Representation of Community Interests
It is easy to assume that a primary role as an elected official is to deliver on the promises made to voters. But “giving voice” to the interests of those who elected you can mean two quite different things. It can mean “doing what they say,” which is often called the delegate model of representation (Aten 2010; Fox and Shotts 2009). This model is exemplified by the role of ambassadors, whether it is to the United Nations or a foreign country. Ambassadors are delegates who are duty-bound to give voice to the official policies of the corporate entity they represent. They are not expected to express their personal views and are likely to be fired if they continually do so, especially when they are counter to the official views of the countries they represent. Carried into the electoral arena, the delegate role of elected officials is measured by the extent to which their voice and votes align as precisely as possible with the voice and votes of their constituents. But the voices who elect board members to office are not necessarily the same voices that they now serve. This problem has given rise to the trustee model of representation.
The trustee model assumes that an elected representative is someone who should be “entrusted” with sufficient autonomy to deliberate and act for the greater common good, even if it means going against the short-term interests of those who may have elected them. The model provides a solution to the problems of busy and uninformed constituents who lack the necessary time and knowledge on issues to have an educated position. The trustee model gives elected officials the responsibility for taking initiatory leadership and then “selling” their views to those who elected them. The trustee model is not better than the delegate model; it simply represents different philosophies of governance. Most elected officials make use of both, depending on how confident they feel in standing up against various constituency groups who may have played a major role in their election. Over time the representational role that dominated your attention when running for office gets moderated by your other roles as a governing agent: policy-making, organizational oversight, collegial deliberation and decision-making and community leadership.