My research can be separated into several distinct but related agendas: campaign spending in U.S. elections, the politics of position taking in the U.S. Congress, and minority representation in Congress. They are connected by one common theme: the nature of representation.
Money in politics relates to who is represented and why — a question that has taken on added significance as election costs skyrocket following the Supreme Court's landmark 2010 Citizens United ruling. My work in this area examines corporate campaign spending, Super PAC expenditures, and, most recently, the political determinants of corporate social responsibility.
Position taking — whether through roll call voting, speeches, or bill sponsorship — is the most important way members of Congress provide representation to their constituents. My recent work in this vein examines congressional position taking on trade policy and traces the unraveling of bipartisan support for public lands conservation over the past five decades.
And few questions are as timely as the value of descriptive representation, whose importance will only grow as America becomes more diverse and more minorities and women are elected to office.
Closer to home, I also study institutional design and reform. With colleagues at UNM, I have written on legislative professionalism and modernization in New Mexico — work that has informed legislative debate in Santa Fe, where I have provided expert testimony on proposals to restructure the state legislature.