Codebook and Documentation For fullags.sav SPSS dataset used in analyses in Spill and Ray SPPQ paper The dataset fullags.sav is an SPSS file containing data on attorneys general, their offices, and characteristics of the states. These data were compiled manually by the authors from a variety of primary and secondary sources. These state/AG level variables are described below. Variables on Attorneys General (dataset = fullags.sav) Statenam: State name (first 20 characters) State: Alphabetic state identifier. USPS Abbreviations are used. State: Abbreviation: ALABAMA AL ALASKA AK ARIZONA AZ ARKANSAS AR CALIFORNIA CA COLORADO CO CONNECTICUT CT DELAWARE DE FLORIDA FL GEORGIA GA HAWAII HI IDAHO ID ILLINOIS IL INDIANA IN IOWA IA KANSAS KS KENTUCKY KY LOUISIANA LA MAINE ME MARYLAND MD MASSACHUSETTS MA MICHIGAN MI MINNESOTA MN MISSISSIPPI MS MISSOURI MO MONTANA MT NEBRASKA NE NEVADA NV NEW HAMPSHIRE NH NEW JERSEY NJ NEW MEXICO NM NEW YORK NY NORTH CAROLINA NC NORTH DAKOTA ND OHIO OH OKLAHOMA OK OREGON OR PENNSYLVANIA PA PUERTO RICO PR RHODE ISLAND RI SOUTH CAROLINA SC SOUTH DAKOTA SD TENNESSEE TN TEXAS TX UTAH UT VERMONT VT VIRGINIA VA WASHINGTON WA WEST VIRGINIA WV WISCONSIN WI WYOMING WY idnum: Numeric state identifier. year: four digit year ag: Name of Attorney general. Up to 40 characters. firstyr: Four digit year individual first served as state attorney general(yyyy). service: The length of time an individual AG has served in office at the time of the case. logsrvc: Natural log of service. term1: Dummy for the first term in office of the AG party: Party of Attorney General (0 = Democrat, 1 = Republican, 9 = missing.) elect: 1 if AG elected, 0 otherwise. appoint: 1 if AG appointed, 0 otherwise train: Number of times this state appeared before USSC for each USSC term (ending in July of that year). Notes: This is not a cumulative variable, this variable is set to zero prior to 1982. tottrain: Training variable = cumulative number of supreme court appearances by any AG since inception of NAAG training program. (Note: This cumulative value of train is reset to zero when a new Attorney General is elected/appointed.) naagbud: Budget of AG office in 1999 dollars from NAAG (see documentation below, 0 = missing.) othbud: Budget in dollars from primary sources (see documentation below, 0 = missing. ) budget: Budget in 1999 dollars from NAAG (missing values interpolated based on values of naagbud.) budgeti: Duplicate of budget variable. bgtpcap: Budget (1999 dollars from NAAG) on per capita basis (missing values interpolated.) salary: Attorney General salary in dollars (NAAG.) realsal: Attorney General salary in 1999 dollars (NAAG.) salary_i: Attorney General salary in 1999 dollars (missing data interpolated NAAG) entrysal: Entry level attorney salary. (Source= NAAG lower bound of entry salary range, scale = 1,000s) entsal_i: Entry level salary for attorneys. (Same as entrysal with missing values interpolated.) entry_rl: Entry level attorney salary in 1999 dollars using national level cpi. (Source= NAAG lower bound of entry salary range, scale = 1,000s) entry_i: Entry level attorney salary in 1999 dollars. (Same as entry_rl but Missing data interpolated.) entsal_x: Entry level salary for attorneys in AG's office in year 2000 dollars. Raw NAAG data (entsal_i) adjusted for inflation and state cost of living using state level CPI data. cpi: National consumer price index from World Bank CDROM, 1995 = 100. (Used to calculate real budget & salary levels, adjusted to produce 1999 dollars.) statecpi: State level consumer price index, 2000 = 100. (Used to calculate real salary levels.) source: Berry, William D., Richard C. Fording and Russell L. Hanson, "An Annual Cost of Living Index for the American States, 1960-95," Journal of Politics, vol. 60, no. 2, May 2000: 550-67. revised 2000 version of the Berry-Fording-Hanson state cost of living index" (available from the publication related archive of ICPSR). meancpi:Mean of state CPIs for that year. maxcpi: Max of state CPI for that year, used to estimate values for Alaska and Hawaii statepop: State Population from annual Census Bureau estimates (source: Texas A&M real estate center website recenter.tamu.edu/ accessed Feb 4, 2004) fullattn: Full time attorneys on staff. (NAAG) ptattny: Part time attorneys on staff. (NAAG) othattny: Full time attorneys on staff, paid by other agencies, or in other agencies paid by AG's office. (NAAG) attnys: Total attorneys on staff (missing data interpolated, NAAG, created from full time attorneys plus .5 * part time attorneys) attny_i: duplicate of attnys. other: Other non-attorney staff. (NAAG) other_i: other staff (missing data interpolated, NAAG) staff: Total staff sum of full time staff plus – Part time staff. (NAAG) staff_i: Total staff (missing data interpolated, NAAG) Notes on data from Selected Statistics on the Office of the Attorney General NAAG sources 1970 data are from the NAAG publication "Report on the Office of Attorney General". 