Presidential transition of George W. Bush

The presidential transition of George W. Bush took place following the 2000 United States presidential election. It started after George W. Bush was declared the victor of the election on December 12, 2000, when the Bush v. Gore decision by the United States Supreme Court halted 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida, making Bush the victor in that state. The decision delivered him the state's 25 electoral votes, thus giving him a total of 271 electoral votes. This was one more vote than the 270 needed to win the presidency outright, making him president-elect.

Presidential transition of George W. Bush
Outgoing President Bill Clinton (right) and President-elect George W. Bush (left) meet in the Oval Office of the White House as part of the Presidential transition
FormationDecember 12, 2000
DissolvedJanuary 20, 2001
TypeQuasi-governmental–private
PurposePresidential transition
HeadquartersMcLean, Virginia
Chairman
Dick Cheney
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Due to the recount effort and litigation between Bush and his presidential opponent Al Gore leaving the election undecided until December 12, 2000, Bush's official transition was the shortest in United States history, at just 39 days.

Bush's victory was formally certified on January 7, 2001, when a joint session of congress certified the electoral college count.[1] Bush was inaugurated at noon EST on January 20, 2001.

This was the first presidential transition to be held after the passage of the Presidential Transition Act of 2000.[2]

Abbreviated nature of official transition period

Due to the recount effort and litigation between Bush and his presidential opponent Al Gore leaving the election undecided until December 12, 2000, Bush's official transition was the shortest in United States history, at just 39 days.[3]

The official transition's abbreviated length gave the Bush team less time to prepare.[4]

The shortened transition was also seen as having a potential impact on Bush's ability to readily make appointments to offices. The shortened transition meant that there was only a 5-week period before Bush would take office as president for requisite FBI background checks to be performed on many of his prospective appointees for offices which required one.[5] Despite having such a short transition, in his first year as president, Bush managed to appoint more people than any other modern president had in the same timreframe.[3] The 9/11 Commission Report argued that the abbreviated transition had resultantly left many national security positions unfilled by the time of the September 11 attacks, and that slow transitions such as that of Bush's can imperil the nation's national security.[6]

Transition team
Transition team[7]
Position Holder Date publicly named to position Previous experience
Chairman Dick CheneyNovember 26, 2000Vice-presidential running-mate of Bush; former United States Secretary of Defense
Executive Director Clay Johnson IIINovember 27, 2000Gubernatorial chief of staff to George W. Bush since June 1999
Spokesperson Ari FleischerNovember 27, 2000Spokesman for Bush campaign since November 1999
Deputy Spokesperson Juleanna Glover WeissNovember 27, 2000Press secretary to Dick Cheney during campaign
Legal Counsel Michael E. TonerNovember 29, 2000General counsel for the Bush campaign since March 1999
Director of Congressional Relations David GribbenNovember 29, 2000Vice president for corporate affairs at Halliburton

The transition Bush team also announced policy coordination groups on December 15, which included such members Joshua Bolten, Gary Edson, John Bridgeland.[7] The same day it also announced advisory teams, of which Bill Paxon was chair and Maria Cino was executive director.[7]

The transition team also had a clearance counsel, confirmation teams, and various coordinator positions.[7]

Pre-election activities

Bush's campaign began early planning for a prospective transition in August of 2000.[8]

Initial post-election day activities

Bush proceeded with transition efforts while the election result was yet to be formally determined.[9] In contrast to Bush, for some time after election day, Al Gore suspended his transition team's operations.[10] Bush's vice presidential runningmate, Dick Cheney, conducted some transition work out of a private residence he owned in McLean, Virginia.[10]

Throughout the post-election recount and litigation, as prospective president and vice president, Bush and Cheney retained United States Secret Service protection they had already been receiving before the election, as did Gore's vice presidential runningmate Joe Lieberman (Gore, as the incumbent vice president, was entitled to Secret Service protection at the time, regardless of the presidential election).[11]

