Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Existence Of Preference Outlier Committees In The 1999-2008 Louisiana House Of Representatives, Trisha Mari Sandahl

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years the complexity of understanding the politics of committee assignment, has led to lively scholarly debates. At the heart of this debate lie three theories of legislative committee development: the distributive, informational, and major party cartel theory. Each of these theories attempts to explain legislative committee assignments through one single legislator motivation: legislator interest, party, or institutional interest. This dissertation argues that one single motivation as espoused in the distributive, informational, and major party cartel theory is not likely to explain all legislator committee assignments. Instead, Legislators committee assignments are likely to be a reflection of multiple motivations, …