When southern symbolism meets the pork barrel: Opportunity for executive leadership

Objectives. Many empirical studies have sought to explain executive-legislative relations at the federal level; however, much less research on this topic is available at the state level. This article examines legislative-gubernatorial relations in Georgia using the highly visible, emotion-laden, and politically costly issue of changing the state flag. Methods. Using probit models, estimated probabilities for various sets of hypothetical legislators are constructed to explain the vote in each house of the Georgia General Assembly. Results. In the absence of executive pressure, constituency characteristics, specifically district racial composition, dominated legislative decision making on the governor's initiative. In the Senate, where there was adequate time for lobbying before the vote, the carrot of additional school construction funding weighed heavily in legislators' vote calculus. Conclusions. This study demonstrates that governors can, and do, use district-specific benefits as a tool to help ensure the success of their legislative agendas.