:

  • Ballotpedia (https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page" ballotpedia.org/Texas) is an online encyclopedia of national and local politics. It contains a wealth of current information.
  • The website for Project Vote Smart (https://justfacts.votesmart.org/" https://justfacts.votesmart.org/) will be useful as well. It is located at https://justfacts.votesmart.org/. The search box at the top of the page allows users to search for a legislator by name. The site includes information about campaign finances, issue positions, voting records, public statements, and interest group ratings.

The interest group websites include issue scorecards in which the groups evaluate legislators based on their voting records. Keep in mind that the scorecards reveal how interest groups feel about the legislator, not vice versa. Groups concerned with abortion are at the top, but you can use the drop down menu to find other types of groups. Keep in mind that interest groups are not objective in their evaluations. If you aren't sure about a particular group's bias, you can go to its website for more information or research it online.

  • Use an internet search engine (like Bing or Google) to find recent stories involving your Texas legislators. This will help you learn about recent events involving the member, including issues not covered on the member’s own website.

Other sites with useful information include:

www.HoustonPublicMedia.org

www.TexasTribune.org

Best Practices

Do not wait until the day the assignment is due to begin work. That is a prescription for a very poor grade.

  • Read the questions closely before answering them. Students frequently lose points for failing to fully answer. In particular, if the question asks you to write a paragraph, that means you need to write several sentences. A paragraph is not a single sentence. As you recall from your English class, paragraphs have topic sentences, several sentences in the body that develop the topic sentence, and a concluding sentence that ties the paragraph together.
  • NEVER, never, never copy and paste from a website. The purpose of this assignment is for you to learn to do research. That involves finding information, reporting it, and interpreting it. Copying and pasting from a website is the opposite of research. It is the opposite of critical thinking. It is the opposite of what any self-respecting college student should do. When I detect that a student has copied and pasted from a source (and it is always obvious), I immediately go into overdrive looking for opportunities to take off points. Nothing irritates me more because it shows me that the student has no interest in learning how to think critically and write about his or her ideas.
  • Write and submit your answers in English. Do not write in another language and then use a translation program to create a document to submit. College policy requires that instruction be in English. The use of translation apps violates that policy. It also undermines your efforts to improve your English skills. Projects completed with translation apps will be given a grade of zero (0).
  • Don’t provide information that has not been requested. I.e., don’t include information relevant to question 3 when answering question 2. Don’t stray off topic.

Be sure to use correct grammar and punctuation. One of the reasons you are in college is to learn to write correctly. Here are some common writing errors and websites that briefly explain correct usage:

--Differentiating between possessives and plurals and using apostrophes correctly: http://www.meredith.edu/grammar/plural.htm" http://www.meredith.edu/grammar/plural.htm

--Using apostrophes correctly: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe

--Avoiding run-on sentences: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/runons.htm" http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/runons.htm

--Avoiding sentence fragments: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/fragments.htm" http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/fragments.htm

--Using semicolons correctly: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon" http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

--Matching pronouns with their antecedents: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/pronouns.htm

--Using commas correctly: http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp" http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp

Grading C riteria

Following directions. Please read the directions for each question carefully and follow them closely. Be sure to address all parts of each question.

  • Using correct English grammar. Write in complete sentences, avoiding the sort of shortcut constructions that people use in text messages. Because you have the opportunity to submit your project to an English tutor for assistance, I expect good writing and I will take off points for grammatical errors. I especially watch for sentence fragments, run-on sentences, confusing plural with possessive, pronoun-antecedent agreement errors, and misuse of the semi-colon.
  • Providing accurate and timely information. You should have up-do-date information on the members of the Texas legislature that you are researching.
  • Thinking clearly. Many of the questions require you to apply course concepts to real world situations. I will sometimes also ask you to explain the reasoning process you followed in deriving your answer.
  • Doing your own work. Write in your own words. If you copy and paste from a website, I will spot it easily and you will lose points.
  • At the end of each paragraph, include the source(s) for your information. MLA citations are preferred where possible. But it is likely that most of your information will have an internet source. In those cases, you can simply provide the link and the date you accessed the source.

    • Questions

    You should treat this assignment as a series of numbered short answer questions. There are eleven (11) multi-part questions below and you must answer all the parts of each question about BOTH your state representative AND your state senator to get full credit.

    DO NOT write a unified essay. If you write an essay instead of answering the questions by number, you will receive a zero (0)!

    Copy and paste the questions into an RTF or Word file, so that you can edit it. Single-space the questions. Then, supply answers after the questions, being careful to address all parts of the question. Double-space your answers.

    Remember that you are answering EACH of the eleven (11) multi-part questions for BOTH your Texas representative AND your Texas Senator.

    Since you are showing each question before your answer, your entire project will be around 9 to 12 pages long.

    Your product should look something like this:

    Questions are single-spaced. Answers are double-spaced.

    Sources are below each paragraph.

    This is NOT a group assignment. Work on this project alone. It is very obvious when you’ve worked on something in conjunction with someone else!

    Please follow the instructions above so that you do not lose points needlessly, or even end up with a zero (0). This project is 2 5 % of your grade. A zero (0) will do considerable damage to your final grade.

    For best success, carefully read the instructions in the previous pages before you - begin work on the questions below.

    Which Texas House district do you live in? (Identify the district by its number.) Who represents you in the Texas House of Representatives? Which Texas Senate district do you live in? (Again, identify the district by its number.) Who is your Texas Senator?

