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"Public use" is a constitutional limitation on the governmental authority to take private property using eminent domain. This study finds that it is irrelevant, an artifact of the federal constitution, in state reforms enacted in the last decade. Expansive language permitting economic development and private development have rendered public use to be merely symbolic. Forty-six states enacted takings reforms following Kelo v. New London, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2005; approximately 80% of those states allow economic or private takings while also invoking the public use. This mixed-method analysis and normative theoretical grounding explain stark contradictions in the prevailing reforms nationwide, resulting in substantive implementation challenges that may be mitigated by sensitivity to regime values, one of which is property.

"Public administrators need to be empowered to make difficult decisions. Acting in the public interest often means doing what is ethical even when it is the unpopular choice. Yet too often, public servants at the local, state, and federal levels internalize the notion that their hands are tied and that they are limited in their ability to effect change. Empowering Public Administrators: Ethics and Public Service Values provides a much-needed antidote to inaction, offering a new lens for viewing administrative decision-making and behavior. This book makes a case for bringing historically significant theories to the forefront of public service ethics by applying them to a series of current ethical challenges in practice. Exploring administrative discretion as modern bureaucrats govern public affairs in a political context, this collection builds on the normative foundations of public administration and provides readers with a scaffold for understanding and practicing public service values. Questions for discussion and applications to practice are included in each chapter making this collection of interest to public affairs masters and doctoral students as well as public service practitioners"--

Introduction : the constitutional tradition in public administration ethics / Larkin Dudley, Nicole M. Elias & Amanda OlejarksiI -- Civil servants on the front-lines of greenhouse gas regulation : the responsibilities of public administrators to protect the public in the face of recalcitrant political institutions / Michelle C. Pautz -- Regime values in disaster management / Patrick S. Roberts -- Advancing administrative ethics through needs-based budgeting practice / Kate Preston Keeney & Michael S. Keeney -- Freedom v. fairness : how unresolved normative tension contributed to the collapse of the U.S. housing market in 2008 and policymaker inability to reform it a decade on / Susan W. Gates -- Due process and property : what process due? / Amanda M. Olejarski & Sue M. Neal -- Property, intellectual property and ethics in public administration / Sara R. Jordan -- Privacy as a supra-regime value : the ethical argument for a new evolution of regime values to better protect financial privacy in local governments / Mike Potter -- Property and emerging institutional types : the challenge of private foundations in public higher education / Kathryn E. Webb Farley -- Non-binary gender identity : challenging public values and reshaping institutions / Nicole M. Elias & Gwendolyn Saffran -- Social equity and voting rights : a shrinking regime / Susan T. Gooden & Brandy Faulkner -- A proposal for strategic controls to ensure equity in the criminal justice system / Henry Smart -- Advancing equity through increased access to residential broadband / Daniel Boden & Roy Kirby -- Conclusion : where the Constitution can lead us / Nicole M. Elias, Amanda M. Olejarski & Sue M. Neal.

"In the current U.S. context, we are facing a Constitutional crisis with frequent government shutdowns and new policy debates surrounding immigration, climate change, budgeting practices, and the balance of power. With competing interests, unclear policy, and inconsistent leadership directives, the question becomes: How do contemporary bureaucrats make sense of this ethically turbulent environment? This collection provides a lens for viewing administrative decision-making and behavior from a Constitutional basis, as contemporary bureaucrats attempt to navigate uncharted territory. Ethics for Contemporary Bureaucrats is organized around three constitutional values: freedom, property, and social equity. These themes are based on emerging trends in public administration and balanced with traditional ethical models. Each chapter provides an overview of a contemporary ethical issue, identifies key actors, institutions, legal and legislative policy, and offers normative and practical recommendations to address the challenges the issue poses. Rooted in a respected and time-tested intellectual history, this volume speaks to bureaucrats in a modern era of governance. It is ideally suited to educate students, scholars, and public servants on Constitutional values and legal precedent as a basis for ethics in the public sector"--

Community and business interests are set in opposition, rather than in a harmonious balance, in the 2005 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London. The narrative of eminent domain, through the lens of Kelo, highlights these conflicting values. The case presents a local government that used its power of takings to attract Pfizer, the pharmaceutical conglomerate, to build a plant for production of the little blue pill, which symbolizes private interests in this case. The community's dissension of taking an individual's private property for use by another private entity centered on a pink house, which has come to be known as the symbol of eminent domain abuse. This narrative is explored through in-depth interviews with public administrators experienced with eminent domain, community grassroots organizers involved with the case, and relevant articles from the local newspaper. A key finding of the study surrounds similarities between the perspectives of those people involved in Kelo and administrators throughout the state of Connecticut, the birthplace of the case. Although a nation built on the notion of the right to hold private property, the case suggests that in an era of late capitalism, business is of utmost importance to the community regardless of citizens' desires in the United States.

Hurricane Katrina continues to capture attention and influence scholarship including official reports that focus more on event chronologies than on conceptual patterns. Our paper explores conceptual patterns crisis management behaviour, drawing upon Lalonde's (2004) archetypes of crisis managers as collectivists, integrators, and reactives. We add a paralytics archetype for our analysis. Key findings include an imbalance between counterproductive and constructive archetypes. Reactive and paralytic crisis manager behaviours were over‐represented, significantly contributing to conflict, communication failures, and the systemic failure of governments. Collectivist and integrator archetypes were badly under‐represented, limiting intergovernmental relations, cooperation, and communication embedded in these behaviour types. Crisis management performance with future crises would benefit from a systematic assessment of crisis management styles and behaviours.

AbstractEquity issues persist in defining public sector women as in need of accommodation, including during times of child‐rearing or caregiving. The authors argue instead that viewing the fullness of a woman's existence should empower others to see broad life experiences as a benefit to be fostered. Public service organizations and the academy should build policies and systems that recognize this value and work to cultivate, rather than accommodate. While women have historically taken the turtle approach—that is, keep your head down—the #MeToo movement has morphed women into strong bison, standing shoulder to shoulder. The authors advocate for more inclusive and supportive mentoring relationships to move into a new era—the pigeon era. In public administration, this manifests as providing holistic support and intentional mentorships throughout the arc of women's careers and institutional policy changes that support the unique value of women in the public sector and the academy.

This research reviews how mentoring has manifested in public service and how it can evolve to be better positioned to address key diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives. This work inventories the current understanding of public sector mentoring, highlighting the contrast between the classical mentoring approach of functionalism with the emerging humanist approach. Barriers to implementing meaningful humanist mentoring are reviewed, and e-mentoring is presented as a modality well situated to overcome these obstacles. The humanist e-mentoring model provides a process and modality to advance social equity by removing existing barriers to opportunities. Finally, best practices and outcomes for successfully implementing e-mentoring humanist and relationships in public service are presented and an updated model of critical outcomes is advanced. A brief agenda for future scholarship on this topic is presented.