Transition office ruled off limits to Bush

By MARY DEJEVSKY

WASHINGTON - George W Bush's victory speech may have been couched in words of velvet, but it contained at least one rapier shaft of steel.

Making a direct lunge for the tools of power, Mr Bush said he had asked his running-mate, Dick Cheney, to "work with President Clinton's administration to open a transition office in Washington".

He added icily: "We look forward to a constructive working relationship throughout this transition."

Thus opened a new, and possibly more vicious, front in the already bitter battle for the White House: a tussle for the keys of the transition office, two floors of an office block near the White House, already staffed, wired and equipped, awaiting the advance guard of the next administration.

In 1963 the transition was recognised as a process that required government staffing and public funding. Until then, it had been a mostly ad hoc arrangement funded by the new president's campaign office.

Now, with more than 3,000 jobs in the gift of the President, the transition is an extensive operation supporting the appointment, vetting and briefing of new staff, as well as the hugely sensitive distribution of office space and facilities.

But possession also marks the symbolic entry into the ante-chamber of power. With Mr Bush claiming victory, and Mr Gore not conceding, who should have the keys?

Unofficial reports in Washington said orders to keep the transition offices shut camefrom President Clinton, hardly a neutral observer. Release of the keys could wait on the US Supreme Court's hearing of the presidential dispute on Friday.

But Mr Bush could rent office space, recruit support staff, and fund the operation privately. The big donors who allowed him to fund his election campaign without public money would contribute, in some cases, no doubt, in the expectation of receiving a job in return.

Which would remind everyone of one reason why the transition became a publicly funded operation – to curb the influence of money and patronage.

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