倫理是有關哲學、價值及道德的研究，涉及判斷力和行為的準則，亦或是藉以建立及執行正確而又適當行為的樣準；決策則是公共行政內容中最主要的活動，公共政策本身即含有決定社會價值再分配的特性；民主國家的立法單位正是決定利益歸屬的關鍵場域，作為立法機關構成者的立法委員對倫理的認知及踐履，將反映在當代政治風氣的清明與否，利益的分配是否合於公眾對公平正義的期待？長久以來，民眾對立法院形象評價低落的原因之一，正在於部分立法委員以權牟私，特權關說等等不符倫理行為導致政治活動商業化的情事浮濫，故及早建立外部的行為規範，督促政治風氣及國會倫理趨於清明，並設置有效的監督機制，是當前國會改革工程極為艱鉅的工程。 國會的改革與政治環境關係密不可分，故本研究擬採制度比較的方法切入，主要試圖勾勒：（一）、立法委員行為與倫理對公益的關係及影響？（二）、在比較及分析我國國會利益迴避制度的同時，亦參酌美、日、英等國對國會的利益迴避制度，並比較和我國現有制度的異同？（三）、經由現正研擬中有關於利益迴避制度的分析研究，歸納出未來對立法委員行為規範的立法趨勢為何？（四）、整合前述各項差異，歸納出可能改進的方向，作為利益迴避在國會倫理法制化過程中改進的參考。 關鍵字：立法委員、利益迴避、國會倫理 / Ethics deals with value, morality, and philosophy, involving judgment and behavioral principles; it may also be the criteria for establishment and guidance of right and proper conduct. Decision-making is a primary activity of public administration and decision-making itself contains redistributive characteristics of social value. In democratic nations, legislative bodies are the key field that decides whom interests belong to. Being legislative bodies, their acknowledgement and observation of ethics may reflect whether current political atmosphere is free of corruption or not and distribution of interests meets public expectation of fairness and justice. For a long time, one of the reasons that the public rates the Legislative Yuan low lies in that legislators abuse their power to pursue their own interests as influence peddlers; this conduct is not ethical and leads to indiscriminate commercialization of political activities. Hence, setting external conduct norms as soon as possible, enforcing cleanness of political atmosphere and legislative ethics, and forming effective supervising organizations are arduous work for reforming the Legislative Yuan at present. Reformation of the Legislative Yuan and political circumstances are closely related; therefore, this study starts at comparison of system methods in an attempt to present an account: (1) What is the relations and influences of legislators’ conduct and ethics over public interests? (2) By comparison and analysis of the Legislative Yuan’s conflicts of interests and by reference to conflicts of interests systems in Britain, Japan, and U.S.A. this study tries to compare and distinguish differences in these systems. (3) On analysis and study of conflicts of interests system being prepared, legislation trends of legislators conduct norms can be concluded. (4) To summarize the above-mentioned differences, improvements are summed up for legislation for conflicts of interests in legislative ethics code as reference. Key word: legislators, conflicts of interests, Legislative Yuan’s ethics.

The majority of the letters from Lord Milton quoted are copies which he kept of his more important communications. His main correspondent was the Earl of Ilay (1706), 3rd Duke of Argyll (1743). The Argyll papers at Inveraray Castle are unavailable. Ilay's papers apart from estate material are not at Inveraray, however, being included in his English estate and going to his mistress Mrs Anne Williams or Shireburn, then to her son by him, William Williams or Campbell, and then to the latter's son Archibald Campbell, who gave William Coxe access to them for his Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole (1798). After that these papers were lost (Sir Lewis Namier having failed to trace them in recent times) and might, if found, be disappointing in one respect, the injunction of Milton to Ilay being to burn his (Milton's) letters. Fortunately Ilay's letters to Milton are preserved in the latter's vast archives (the bulk of the Saltoun Papers at the National Library of Scotland). It is evident that Milton systematically stored every scrap of paper addressed to him. Milton is correctly described as plain Andrew Fletcher before he took the judicial title of Milton from part of his uncle's and father's estate of Salton (there already being a Lord Salton, in the Scots peerage). And his proper title during the centre of his career was, according to the usage of the time, "the Lord Justice Clerk", the designation of Milton not then applying. For simplicity's sake, however, he is referred to throughout as Milton. Similarly Ilay is always referred to as Ilay rather than Argyll to avoid confusing him with his brother the 2nd Duke of Argyll. And the 18th century spelling of Salton is preferred to the preciously antique form of Saltoun now prevailing. I am greatly indebted to Professor R. H. Campbell for his valuable advice and unstinting encouragement, and to Mrs Margaret Anderson, Dr Anand Chitnis, Dr Derek Dow, Dr Alastair Durie, Mrs Rita Hemphill, Mr Murdo MacDonald, Mr Michael Moss, Dr Alexander Murdoch, Miss Chris Robertson, Mr John Simpson, Miss Veronica Stokes, Mr Arnott Wilson, the Secretaries of the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of Scotland and the staff of the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish Record Office for their generous help and cooperation.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

