2020 PATIMES Columns By Benjamin Deitchman

The Columbine Generation

Columbine was not a moment of policy intervention or activism. Although this tragedy in suburban Littleton, Colorado may recede in the collective memory of the nation, it remains in the…

October 25, 2020No CommentRead More

Public Policy in the Weeds (Literally)

Weeds are like death and taxes—they will surely outlive all of us. As policymakers, students and scholars, we can learn from simple weeds the challenges and opportunities to mitigate human…

April 25, 2020No CommentRead More

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and The Princely Practicalities of Public Service

Transitioning from the public sector into corporate, nonprofit or advocacy endeavors and finding a new opportunity to benefit from the connections, competencies and experiences of public service is a common…

January 26, 2020No CommentRead More

2019 PATIMES Columns By Benjamin Deitchman

Reflections On My Student Government Career Now That I Know More About Government

Now that Ben Deitchman has over a dozen years of work, research and teaching experience in public policy and public administration, he is well-qualified to reassess his first foray into…

October 28, 2019Read More

The Policy Implications of the Soccer World Champions

The 2019 United States Women’s National Team did not just win its country’s fourth World Cup, but also seized the cultural and political moment throughout its soccer triumph in France…

July 28, 2019Read More

The President of These United States: Television Presidents and 21st Century Government

There are multiple hit TV shows that create alternate realities for the presidency. For those of us who are students, scholars and practitioners of public administration, the scripted Administrations are…

April 26, 2019Read More

Simple Solutions for Polarizing Paralysis

It is an injustice that while the government continues to collect most revenues during a political shutdown, and essential employees continue to work, the money does not get to the…

January 28, 2019Read More

Paw Patrol 2020

Paw Patrol, ready for action, Ryder, sir:

• Vlad (Siberian Husky)- "Let's stop this hack attack!"
• Mike (Boxer)- "You won? Me too!" 
• Icy (Border Collie)- "Tear down these walls!"
• Fed (Golden retriever)- "Fiat currency for the win!" 
• Fyre (Poodle)- "Influencers: to the Instagram!"
• Chucky (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel)- "I just can't wait to be King!"
• Boris (English Bulldog)- "Don't Rex it with Brexit!"
• Bo (Portuguese Water Dog)- "I miss Barack!" 
• Mayor Pete (Grown up Ryder)- "Medicare for all, dogs, who want it!"
• Donald (Pet Duck)- "Quack!"

2020 2020

Roles for 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates on Big Little Lies Season 3

• Michael Bennet: Anonymous Monterey father
• Joe Biden: Mary Louise's love interest
• Bill de Blasio: Anonymous Monterey father  
• Cory Booker: Ed's college friend and Madeline's rival
• Steve Bullock: Anonymous Monterey father  
• Pete Buttigieg: Ed's brother (or as Ed if Adam Scott leaves the show)
• Julián Castro: Anonymous Monterey father  
• John Delaney: Anonymous Monterey father  
• Tulsi Gabbard: Mysterious new mother who relocates family from Hawaii
• Kirsten Gillibrand: New friend of Celeste who makes Madeline jealous
• Mike Gravel: Random old man
• Kamala Harris: District Attorney
• John Hickenlooper: Anonymous Monterey father  
• Jay Inslee: Anonymous Monterey father  
• Amy Klobuchar:  Attorney for the Monterey 5  
• Wayne Messam: Anonymous Monterey father  
• Seth Moulton: Anonymous Monterey father  
• Beto O'Rourke: Jane's new love interest, which quickly fizzles
• Tim Ryan:  Anonymous Monterey father  
• Bernie Sanders: Angry new principal
• Joe Sestak: Anonymous Monterey father  
• Eric Swalwell: Anonymous Monterey father   
• Elizabeth Warren: Abigail's favorite college professor 
• Marianne Williamson: Therapist and spiritual advisor
• Andrew Yang: Renata's tech company rival

2018 PATIMES Columns by Benjamin Deitchman

Public Administration in The Good Place

Public administration has a role in the afterlife — at least on the critically-acclaimed network comedy The Good Place.…

October 26, 2018Read More

Social Media as a Social Good

Post on Facebook, “The Facebook is excellent.” Tweet, “Twitter is great.” Caption an Instagram photograph, “I love Instagram.” See how few likes, favorites or otherwise positive reactions appear compared to…

