The administrative presidency revisited: public lands, the BLM, and the Reagan revolution

403 Pages·8.748 MB·English

by  Robert F. Durant

THE
ADMINISTRATIVE
PRESIDENCY
REVISITED
Public Lands, the BLM, and
the Reagan Revolution
Robert F. Durant
State University
of New York
Press
Publishedb y
State University of New York Press,A lbany
© 1992 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United Stateso f America
No part of this book may be used or reproducedi n any mannerw hatsoever
without written permissione xcepti n the caseo f brief quotationse mbodiedi n
critical articles and reviews.
For information, addressS tate University of New York
Press,S tateU niversity Plaza, Albany, NY, 12246
Library of CongressC ataloging-in-PublicationD ata
Durant, Robert F., 1949-
The administrativep residencyr evisited : public lands, the ELM,
and the Reaganr evolution I Robert F. Durant.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical referencesa nd index.
ISBN 0-7914-9859-7( alk. paper) : $54.50. - ISBN 0-7914-0960-0
(pbk. : alk. paper) : $17.95
1. American Presidency.2 . United States-NaturaRl esources.3 . New
Mexico-NaturalR esources.4 . United States.B ureau of Land Management.
5. Reagan,R onald. I. Title.
HD243.N5D87 1992
333.1'0973-dc20 91-14098
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Tom, Esther, and Joseph Baca:
There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
-Proverbs 18:24

