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Presidential Transitions: White House
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"The White House is not simply a spoil of victory," observed a former White House official and specialist on presidential transitions. "It's the nerve center of the greatest government in the world and we ought to at least give it the same respect that you do when you take over a second-rate corporation." Currently a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions, this former staffer noted: "When I compare White House transitions and the lack of systems and discipline and preparation that goes into that to what we do when we are taking over a company, it is night and day and, yet, the stakes are so infinitely smaller with the companies than with the White House." The same observation is made by others who have worked in the White House and devoted time and energy to transitions. "You would never start up a company the way people start a White House," observed Roy Neel, a Chief of Staff for the Vice-President and someone who later served as Presidential Deputy Chief of Staff. Neel and Thomas (Mack) McLarty, Clinton Chief of Staff, were the only senior White House staff who were appointed more than one week prior to the President's Inauguration.
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"It isn't really forming a government" like newly elected presidents must do, said Charles O. Jones, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist who has studied presidential transitions. "There are all kinds of existing apparatus in the White House, in departments and agencies, for orientation sessions."
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As their ideas were evolving into action, the Pew trusts were donating more than $7 million in recent years toward efforts to smooth presidential transitions. Other foundations contributed as well, and eventually funds were matched with numerous efforts including White House 2001.
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Several groups have already provided suggestions for improving the presidential transition process after November's election. In August, the Heritage Foundation published The Keys to a Successful Presidency, which offered advice to presidential hopefuls from dozens of presidential experts ranging from former White House chiefs of staff to former White House personnel directors.
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