Subject: Transition story in Huffington Post
From: "Chris Lu" <[email-masked]>
To: "Chris Lu" <[email-masked]>, "Adam Hitchcock" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], "Valerie Jarrett" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], "Pete Rouse" <[email-masked]>, "Melody Barnes" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], "Jim Steinberg" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked],
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], "Jayne Thomisee" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], "Katie Johnson" <[email-masked]>, "Elizabeth Utrup" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 08:53:42 -0500

Given the number of new people we've brought into our planning in recent
weeks, it's probably not surprising that this story appeared.  Still,
it's worth a reminder to everyone on your teams about the importance of
protecting the confidentiality of the process.  On a positive note, it's
a good thing we spent so much time hashing out every word of our ethics
code.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/obama-mccain-transition-e_n_132
976.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/text-obama-transition-pro_n_133
162.html

Obama, McCain Transition Efforts Are Worlds Apart
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/obama-mccain-transition-e_n_13
2976.html> 

October 8, 2008 10:46 PM 

As the 2008 campaign nears its conclusion, the presidential transition
efforts of the two major candidates have become a study in contrasts:
Sen. Barack Obama has organized an elaborate well-staffed network to
prepare for his possible ascension to the White House, while Sen. John
McCain has all but put off such work until after the election.

The Democratic nominee has enlisted the assistance of dozens of
individuals -- divided into working groups for particular federal
agencies -- to produce policy agendas and lists of recommended
appointees. As evidence of their advanced preparations, officials
provided a copy of the strict ethics guidelines
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/text-obama-transition-pro_n_13
3162.html>  that individuals working on the transition effort are
required to sign.

John McCain, by contrast, has done little. Campaign spokespersons did
not respond to requests for elaboration. But one official with direct
knowledge, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed concern
with McCain's approach. The Arizona Senator has instructed his team to
not spend time on the transition effort, according to the source, both
out of a desire to have complete focus on winning the election as well
as a superstitious belief that the campaign shouldn't put the cart
before the horse. 

Virtually every modern non-incumbent presidential candidate has
organized, during the course of the campaign, a transition effort to
prepare for the early months of a potential administration. These teams
help build lists and vet individuals who could serve in key government
posts. They hammer out proposals to facilitate policy making from day
one. And they work closely with outgoing administration officials to
better understand the true lay of the political land. 

Governance scholars consider the process invaluable, particularly as the
nation struggles with a major economic crisis, two active wars, and a
range of domestic security threats. "Our enemies understand how
potentially vulnerable we are in the transition from one administration
to the next," Clay Johnson III, former Executive Director of the
Bush-Cheney Presidential Transition, said recently at a forum on
transition planning. "This is something we need to be very, very
seriously prepared for."

With 100 or so days before the next president takes office, Obama's
transition effort has been organized into roughly a dozen teams of six
to eight people to plot out the approach for each agency, according to a
Democratic official. The ethics code governing the process prohibits
staff from working on subjects that could be deemed a financial conflict
of interests, either to that member or that member's family. 

Under the code - a copy of which can be viewed here
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/text-obama-transition-pro_n_13
3162.html>  - lobbyists will be able to serve on the Obama transition
team provided it has been more than a year since he or she lobbied on
the subject to which they have been assigned. Current federally
registered lobbyists will not be "permitted to serve in a titled role
for the Obama Transition Project," nor for that matter will they be
allowed to "contribute to or collect contributions for the Obama
Transition Project."

There is less known about what the McCain campaign has been doing,
partially because there are fewer details to unearth. The GOP nominee
has tasked his transition to William Timmons, a well-known Washington
hand and long-time lobbyist. According to a source close to the effort,
Timmons has held conference calls with campaign officials and is
plotting out various aspects to the impending transition. There is not,
at this time, an ethics policy in place, the source says. 

A call to Timmons went unreturned. "Bill does not talk to the press but
I'll tell him you called," said his secretary. "Thank you."

The disparate approach that each campaign has taken to the transition
process is in some ways a reflection of the personality of the
candidates themselves. Obama's efforts have been criticized as
presumptuous by the McCain campaign. But veterans of the process argue
that the well-organized plan that Obama is pursuing will help ensure
smooth continuity between administrations, not to mention avoid
embarrassing political hiccups. 

"Government is becoming more complex and the time it is taking to put a
leadership team in key departments is taking longer," said P.J. Crowley,
who heads the Homeland Security Presidential Transition Initiative at
the Center for American Progress. "I think that if a campaign is waiting
until November 5 to start the transition process, they are going to be
behind. It is not being presumptuous -- it is being prudent to be
prepared before the election so that you can at least make the
transition process effective as possible and be ready to govern on
January 20."

The president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, former White
House chief of staff John Podesta, is reportedly heading up Obama's
transition team. 

McCain, in contrast, appears willing to tackle important aspects of his
potential transition in real time. It is a stance that fits the
Senator's sometimes ad hoc approach to politics, and one that allows him
to focus staff and resources on the pending election. McCain's
transition would also be less drastic than Obama's since, in all
likelihood, there will not be as vast an ideological and staff shift. 

But this approach could create significant obstacles down the road. For
example, as Crowley notes, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had only a
fraction of his leadership team in place on 9/11 - roughly eight months
after his President Bush took office.

"It is irresponsible not to have a well organized, thoughtful vigorous
transition, right now," said Mickey Kantor, a Clinton administration
official who was there for the 1992 transition and who has consulted
with the Obama campaign about its efforts. "I am surprised that John
McCain would take that position. This government is very complicated.
And I don't care how many years you have spent on it you don't truly
understand it until you get to the middle of it."