    (10 points) Write a paragraph describing the personal, professional, and educational background of your state representative before he or she entered the Texas Legislature. Focus on the non-political aspects of the member's life. In what ways is the representative you are studying typical of other members of the Texas House? In what ways is he or she atypical? Atypical means not typical.

  • Base your judgment about what you learned in your text about the typical member of the Texas legislature. Keep in mind that this question focuses on the demographic, occupational, educational, religious, and career background of the member. It does NOT ask about issue positions, character, or motivations. DO NOT copy and paste from the representative’s website.

    • *****

    Who is your state senator? Write another paragraph in which you answer the questions above about your state senator. DO NOT copy and paste from the senator’s website.

    (10 points) Write a paragraph describing your representative's political background. Identify any elected and appointed positions in government the person you are studying held before being elected to the Texas House of Representatives. Identify the year your representative first won election to the Texas House. Is he or she a career politicianA career politician is someone who wishes to earn his or her living in the political arena for an extended period of time.? What is the basis of your judgment?

    *****

    Write another paragraph in which you answer the same questions above your state senator.

    (10 points) Write a paragraph describing the district your representative serves. Make sure you address all of the following questions. Where is it located in the state? Does it include any towns? Is it part of a major city? Is it inner-city urban, suburban, small town, or rural? Does the district appear to be gerrymandered? What is the racial and ethnic demographic makeup of the district? What is the median income of your district? What are the top three (3) industries in the district? (A good resource is https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Overview" https://statisticalatlas.com. What issue or issues would you expect to be particularly important to the residents and interest groups found in the member’s district because of the nature of the district? Identify at least one issue and explain why it is particularly important in this representative’s district, whereas it might not be as important in other districts.

    *****

    Write another paragraph in which you answer the same questions above your state senator. Since senators serve a much wider geographic area than representatives, you will probably see a marked difference in their districts.

    (10 points) Write a paragraph discussing your representative's committee assignments. On which standing committees does the member serve You can look up “standing committee” in your text.? Is the representative the chair or ranking minority member of a committee? The “ranking minority member” is the most senior member of a state legislative committee from the minority party. What sorts of policy issues does each of the standing committees address? Is your representative a member of any subcommittees? Does he/she play a leadership role by serving as a chair or ranking member of any committees or subcommittees? [ Please note : Do NOT give me information about the member’s participation in legislative caucuses.]

    *****

    Write another paragraph in which you answer the same questions about your state senator.

    (10 points) How much money did your representative raise for the 2020 election? How much did his or her main opponent raise? You can probably find this at ballotpedia. If not, do an internet search., If the database indicates that a challenger raised no money, it means just that—the challenger raised no money.

    *****

    Write another paragraph in which you answer the same questions for your state senator. Because Texas state senators serve four (4) year terms, your senator may not have been up for re-election in 2020. If that is the case, give the money they raised for their 2018 race.

    (10 pts.) What percentage of the vote did the representative receive in the 2020 election? Based on the results of the 2020 election and the data on fundraising, does it appear that this representative is firmly entrenched in the Texas House? Entrenched means unlikely to be defeated for reelection anytime soon. Why or why not? Is this typical for members of the Texas House in general?

    *****

    Write another paragraph in which you answer the same questions for your state senator. Because Texas state senators serve four (4) year terms, your state senator may not have been up for re-election in 2020. If that is the case, answer this question for the 2018 election.

    (10 points) The Project Vote Smart website includes links to several interest groups that rate members of Congress and state legislatures based on their voting records. If you are unsure about what an interest group is, read Chapter 6 of the textbook. The group identifies a set of votes that it considers important and gives the member a score depending on whether the member supports the policy positions favored by the group. A high score means that the member voted the way the interest group likes most of the time. Select one of the groups (using the pull-down menu) and research its evaluation of the Texas representative you are profiling. What group did you select? (Choose a specific group rather than a category of groups.) With what sorts of issues is the group concerned? Be specific. How does the group feel about the state representative you are studying? What score did the group give the representative? Would you expect the group to consider him or her an ally, an enemy, or something in between? Discuss.

    *****

    Write another paragraph in which you answer the same questions for your state senator.

    (10 points) The Project Vote Smart website includes a link to speeches and public statements of each representative. Review some of the recent speeches and public statements of the representative you are studying. Identify an issue on which the representative has recently focused. What is the issue? Why does the representative think it is important? What position has the representative taken? DO NOT just copy the statement of the representative.If you do not find enough information about your legislators speeches and public statements on Project Vote Smart, remember that you should do an internet search to see which things are associated with them in the news.

    *****

    Write another paragraph in which you answer the same questions for your state senator. DO NOT just copy the statement of the senator.

    (10 points) To which political party does your Texas representative belong? Based on his or her voting record, interest group evaluations, fundraising sources, and issue positions, would you say that he or she is typical or atypical of members of his or her party? Your textbook discusses political parties in Chapter 5. Explain the reasoning behind your answer. Be specific.

    *****

    Write another paragraph in which you answer the same questions for your state senator.

    (10 points) Finally, do you admire your state representative? Why or why not? Be specific. Would you urge someone to vote for (or, against) your representative?

    *****

    Do you admire your state senator? Why or why not? Again, be specific. Would your urge someone to vote for (or, against) your state senator?