Grant Reeher

Director, Campbell Public Affairs Institute
Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Degree

Ph.D., Yale University, 1992

Specialties

American politics, political representation and legislature behavior, health-care policy, citizenship and democracy, public engagement, gun politics and policy

Courses

Local Political Internship
Democratic Theory and Practice

Biography

Grant Reeher is director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute and a professor of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Grant’s research and teaching interests are primarily in American politics and political theory, with an emphasis on legislative politics, democratic representation, and active citizenship. Among other books, he is the author of First Person Political:  Legislative Life and the Meaning of Public Service (2006), Narratives of Justice: Legislators’ Beliefs about Distributive Fairness (1996), co-author of Click on Democracy: The Internet''s Power to Change Political Apathy into Civic Action (2002), and co-editor of The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships that Make Government Work (2008, 2^nd ed. 2012). His academic journal publications include pieces in Health Affairs; Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law; The Responsive Community; Polity; and PS: Political Science and Politics. He has also published many editorial essays on various political topics, including pieces in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Ottawa Citizen, __Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and pieces that have been distributed through Knight-Ridder. At various points he has been a regular columnist for The Syracuse Post-Standard. He has also been quoted in many newspaper stories, including pieces appearing in The New York Times,_ The Wall Street Journal, USA Today_, The Financial Times, _The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News, Salon_, Newsday, The Hill, Roll Call, and Ouest France. Grant is a 1982 graduate of Dartmouth College, and earned his Ph.D. in 1992 from Yale University.

In addition to his work at Syracuse University, Grant is creator, host, and producer of “The Campbell Conversations” on WRVO Public Media, a weekly regional National Public Radio public affairs show featuring extended in-depth interviews with regional and national writers, politicians, activists, public officials, and business professionals. He has also arranged and hosted candidate debates on the program. The program has won first-place awards from the New York State Associated Press and the Syracuse Press Club for best special program, best interview, and public service. WRVO Public Media is the largest NPR affiliate in Central New York, with a listening area that includes 22 counties and southern Ontario.

Publications

Books and Monographs Authored and Edited

The Trusted Leader:  Building the Relationships that Make Government Work (editor and contributor).  Washington, D.C.:  CQ Press [Sage], 2007.  Second Edition 2012.  With Terry Newell and Peter Ronayne.

Small Donors and Online Giving:  A Study of Donors to the 2004 Presidential Campaigns.  Washington, D.C.:  Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet, The George Washington University, 2006.  With Joseph Graf, Michael Malbin, and Costas Panagopoulos.

• Focus of reports in The Washington Post, The Denver Post, The San Jose Mercury News, The Newark Star-Ledger, The Buffalo News, The Charlotte Observer, The Hartford Courant, St. Paul Pioneer Press, The Canton Repository, Duluth News Tribune, TheWichita Eagle, Washington Internet Daily, and Technews.com.

• Lead story in The Washington Post’s daily politics email.

• Reported on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”

• Adaptation published in National Civic Review.

First Person Political:  Legislative Life and the Meaning of Public Service.  New York:  New York University Press, 2006.

• Interviewed about book on the “Faith Middleton Show,” Connecticut and New York metropolitan area NPR; “Sundays with Steve,” a Sunday morning public affairs show on WSYR, a Syracuse ABC affiliate; and on “Hour CNY,” a daily public affairs show on WCNY, a Syracuse PBS affiliate.

• Invited to speak about book to Dirksen Congressional Center group.

• Profiled in Syracuse University Magazine, Maxwell Perspective, and The Syracuse Record.

• Model for Being Political:  Leadership and Democracy in the Pacific Islands, by Jack Corbett.

Click On Democracy:  The Internet’s Power to Change Political Apathy into Civic Action.  Boulder, Colorado:  Westview Press, 2002.  With Steve Davis and Larry Elin.

