Democracy Forum 8/21/20 Is Government Doing Good: Policy Feedback Effects & the Civic Divide

Published: Aug. 21, 2020, 8 p.m.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine NOTE: This is a rebroadcast of a program that originally aired on 11/15/2019 We’ll talk about new political science research into policy feedback effects How public policy design affects people’s sense of themselves as citizens and their propensity to participate. What this means for legislators and advocates Guests: Amy Fried, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine Don Moynihan, McCourt Chair at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University To learn more about this topic: Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means, Pamela Herd and Donald P. Moynihan, December 2018 “Citizens feel disconnected from government. If they knew what government did for them, they wouldn’t.” Interview with Susan Mettler, Washington Post, November 2018 Reforms at Risk: What Happens After Major Policy Changes Are Enacted , Eric M. Patashnik, 2009 Citizens By Degree: Higher Education Policy and the Changing Gender Dynamics of American Citizenship. Deondra Rose, February 2018 The Government-Citizen Disconnect, Suzanne Mettler, July 2018 Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences of American Crime Control. Amy E. Lerman and Vesla M. Weaver, June 2014 Soldiers to Citizens: The G.I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation, Suzanne Mettler, September 2007 The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn About the host: Ann currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009. In her work for the League, Ann has worked for greater public understanding of public policy issues and for the League’s priority issues in Clean Elections & Campaign Finance Reform, Voting Rights, Ethics in Government, Ranked Choice Voting, and Repeal of Term Limits. Representing LWVME at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, she served that coalition as co-president from 2006 to 2011. She remains on the board of MCCE and serves as Treasurer. She is active in the LWV-Downeast and hosts their monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum, on WERU FM Community Radio -which started out in 2004 as an recurring special, and became a regular monthly program in 2012. She was the 2013 recipient of the Baldwin Award from the ACLU of Maine for her work on voting rights and elections. She joined the League in 1998 when she retired as Senior Vice President at SEI Investments. Ann was a founder of the MDI Restorative Justice Program, 1999 – 2000, and served on its Executive Board.