As researchers, policymakers and employers begin focusing on consumer driven health plan models and medical savings accounts (MSAs), a better understanding of the political viability of such reform initiatives is necessary. The purpose of this study was to survey state legislators' knowledge and perceptions of medical savings accounts (MSAs) and the U.S. health care system in order to identify potential future compromises to health care reform. In February 2004, 201 state legislators from nine states (Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Washington) participated in an on-line survey. The findings from this study revealed significant differences between Republican and Democratic state legislators in their attitudes towards MSAs, level of satisfaction of the U.S. health care system, and overall perceptions of the current and future health care systems. Republican state legislators were 24 times more likely to support MSAs than Democrats. Results also indicated the following three areas had possible bipartisan support for future initiatives: making individuals aware of the actual costs of health care services, providing equitable access to health care services for all individuals, and providing equal tax treatment for those individuals without employer-sponsored health insurance. / Graduation date: 2006

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between personal demographic variables of Indiana's legislators and their voting records regarding laws associated with tobacco regulation. Personal demographic data of the legislators who were in office in either 1997 and/or 1998 were compared with their voting records on tobacco issues during that same time period. The evidence suggests that Democratic legislators appear to be more in favor of tobacco control than their Republican counterparts and legislators that are members of the House of Representatives are more supportive of tobacco control than their counterparts in the Senate. Conversely, the evidence suggests that there were no statistically significant differences on tobacco voting records when the legislators were grouped by representation of a tobacco district, level of education the legislator has attained, holding an office in their respective chambers, or their occupations other than being a legislator.The results of this study can be used to better educate legislators on the consequences of tobacco use and the benefits of voting for pro-tobacco control legislation. Future studies should include attempts to form a profile of a pro-tobacco control or pro-tobacco industry legislator at both the state and national level. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Yale University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-222).

Virginia's mandated student outcomes assessment program, as created by Senate Joint Resolution No. 83 in 1986, allowed community colleges in the Commonwealth latitude in developing their own assessment strategies. These strategies have developed slowly and with some inconsistency. The purpose of this study is to determine the congruency of beliefs about the implementation of Virginia's student outcomes assessment program between purposefully selected members of the Virginia General Assembly and community college assessment practitioners. Data for this study were derived from the review of public documents, and the execution of a survey instrument, the results of which were used to develop interviews with designated state legislators and community college assessment practitioners. The interviews became the primary data source for the study. Findings indicate that the legislative participants believe that used by all community colleges across Virginia would be more appropriate than approaches specifically geared to individual institutional missions. Practitioner respondents differ on this issue. The legislators generally believe that the use of a standardized testing approach administered across all community colleges could be beneficial. The practitioners beliefs differ, though not markedly, from the legislative group. Legislators are evenly divided on the issue of using assessment results for institutional comparison. The practitioner group express reservations concerning this prospect. There exists modest differences of belief between the groups concerning the appropriation of general funds to support individual community colleges based on assessment results. The study findings point to congruence of belief among legislative and practitioner respondents when considering the implementation of outcomes assessment in the area of general education. Agreement of beliefs is also found among the practitioner and legislative groups in the implementation of assessment guidelines affecting the communication of assessment results with the citizenry, accountability issues relating to discontinuance of programs, quality assurance, etc., and the role of assessment in Virginia’s college transfer processes. / Ed. D.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Robert J. Shoop / Lobbying and lobbyists have been a part of the national policymaking landscape since the inception of this country. In addition, lobbying and lobbyists play a similar role in the policymaking in every state in the Union. Recent and past media reports of dishonest politicians in Washington, D.C. who have accepted expensive gifts from powerful and unscrupulous lobbyists do little to cause the general public, including legislators in Kansas, to trust those individuals whose role includes being a source of information legislators can access when making decisions about issues. The purpose of this study was to discover the nature of the influence on Kansas K-12 education policy that each type of registered education lobbyist had from 1995 – 2006. The influence lobbyists have had on Kansas K-12 education policy was identified through interviews with each type of registered education lobbyist and with legislators who have served as the chief leadership of the Kansas House Education Committee, as well as through an analysis of documents related to bills the Committee considered from 1995 – 2006. A qualitative method of inquiry, in the form of a case study, was selected by the researcher as the methodology around which to structure the research. The focus of this case study was to learn how lobbyists influenced the decisions made by members of the Kansas House Education Committee from 1995 – 2006. The study identifies the significant education issues of the Committee as determined by an expert panel of educators, the strategies registered lobbyists indicated they used in their attempt to influence legislators’ decisions, and the information sources which were perceived to influence the positions lobbyists and legislators took on education policy. As a case study, the research is “based on one person’s encounter with a complex case” (Creswell, p. 187); and includes analysis of the data; a discussion of the implications of the understandings drawn from the analysis of data, and suggestions for future research.

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