• Reported on or referenced in The Economist, USA Today (cover story), The Los Angeles Times, Salon.com (feature story), __Digital Journal, The Hartford Courant, The Albany Times-Union, The Austin American Statesman,_ The London Free Press_ (Canada), The Palm Beach Post, The St. Petersburg Times, Washington Internet Daily, and The Syracuse Post-Standard.  

• Positively reviewed in nationaljournal.com, Publishers Weekly, Midwest Book Review, and The Education Digest, featured review in Chinese American Forum.  “Featured Book” of the Broadcast Education Association.  

• Read and used by top staffers in the George W. Bush, Howard Dean, and Wesley Clark 2004 presidential campaigns.

• Finalist for the 2003 Frank Luther Mott Journalism & Mass Communication Research Award of Kappa Tau Alpha, the National Honor Society for Mass Communications; award made annually for the best book published on journalism or mass communication.

• Excerpt reprinted in The Internet:  Opposing Viewpoints, ed. James D. Torr, Greenhaven Press, 2005.

• Cited in Joe Trippi’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

The Insider’s Guide to Political Internships:  What To Do Once You’re in the Door (editor and contributor).  New York:  Basic Books, 2002 (originally published by Westview Press).  With Mack Mariani.

• Profiled in Roll Call, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Maxwell Perspective, Syracuse University Magazine, and The Syracuse Record.  Subject of a column in The Washington Times, and reported on in washingtonpost.com.  Subject of a report on national Fox News television.  Named a “must read political book” by MinorityVoter Magazine, and chosen for sale and distribution by the National Conference of State Legislatures.  Featured book of collegiateworld.com. 

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

“Public Relations in the United States Government:  Fragmentation, Democratic Tension, and the Puzzle of Public Trust,” in Public Relations Vol. I.  Seoul, South Korea:  Korean Institute of Public Administration, 2012 (in English and Korean).  With Tina Nabatchi.

“Reform and Remembrance:  The Place of the Private Sector in the Future of Health Care Policy,” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.  April-June 2003, Vol. 28, Nos. 2-3.

Editorial Essays

Regular columnist, Sunday editorial page, The Syracuse Post-Standard, 2008-2009.  Monthly feature-length column on a wide variety of topics related to national, state, and local politics.

Regular columnist, “Rethinking Albany” series, The Syracuse Post-Standard, 2004-2007.  Monthly column on a variety of topics related to New York State public policies and political processes, and comparative state policies and processes.  

“Honor Civil Servants Who Die for Our Country.”  The Syracuse Post-Standard, Sunday, May 8, 2011 (with Terry Newell).

• This piece inspired the introduction of federal legislation by U.S. Congressman Richard Hanna, which was signed into law by President Obama as The Civilian Service Recognition Act of 2011_._

“‘None of the Above’ Should Be a Ballot Option in New York State.” The Buffalo News, Sunday, December 31, 2006.

“The Disaffected:  A Rising Political Force.”  The Albany Times-Union, Sunday, December 3, 2006. Reprinted in The Syracuse Post-Standard as “Economic Fairness Key Issue for 2008.”  Sunday, December 17, 2006.

“State Legislators Deserve To Be Well-Paid.”  The Buffalo News, Sunday, December 5, 2004 (feature-length).

“GOP Mostly Pays Lip Service on Moral Issues.”  The Chicago Tribune, Sunday, November 14, 2004 (with Joseph Cammarano).

“Bloggers Now the Stars.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wednesday, July 28, 2004 (with Steve Davis).

“Internet Continues to Change the American Electorate.”  The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Sunday, February 15, 2004 (feature-length, with Steve Davis).

“Bush and the Free Market:  A Case of Selective Enthusiasm.”  Newsday, Sunday, December 7, 2003 (feature-length).

“The Bush Reform Plan:  Not From Nowhere.”  Newsday, Sunday, March 9, 2003 (feature-length).

“Americans Think Their Health-Care System Is in Crisis:  Is Public Medicine the Solution?”  The Ottawa Citizen, Monday, September 23, 2002.

Research Projects

Book project: The culture and politics of firearms in the U.S.  

SU Affiliations

Campbell Public Affairs Institute