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