The question of the representative role of public officials is an old one, but one that has become more complex as public administrators have gained quick and easy access to the views of the public through the widespread availability of public opinion surveys. Although they are not directly accountable to the public, nonappointed public administrators are nonetheless heavily involved in policy formation and implementation. This article uses several common definitions of representation to analyze the connection between administrator actions and public desires. It concludes with a suggestion that public administrators should act as enlightened trustees of the public: they should use their knowledge and expertise to make quality decisions, yet never allow the underlying public values to be ignored.
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26. Minnesota Star Tribune, 18 June 1992. Only Minnesota residents were included in the survey.
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30. The majorities range from the 78 percent of the public that believes mothers with small children should be required to work (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 13 Jan. 1992), to the 91 percent favoring required work from mothers with children over 2 years old (CBS News, 27 Jan. 1992).
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31. Judith M. Gueron and Edward Pauly, From Welfare to Work (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1991).
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John A. Rohr , Ethics for Bureaucrats: An Essay on Law and Values (New York: Marcel Dekker, 1978).
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36. David K. Hart, “The Virtuous Citizen, the Honorable Bureaucrat, and `Public' Administration,”Public Administration Review, 44:111-120 (1984).
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37. John Burke, Bureaucratic Responsibility (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), p. 23.
