By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-823712.mp3
Dallas –
Candidates teeing up to run for Governor may want to consider the observations of State Representative Brian McCall. The Plano Republican and PhD has written a book, "The Power of the Texas Governor." Rep. McCall talked to KERA's Shelley Kofler about how governors have wielded great power while holding an office designed to be weak.
Early Texans in the nineteenth century mistrusted executive power and placed limitations on what their governor could do. Rep. Brian McCall says legislatures have since strengthened the office, while television and mass media have given governors with the right personality an underestimated pathway to power.
McCall: The effective communicator a highly developed governor who has social skills can be quite powerful in that office.
Kofler: Why did you write this book?
McCall: There's a lack of literature about the leader of what is the ninth biggest economy in the world. Particularly the focus here is the use of power in that office.
McCall analyzes the effectiveness of seven who've governed in the age of television.
He says three standout as particularly effective: Ann Richards, George W. Bush and John Connally, who became governor in 1963.
(McCall Discusses Book)
McCall's book, "The Power of the Texas Governor", is published by the University of Texas Press.