CONTENTS
List of Tables and Figures 1x
Preface x1
Acknowledgments xv
PART I. THE ANATOMY OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE
PRESIDENCY 1
Chapter 1
A Passion to Prevail 3
Chapter 2
Prometheus Unbound or Sisyphus Redux? 29
Chapter 3
Public Lands, the BLM, and the Reagan Revolution 51
PART IL A VIEW FROM THE GRASSROOTS 79
Chapter 4
Politics, Position, and Power Production 81
Chapter 5
Back door Privatization, "Cow Welfare," and
the BLM 103
V11
Vlll CONTENTS
Chapter6
Toward Becoming a "Good Urban Neighbor"? Or,
"You're Not a Man Till You Do a Land Exchange" 129
Chapter7
Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor'sW ater 163
Chapter8
Wilderness,K ing Coal, and the SanJ uanB asin 193
PART III. BEYOND FEAR OR FAVOR: LESSONS FOR
THEORY AND PRACTICE 229
Chapter9
Missing Links, Links Gone Missing, and Natural
ResourceM anagement 231
Chapter1 0
"Fire Alarms," "GarbageC ans," and the
Administrative Presidency 2 7 5
Notes 323
References 3 5 5
Index 385
About the Author 401
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLES
1-1 Major Legislation Affecting the Managemento f
U.S. Public Lands, 1872-1978 14
3-1 BLM Personnel by State, FY 1980-FY 1986 62
3-2 Total BLM State Personnel by Administrative
Level, FY 1980-FY 1986 63
3-3 BLM State Office Personnel as a Percentage of
Total Statewide BLM Personnel by Division and
State, 1981 64
3-4 BLM State Office Personnel by Function, FY
1980-FY 1986 66
3-5 BLM Personnel by AdministrativeL evel, New
Mexico, FY 1980-FY 1986 69
3-6 BLM State Office Selected Personnel Skill Mix,
New Mexico, FY 1980 and FY 1986 70
3-7 BLM District Office Selected Personnel Skill
Mix, New Mexico, FY 1981-FY 1986 71
3-8 BLM Resource Area Selected Personnel Skill
Mix, New Mexico, FY 1980-FY 1986 72
3-9 Selected Indices of NaturalR esource
Development on BLM Lands, New Mexico, FY
1976-FY 1988 74
8-1 Comparisono f Andrus (1979) and Watt
(1982/83) Coal-Leasing Regulations 198
9-1 Decision Settings and AppropriateG overnance
Networks 252
IX
---- '"']'""""
X THE ADMINISTRATIVE PRESIDENCY REVISITED
10-1 Decision Parameterso f Different Types of
PresidentialA genda Items 280
10-2 BureaupoliticalD ynamics of the Administrative
Presidencyb y Type of Agenda Item 290
FIGURES
9-1 Traditional and Alternative Production
Structures 269
10-1 A Typology of Agenda Items 278
10-2 BureaupoliticalR esponsea s a Function of the
NoncomplianceD elay Effect (NDE) 295
10-3 Political Appointee-CareerisRt elations: A
StrategicP erspective 311
PREFACE
With bureaucraticp erformancew idely recognizeda s problematic
yet critical to presidentialo bjectives,a nd with executive-legislative
stalematea lmostr outine in a redistributivee ra of policy choicea nd
hyperpluralism,r ecentp residentsh ave turnedt o the "administra
tive presidency" to energize,d irect, and control domestic policy.
While the study of this phenomenonh as increasingly attracted
substantials cholarly attention,s ignificant gapsr emain in our un
derstanding of its implementation processes, potential, and
pitfalls.
This book attempts to develop a theoretical foundation for
understandinga nd applying the administrativep residencya cross
both domestica nd foreign policy domains by taking a decidedly
different approach and analytical focus than those of its pre
decessorsS. pecifically, it uses PresidentR onald Reagan'se fforts to
reorient natural resourcep olicy in the West as a "policy window"
for examiningt he politics, processesa, nd prospectso f the admin
istrative presidency.T he book's analytical focus is the way the
Bureau of Land Management's( BLM) efforts to reorient public
land policy affected a single yet pivotal Westerns tate: New Mex
ico. Using a comparativec ases tudy design,t his "bottom-up" per
spectivea ffords an uncommonv iew of the administrativep residen
cy acrosss ix policy arenas:r angelandm anagemente, nergyl easing,
water resourcem anagementw, ildernessp reservation,u rban eco
nomic development,a nd public land acquisition.
Why be concernedw ith the experiencese arly in his admin
istration of a presidentl ong since departedf or sunnier climes in
SouthernC alifornia? Why anothers tudy of perhapst he most aca
demically scrutinizedp residencyi n recentm emory? One reasoni s
that Ronald Reaganw as the quintessentiapl ractitionero f the ad
ministrative presidency,w ielding its tools with a comprehensive
ness,v igor, andr elentlessnesusn paralleledin his predecessorsA. n
other reasoni s more forward-looking. With the presidencyl ikely
Xl
XU THE ADMINISTRATIVE PRESIDENCY REVISITED
to remain the epicenter of public accountability for an impatient
and unforgiving citizenry, the administrative presidency promises
to retain its allure to embattled Republican or Democratic chief
executives-be they liberal, moderate, or conservative. This book's
findings, conclusions, and prescriptions will completely please nei
ther Reagan's supporters nor his critics. Neither will it totally
comfort proponents of the administrative presidency, nor assuage
those wary or contemptuous of it. Indeed, the analysis reveals both
good and bad news for those on all sides of the debate over the
strategy's assumptions, as well as its instrumental and normative
implications for the contemporary administrative state.
Others may be disappointed that this book fails to examine the
impact of the administrative presidency on the morale and charac
ter of the federal career service in the BLM. Certainly, this is an
important dimension of the strategy's impact during the Reagan
Administration and beyond on what Hugh Hecla terms "the larger
organizational life of government." 1 To the extent that the admin
istrative presidency leads to lower morale, early exits from the
public service, and more difficult recruitment of new employees,
the quality of our lives as citizens in the administrative state suffers
as well. Yet such linkages are difficult to establish, vulnerable as
they are to spurious and confounding effects. And even when links
are empirically demonstrated, one's judgment about their implica
tions is typically colored by one's view of the appropriate trade-off
between political responsiveness and professional expertise. Thus,
I leave this task to others, focusing instead in chapter 10 on how a
public service model of political appointee-careerist relations
might be developed in the federal government.
The specific cases selected for illustration and analysis in this
study oi the administrative presidency obviously do not represent a
random sample of those experienced in New Mexico, let alone the
West as a whole. Such a research design is impractical. What is
more, it is unnecessary given the study's purposes: to generate
propositions, analytical frameworks, and strategies through in
depth exploration of significant implementation experiences. Es
chewed as well is any attempt to evaluate how wise or imprudent
were the Reagan Administration's policy goals. Our concern only
is how well- or ill-served these goals were by the administrative
strategies wielded by Reagan's appointees.