Loyal political cartels and committee assignments in congress: Evidence from the Congressional Black Caucus

This study presents a political model which suggests that monopoly legislat ors form cartel-like organizations (referred to as "memberships'') in an ef fort to extract greater benefits in the political process. Based on a model by Coker and Crain (1994) that provides theoretical and statistical argume nts for congressional committees as loyalty-generating institutions, the in stant research examines committee placement of "members'' of the Congressio nal Black Caucus (CBC) in the U.S. House by Democrat leaders. Voting record s indicate that the CBC is uniform in its voting patterns, indicating carte l-like behavior. Because of this, the Democratic leadership in the House ch ooses to place CBC members on important committees in order to support thei r policy agenda. The general finding of this study is that "black represent ation'' may be greater than simply the proportion of seats held by black Re presentatives.