Bush began conduct his transition in a manner strongly mimicking a president-elect after Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified her state's results on November 26 (an act that did not settle the result of the election, as Gore launched the Gore v. Harris lawsuit that would later evolve into Bush v. Gore).[10] Operating his transition effort in a public manner was seen to be, in part, a part of the Bush team's strategy to turn public opinion against Al Gore's contesting of the Florida election results, and to pressure Gore into dropping his legal challenge.[9][12] Bush hoped to establish a perception that his victory was imminent, and would leak word of his national security team, and allow news cameras access to some of his transition meetings.[13] Bush received criticism, particularly from Democrats, for operating such a full-fledged transition before the election outcome was officially determined.[9][14] However, many Democrats conceded that it was a necessity for Bush to plan a transition so that he would be prepared to take office if he were to be determined the election's victor.[9] Bush held meetings with many prospective appointees.[14] Bush held some of these meetings at his ranch in Texas.[12]

On November 26, Bush announced that Dick Cheney would be officially heading the transition.[10] Cheney took on this work, despite having suffered a heart attack earlier that month.[10] It was reported around this time that Bush had delegated to Cheney significant authority over deciding the composition and management style of the potential Bush administration.[9] The choice to have the vice presidential runningmate head the transition team, an unusual move, ultimately foreshadowed the central role Cheney would make in policy decisions during Bush's presidency.[10] Cheney formed a transition team that primarily consisted of individuals that he had preexisting relationships with and many who had been on Cheney's own staff when he was United States Secretary of Defense.[10][9] In addition to this, Cheney named Clay Johnson III (Bush's gubernatorial chief of staff) as the executive director of the transition.[3][15][16] Cheney also named Ari Fleischer, who had been a spokesman for the campaign, as the transition's press spokesman.[16] On November 29, it was announced that Michael E. Toner would be joining the transition team as legal counsel, and that David Gribben would serve as director of congressional relations.[9] By the time the election outcome would be decided, Bush's transition team already consisted of 75 employees and 20 volunteers.[8]

On November 27, the General Services Administration (GSA), led by David J. Barram, stated they would not give the Bush transition team access to government-provided transition office space or $5.3 million in earmarked funding for a transition, "until a final winner" was determined in the presidential election, citing the Presidential Transition Act of 1963's provision requiring the outcome of an election to be clear prior to the government providing any taxpayer funding to aid in a transition.[15][16] On November 28, Barram announced to staffers of the GSA that he would postpone his planned resignation by two weeks, from November 29 to December 15, so that he could be in office when the office ceded these to an incoming presidenet.[17]

In response to the GSA's decision not to give the Bush transition team access to government office space and funding, Cheney announced that the transition team would open a privately-funded office in Washington, D.C., and would, to fund their transition effort, establish a nonprofit organization that would accept direct and in-kind, contributions from individuals of up to a maximum of $5,000 per individual, which was the maximum contribution allowed under the Presidential Transition Act of 1963. The Bush transition effort optedt to refuse corporate and PAC donations.[15][16][12][18] The Bush camp targeted raising $3.5 million for their transition effort.[12][18] The Bush transition effort would ultimately raise $1.5 million in funding through contributions by the time the election outcome was determined.[5] It was not unprecedented for a presidential transition to raise private funds, as the previous 1992–93 Clinton transition had raised $5.3 million to supplement the $3.5 million the federal government had provided it.[18] The Bush team also pledged to voluntarily disclose contributions.[18] However, the choice to raise private funds attracted some criticism, with the group Common Cause urging the Bush team not to continue with their plans to do so. While each saying it was problematic for them to raise private contributions, both Center for Responsive Politics director Larry Makinson and political scientist Larry Sabato conceded that the lack of federal funding for the transition had left the Bush team with little other choice given the lack of GSA funding.[18]

On November 29, Cheney publicly announced the transition team's acquisition of office space near Washington, D.C. in suburban McLean, Virginia.[9] The Bush transition moved into the 2,100 of office space the following day.[19] At this time, the transition effort began expanding its staff.[11]