July 27, 2018Read More

Touch-a-Truck: A Tactile Introduction to the Public Service

Touch-a-truck activities also offer a model of how government can and does serve the citizenry. Popular culture presents to children an idealized version of the work of police officers, firefighters…

April 27, 2018Read More

World Cup Soccer and Policymaking: Strategies for Success

Winning the World Cup, or merely qualifying, as the United States failed to do for this summer’s competition, requires tactics and principles that can provide lessons for successful policymaking and…

January 25, 2018Read More

Reviews of Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications

Publius: The Journal of Federalism:

Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications, by Benjamin H. Deitchman
Political Opportunities for Climate Policy: California, New York, and the Federal Government, by Roger Karapin

Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications

Barry G Rabe

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Volume 48, Issue 4, 1 September 2018, Pages e6,https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjy027

This context makes the publication of a pair of books written prior to the 2016 election all the more important. These complementary contributions by Benjamin Deitchman and Roger Karapin provide valuable insights into state climate policy and combine to offer a solid foundation to understand what has transpired to date and where we might head next. Both make clear that states have enormous roles to play in influencing greenhouse gas emissions, whether or not their policies are expressly aimed at climate considerations. Both volumes consider a broad set of policies that can curb carbon dioxide or related greenhouse gas releases. Karapin divides these policies between those that are “explicit” in their climate focus such as carbon cap-and-trade or are “implicit” such as renewable energy mandates that may be focused primarily on energy policy or economic development while also addressing climate.

The American Review of Public Administration:

Book Review: 

Climate and Clean Energy Policy: 

State Institutions and Economic Implications

Sanya Carley, Michelle Graff,

First Published November 16, 2017 Book Review https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074017741541

In Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications, Benjamin Deitchman presents a current snapshot of U.S. energy and climate policy, in which he features prominently the role of state leadership, as well as the policy instruments designed by states, and the manner in which politics and federalism have shaped the policy process. In an ambitious undertaking to describe the intricacies of modern U.S. energy and climate policy, Deitchman highlights many of the important trends and debates that have arisen within this realm over the past 20 or so years.

"Intergovernmental Relations in Transition Reflections and Directions" On Sale Now

https://www.routledge.com/Intergovernmental-Relations-in-Transition-Reflections-and-Directions/Stenberg-Hamilton/p/book/9780815396437

Table of Contents

1. Intergovernmental Relations in Transition

[David K. Hamilton and Carl W. Stenberg]

Part 1. Phases of IGR Revisited

2. Intergovernmental Relations in the Early 21st Century: Lingering Images of Earlier Phases or Emergence of a New Phase?

[J. Edwin Benton]

3. Why Coercion and Cooperation Coexist in American Federalism

[John Kincaid]

4. Why We Fight: Conflict and "Coping" in 21st Century Intergovernmental Relations

[Brendan F. Burke and Jeffrey L. Brudney]

Part 2. Fiscal and Institutional Issues

5. Scarcity and the Federal System

[Paul L. Posner]

6. Putting the "R" Back in IGR: The Great Recession and Intergovernmental "Relationships"

[Bruce J. Perlman, Michael J. Scicchitano, and Yahong Zhang]

Part 3. Intergovernmental Management Cases

7. Partisan Polarization, Administrative Capacity, and State Discretion in the Affordable Care Act

[Dale Krane and Shihyun Noh]

8. The Diffusion of Federal Regulation through Contracts: The Case of Food Safety Policy

[Jocelyn M. Johnston and Rebecca Yurman]

9. Clean Energy and Growth through State and Local Implementation

[Benjamin H. Deitchman]

10. Bottom-up Federalism: An Examination of U.S. Local Governments’ Climate Change Policy

[Benoy Jacob, Brian Gerber, and Sam Gallaher]

Part 4. Laboratories of Democracy at Work

11. The Legislative Transformation of State-Local Relations

[Ann O’M. Bowman and Richard C. Kearney]

12. Pulling the Lever: The States’ Role in Catalyzing Local Change

[Ricardo S. Morse and Carl W. Stenberg]

13. Professional Development Applied Projects: State-Level Laboratories of Democracy

[Susan Paddock]

Part 5. Reflections from the Trenches

14. The Unraveling of the Intergovernmental System: A Practitioner’s Observations

[Donald Borut]

15. American Federalism Without a System of Intergovernmental Relations

[Parris N. Glendening]

16. Back to the Future?

[Carl W. Stenberg and David K. Hamilton]