1972-1974 data are from the NAAG serial "The Office of Attorney General: Organization, budget, salaries, Staff, and Opinions." 1975-1979 data are from the NAAG serial "Selected Statistics on the Office of Attorney General." For all years prior to and including 1979, the NAAG reported two budget figures, a "Total for Department or Office" and a "Total for A.G.'s office only." The data for "Total for Department or Office" appear in most instances to be both more comprehensive, and most comparable to the "Total Budget" data reported by the NAAG from 1987 onwards. These data were used for the time series on AG budgets with the exception of eight states where the figures for "Total for A.G.'s Office Only" appear more comparable to the later time series. The "A.G.'s Office Only" data were used for these states, which are Kansas, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. 1987 data are from the 1988 NAAG publication "The Office of Attorney General, Powers & Duties." Pgs. 218- 219 "Total Budget" 1989 data are from the 1990 NAAG publication "State Attorneys General, Powers & Duties." Appendix B "Total Budget" 1994-1999 data are "Attorneys General Budgets and Appropriations" from NAAG serial "Statistics on the Office of Attorney General." Notes about NAAG data: Part-time "other staff" and part time attorneys paid by others were ignored throughout the entire data set. (1971) Budget figures are not reported at all for SC. HI and KY only have numbers for the total office or department and not specifically the AG's office. OK and GA reported a salary range for AG. The medians of these two numbers were used. (1974) Iowa NAAG budget numbers suspect, 657,675.00 much more likely than 1,657,675.00 (1975) PA numbers suspect. NAAG reports 62,950,000 for office and department for 1975, which does not correspond to the previous and subsequent reports. 6,295,000 is a more likely figure for the office only total. Beginning this year "the number of attorneys" variable is broken down into four categories. 1. Paid by AG in the AG's office. 2. Paid by other in the AG's office. 3. Paid by AG in other state agencies. 4. Paid by other in the state agencies. Only the numbers of attorneys actually working in the AG's office were reported. In the data set these numbers were broken down into three categories: full-time attorneys, part- time attorneys, and the full time attorneys (paid by other). (1977) None of the data for "numbers of attorneys" and "numbers of other staff" were available for this year. (1979) Oregon NAAG numbers unlikely. 32,188,253 would represent a doubling from 14,000,000 in 1978. 22,188,253 is more plausible. (1989) Nebraska NAAG numbers unlikely. 2,942,198 corresponds to time series and to external records better than does 3,942,198.0 South Dakota NAAG numbers unlikely. 2,016,887.00 is extremely low relative to prior and following years. (1994) Washington State NAAG typo. 53,062,00 should be 53,062,000 Primary Sources used for Other budget data: Missouri from "Office of Attorney General: Two Years ended June 30, 1981" and "Office of Attorney General: Two Years ended June 30, 1983" 1977 1464674 1978 1682813 1979 2259066 1980 2502824 1981 2998759 1982 2921011 1983 3365996 Kansas From "Financial and Compliance Audit Report" AG's Office various years 1989- For years ended June 1987 and June 1988 June 1987 June 1988 Appropriations 8,511,065 8,834,946 1987- For years ended June 1985 and June 1986 June 1985 June 1986 Appropriations 7688151 7982071 1985- For years ended June 1983 and June 1984 June 1983 June 1984 Appropriations 6193477 6848621 New Hampshire "Office of the Attorney General Biennial Report for Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989" Current employees 6/30/88 6/30/89 Unclassified 56 61 Classified 47 48 Temporary 11 10 Total 114 119 Expenditures (total) 3,983,750 4,696,107 # of attorneys Criminal Justice 13 Consumer protection ? Environmental Protection 7 Civil Bureau 14 Transportation & Construction 5 Virginia "Office of the Attorney General Mary Sue Terry Attorney General Commonwealth of Virginia January 1986-June 1987" Criminal Law finance and transport Human and Natural resources Judicial Affairs 85-86 86-87 85-86 86-87 85-86 86-87 85-86 86-87 expendit ure 2,566,8 80 2,500,5 56 1,612,9 73 1,670,3 84 2,031,8 86 2,369,0 29 2,213,6 73 2,420,7 18 lawyers 34 33 25 26 40 43 27 28 total staff 72 67 37 38 58 68 54 58 finance and administration total Virginia AG 85-86 86-87 85-86 86-87 expendit ure 2,130,1 35 2,126,5 44 10,555,5 47 11,087,2 31 lawyers 3 3 129 133 total staff 20 20 241 251