Incumbent president Bill Clinton denied any involvement in the GSA's decision to withhold funding from the Bush transition effort.[15][16][17] Some sources, however, alleged that, despite Clinton's denial, he was involved to some degree in the refusal of the GSA to not give the Bush team access to office space and funding, arguing that Clinton may have be acting on grudges stemming from his own transition, where his own team felt that the outgoing president, Bush's father George H. W. Bush, was not helpful to them.[17] Clinton publicly declared that he would prefer that the government, instead, provide funding both to the Bush and Gore transition efforts.[15][17] The United States Department of Justice investigated whether the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 could be interpreted as allowing this.[15][17] However, on November 28, the Department of Justice reached the conclusion that the law did not allow the funds to be used to aid "multiple transition teams".[20] The Clinton administration would, ultimately, attempt to act as though two different presidential transitions were taking place.[10] At the same time that Bush was ramping up his transition efforts in late November, Gore began going forth with a transition effort of his own, headed by Roy Neel.[10][11] The FBI began conducting background checks for each transition team's potential appointees.[10] Clinton had the CIA begin giving classified daily intelligence briefings to Bush and Cheney (Al Gore was already a recipient of such briefings, as he was the incumbent Vice President).[11][21][22] The Clinton White House asked Clinton's appointees to tender their resignations at the end of Clinton's term, to make room for a new administration's appointees.[10] John Podesta, Clinton's White House Chief of Staff, ordered each executive branch department to create briefing books for the incoming cabinet secretaries, and to set-aside workspaces for the president-elect, once determined, to have their team utilize during their official transition.[15] The GSA began consulting with the transition about how they preferred to see them outfit the taxpayer-funded office space, but continued to hold-off on providing such space to either transition effort while the election litigation was still pending.[11][23]

Not only were federal agencies' normal handling for a transition of planning thrown-off by their being two potential contenders for the presidency so far after an election, but so were those responsible with planning aspects of the presidential inauguration.[11] With the election being in limbo, neither Bush nor Gore had formed an inaugural committee to plan for their prospective inaugurations.[24] Organizations such as the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee were forced to create contingency plans to help the eventual president-elect plan their inauguration at a faster-than-typical pace.[11]

Prior to the election outcome being determined, the Bush transition team had already received 18,000 resumes for positions which Bush would have had the authority to make appointments to if he became president.[5] Some resumes had been submitted through the internet.[5] The next president would have 1,125 Senate confirmable posts and 5,000 other posts to fill.[5] Some designees were named for certain positions. For example, on November 26, Bush announced that Andrew Card was his choice to serve as White House Chief of Staff.[10] Others announced in this period included the selection of Colin Powell as Secretary of State and Condoleezza Rice as National Security Advisor.[8][14] However, many potential nominees Bush's team had been courting the strongest had proven reluctant to submit themselves to the level of scrutiny of federal background checks before Bush was declared president-elect.[8]

In late November, Bush and his top associates began making phone calls to Republican congressional leaders, and indirect communication with Democratic leadership, in hopes of laying the ground for bipartisan cooperation on legislation if he became president.[12]

By early December, a number of congressional Republicans, such as Fred Thompson, Steve Horn, and Jim Kolbe, had written to GSA head Barram to urge him to release funding and grant access to office space to the Bush transition team.[25] Soon after, Horn, as chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, began holding congressional hearings on the matter, and Republican congressman Spencer Bachus introduced a bill that would require the GSA to provide support to the Bush transition team.[26]

Official transition

After Bush became President-elect of the United States on December 12, his transition team was given access by the GSA to three floors of workspace (totaling 90,000 square feet) in downtown Washington, D.C. and $5.2 million in presidential transition funds.[5][16][27] GSA funding had also been allotted to aid the Clinton White House in their role in the transition with their role in the transition.[2] The Bush effort continued to raise millions in private contributions even after receiving GSA funding.[28]

The day after the Supreme Court decision, Vice President-elect Cheney held meetings with five politically moderate Republican U.S. Senators, and held meetings with other Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C.[29]

Bush met with numerous prospective cabinet nominees throughout the month of December.[30] He proceeded quickly, after becoming president-elect, to announce cabinet selections.[10] By December 24, he had already named 6 out of 14 cabinet secretaries, and was poised to announce more.[31]

Bush meets with Clinton

On December 19, Bush met in the White House with Clinton.[30] That same day, Bush also met at Number One Observatory Circle with Gore, who was not just his defeated opponent, but also the outgoing vice president.[30]

