EDITOR’S NOTE: We continue our publication of the ASPA Founders’ Forum Fellow (FFF) papers with this piece, number 3 of 14. The papers will appear in alphabetical order, with two papers posted each week until all 14 are online. Previously posted papers may be viewed by going to the Related Articles box below.

Rachel Krefetz Fyall

Since the Friedrich-Finer debate of the 1940s, accountability has been prominent issue within public administration scholarship and practice. Even still, accountability concerns have become more urgent in response to recent structural changes in public service delivery. Within a traditional bureaucratic model, accountability refers to the expectation that those in government should be held responsible for their actions. While many varied forms of accountability exist (see Rainey’s discussion of responsiveness values, 2009, pp. 106-7), traditional discussions of accountability within the public administration literature limit the subject of accountability to “the government” (both elected officials and government employees) (Romzek and Dubnick 1987). As the boundaries distinguishing the public sector have increasingly blurred, however, the simple question of “Who is accountable?” has become more difficult to answer.

State Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Addresses MassASPA Chapter
Suzanne Bump, state auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (SAO) spoke to the ASPA Massachusetts Chapter (MassASPA) saying, “Accountability is what motivates me in government. As you know, I was a legislator and a cabinet secretary. What I liked most about my service was the opportunity to fix systems that had gone off track and improve their service to the people of the Commonwealth.”

Spe aking before an audience of public servants, consultants and academics, Auditor Bump stressed the value of transparency in her office. She noted that disclosing information from SAO agency audits provides valuable information to similar agencies. For example her office recently shared findings from an audit of a Massachusetts Housing Authority, giving constructive information to all state-wide Housing Agencies.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We continue our publication of the ASPA Founders' Forum Fellow (FFF) papers with this piece, number 2 of 14. As stated previously, the papers will appear in alphabetical order, with two papers posted each week until all 14 are online. To receive notices when the articles are posted, sign-up as a Registered Reader at PA TIMES Online.


Erica Copeland

“America ns suspect their government is both ineffective and inefficient.” Numerous scholars of public administration have evaluated and supported this same assumption: the government is failing to meet public expectations. The pessimistic proposition suggests the need for the government to overhaul and to rebuild its relationship with its citizenry to inspire mutual trust. However, improving how Americans see government requires solutions that avoid contrasting ‘the public’ with ‘the bureaucracy’ as if either group is monolithic or entirely distinct from the other. In fact, citizens of diverse backgrounds and beliefs shape the public interest just as public agencies with unique and, at times, conflicting priorities constitute the whole of government. Environmentalists set different priorities than do industrialists similar to how the Environmental Protection Agency may advocate policies that contrast with those promoted by the Small Business Administration.

Washington, DC–In celebration of Public Service Recognition Week, ASPA chapters have been instrumental in shifting the conversation about public servants–at least for a week.

Across the country, chapters like the Greater Cincinnati Chapter, Evergr een Chapter, Grea ter Chicago Chapter, CenTex and many more distributed awards, solicited proclamations and held special events in honor of public servants.

As we close out another successful P ublic Service Recognition Week, here are some highlights of a few of events and honorees recognized by ASPA chapters.

Washington, DC–Join ASPA in New Orleans, LA, for the Society's 2013 Annual Conference, March 15-19. The conference theme will be Governance & Sustainability: Local Concerns, Global Challenges.

The capacity to responsibly sustain our global community has long term environmental, economic, social, and governance implications. The 2013 ASPA conference will address the myriad issues associated with the responsible management and stewardship of our diverse, yet interrelated resources. Management of these resources is a complex social challenge involving consideration of leadership, ethics, economics, planning, social equity, collaboration and technology, amongst other issues. This conference will consider whether we have reached or exceeded the limits of our democratic state, the governance implications of these challenges and the implications for public management and public policy.

Washington, DC–ASPA’s student members are the heart of the organization. Their development is a key priority, at ASPA, since they will be the ones to lead us into the future. Our charge now, is to support their development. To this end, ASPA continued its tradition of offering the Founders Forum Fellowship Program. In addition to the benefits the students receive from the program, ASPA has linked the fellows with Senior ASPA Members (both practitioners and academics) who are leaders in an area of interest to the fellow and it has revised the way in which the fellows engage ASPA and experience their membership.

One of the changes to the program, was requiring the students to tackle a contemporary issue within the field by addressing it in a paper to be presented at the 2012 ASPA Annual Conference at a special discussion circle session, “The 2012 Founders’ Forum Fellows Critical Issues in Public Administration Exchange: A Series of Discussion Circles.” The students were required to write an essay (fitting one of the topics below) that demonstrates analytical rigor and critical thinking by specifically framing the issues, citing actual cases and using empirical data to cultivate positive discussion about how we, as a field, can address the issues identified.

Washington, DC–The nominations period for ASPA awards is now open. The Society would like to encourage members and non-members to nominate deserving individuals or organizations to receive one of ASP A’s awards. How fitting that the announcement comes so close to P ublic Service Recognition Week.

ASPA's awards program, just like its promotion of Public Service Recognition Week, is integral to our efforts to raise the profile of public service and to encourage recognition of those who commit themselves daily to the service of the public. We don't often get to say a public thank you to these individuals. The awards program and PSRW are our chance to do so.

Washington, DC–With just a week to go, ASPA is gearing up for P ublic Service Recognition Week (PSRW). We are excited about the opportunity to recognize nationally, those who serve our local, state and federal government. Admittedly, this is difficult in the wake of a national story revealing waste and overspending at the General Services Administration.

D espite this news, we can’t ignore the other hundreds of thousands of employees who, day in and out, dedicate numerous hours to providing necessary and important services to the public. These include the park rangers, city administrators and everyday workers who are committed to improving access to government and its services.

Washington, DC–Does your local government use social media? Or have you been hearing a lot about social media and still not sure how useful it is for governments?

Then join ASPA on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, for a webinar on "The Use and Utility of Social Media in Government." Presenters will focus on the application of social media in local government and its efficacy on operations.

The webinar will present practices from the upcoming report, “The Rise of Social Government”, which is based on a survey of 108 cities and in-depth interviews with government administrators. Revealed will be social media technologies that local governments are using, how social media is managed, monitored and measured by city government staff and concrete examples of how social media is impacting government administration.