Bush pledged that he would establish an "office of faith-based action" in his administration to search for ways that religious groups would be able to give such services as drug treatment and welfare-to-work programs that had been traditionally provided by the federal government.[30] On December 20, Bush held a meeting in Austin, Texas with roughly 20 religious leaders from around the country, to discuss his plan for "faith-based" solutions to social issues.[30] A third of the religious leaders were black.[30] The number of black religious leaders included in this meeting was viewed to be part of an effort for Bush to reach out to black people, after the Bush–Cheney ticket was reported to have received the lowest share of the black vote since the share president Ronald Reagan and his vice president George H. W. Bush (Bush's father) had received when they won reelection in 1984.[30]

The progress Bush made by Christmas lagged behind the progress that the previous, Clinton, transition had made by that point. However, Clinton did not experience the delay in starting his transition that Bush had faced.[31] The pace that Bush's transition had been able to proceed at after its delayed start earned praise from political experts such as Fred Greenstein.[31] Bush felt so comfortable with the progress made by his transition effort, that he took a several-day "non-working" Christmas vacation, traveling both to his Texas ranch and to Florida.[31] At the same time, many others in the transition effort took a break, causing the effort to decrease from the pace it had been accelerating at up to that point following Bush becoming president-elect.[31]

The transition experienced some controversy when Bush's selection for Secretary of Labor, Linda Chavez, withdrew her nomination on January 9 after the media reported that she had previously employed an undocumented immigrant.[10][32][33]

The transition was also marred by accusations of "damage, theft, vandalism and pranks" by members of the outgoing Clinton administration. The General Accounting Office (GAO) estimated the cost of those incidents at $13,000 to $14,000. They included graffiti in the men's bathroom at the White House, glue smeared on desk drawers, and missing doorknobs, medallions, and office signs. However, it is noted that similar pranks were reported in prior transitions, including the one from Bush's father to Clinton in 1993.[34] Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer followed up the GAO report with a White House-produced list of alleged vandalism including removal of the 'W' key from keyboards.[35] The Clintons were also accused of keeping for themselves gifts meant for the White House.[36] The Clintons denied these accusations, but agreed to pay more than $85,000 for gifts given to the first family "to eliminate even the slightest question" of impropriety.[37]

Administration appointments

Domestic policy

Economic policy

Environment and energy

Foreign affairs and national security


Other

First Lady's staff
  • Andrea Ball
    Chief of Staff to the First Lady/Deputy Assistant to the President
    (announced January 8, 2001)[38]
  • Catherine S. Fenton
    White House Social Secretary/Special Assistant to the President
    (announced January 8, 2001)[38]
  • Noelia Rodriquez
    Press Secretary to the First Lady
    (announced January 8, 2001)[38]
  • Anne Heiligenstein
    Director of Projects to the First Lady
    (announced January 8, 2001)[38]
  • Desiree Thompson Sayle
    Director of Correspondence to the First Lady
    (announced January 8, 2001)[38]
  • Quincy Hicks
    Director of Scheduling and Advance to the First Lady
    (announced January 8, 2001)[38]
  • Lea Berman
    Residence Manager and Social Secretary
    (announced January 16, 2001)[38]

Second Lady's staff
  • Debra Dunn
    Chief of Staff to the Second Lady
    (announced January 16, 2001)[38]
  • Margita Thompson
    Press Secretary to the Second Lady
    (announced January 16, 2001)[38]
  • Jona Turner
    Second Lady's Director of Scheduling and Advance
    (announced January 16, 2001)[38]

See also

Further reading

References
  1. Mitchell, Alison (7 January 2001). "Over Some Objections, Congress Certifies Electoral Vote (Published 2001)". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  2. Smith, Stephanie (11 February 2008). "CRS Report for Congress Presidential Transitions" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  3. "The George W. Bush transition to power • Center for Presidential Transition". Center for Presidential Transition. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  4. Schwartz, Eric (23 November 2020). "OPINION EXCHANGE | Presidential transitions in the past unified, put country first". Star Tribune. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  5. O'Connor, Eileen (13 December 2000). "Bush transition can shift to high gear - December 12, 2000". www.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  6. "What the 9/11 Commission Found: Slow Confirmations Imperil U.S. National Security • Center for Presidential Transition". Center for Presidential Transition. 16 December 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  7. "Chronology--Transition". p2000.us. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  8. Schrader, Esther; Shogren, Elizabeth (14 Dec 2000). "Bush team must scurry to name top appointees". Newspapers.com. South Florida Sun Sentinel. Los Angeles Times.
  9. King, John; Garrett, Major (29 December 2000). "CNN.com - Bush transition team up and working - November 29, 2000". www.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  10. Skinner, Richard (7 October 2016). "Bill Clinton set a bad example with his transition". Vox. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  11. "Agencies are preparing 2 camps for transition along 'parallel tracks'". Newspapers.com. Star Tribune. The Associated Press. 30 Nov 2000. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  12. "Powell Goes to Texas for discussions on possible Cabinet post". Newspapers.com. Star Tribune. The Associated Press. 30 Nov 2000. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  13. Fournier, Ron (21 Oct 2004). "Kerry camp plans though stance in a recount". Newspapers.com. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Associated Press. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  14. Herman, Ken (14 Dec 2000). "Bush moves quickly to appoint supporters". Newspapers.com. North County Times. Cox News Service.
  15. Sanger, David E.; Lacey, Mark (28 November 2000). "BUSH FORGES AHEAD WITH HIS TRANSITION TEAM". Sun-Sentinel.com. South Florida Sun Sentinel. The New York Times. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  16. Schrader, Esther (28 November 2000). "GSA Denies Bush Transition Aid, Citing Legal Battle". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  17. Sanger, David E.; Lacey, Marc (28 November 2000). "CONTESTING THE VOTE: TRANSFER OF POWER; Federal Agency Denies Bush Team Access to Money and Office for Transition (Published 2000)". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  18. Zausner, Robert (30 November 2000). "A new Bush fund appeal". Newspapers.com. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  19. "Open for Business". Newspapers.com. The Kansas City Star. 1 Dec 2000. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  20. Moss, Rudolph D. (28 November 2000). "Authority of the General Services Administration to Provide Assistance to Transition Teams of Two Presidential Candidates" (PDF). www.eenews.net. United States Department of Justice. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  21. "What is the presidential transition process?". Partnership for Public Service. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  22. Walls, Madison (15 January 2021). "Laws and customs guide presidential transitions — but some go off the rails anyway". Washington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  23. Cass, Connie (14 Dec 2000). "Bush team receives office keys". Newspapers.com. North County Times. The Associated Press.
  24. "Inauguration on track". Newspapers.com. The Kansas City Star. 1 Dec 2000. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  25. Ballard, Tanya N. (4 December 2000). "Pressure mounts on GSA chief to fund Bush transition". Government Executive. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  26. "GSA releases transition funds". Government Executive. 14 December 2000. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  27. McCaleb, Ian Christopher (13 December 2000). "Bush, now president-elect, signals will to bridge partisan gaps - December 13, 2000". www.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  28. Salant, Jonathan D. (9 Jan 2001). "Evans Seeks more funds for presidential transition". Newspapers.com. Johnson City Press. The Associated Press. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  29. "Cheney talks transition with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill - December 13, 2000". CNN. 13 December 2000. Archived from the original on 21 December 2000. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  30. Baer, Susan (20 December 2000). "Clinton, Bush talk transition". baltimoresun.com. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  31. Lindlaw, Scott (24 Dec 2000). "Bush's Transition Surprisingly Swift". Newspapers.com. The Atlanta Constitution. The Associated Press. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  32. Fournier, Ron (9 January 2001). "Chavez Withdraws As Labor Nominee". www.washingtonpost.com. Washington Post. The Associated Press. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  33. Holmes, Steven A.; Greenhouse, Steven (10 January 2001). "BUSH CHOICE FOR LABOR POST WITHDRAWS AND CITES FUROR OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ISSUE (Published 2001)". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  34. Pear, Robert (June 12, 2002). "White House Vandalized In Transition, G.A.O. Finds". The New York Times.
  35. Evans, Mike (June 3, 2001). "Bush aide details alleged Clinton staff vandalism". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 10, 2001.
  36. "Gifts Were Not Meant for Clintons, Some Donors Say". The Washington Post. February 5, 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  37. "Tripp: I was told not to record White House gifts". CNN. February 9, 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  38. "Transition--Building the New Administration...Timeline". p2000.us. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  39. "CNN Transcript - CNN Today: Larry Lindsey Named Chairman of Council of Economic Advisers - January 3, 2001". www.cnn.com. CNN.
Preceded by
Bill Clinton		 Presidential transition
2000-2001		 Succeeded by
Barack Obama
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