JOHN FENZEL

What Makes Transitions Difficult

  Margaret Tutwiler:  “I thought transitions were the worst things ever to have gone through in my life. Every one of them, they're horror shows. Even if you've been in an administration, they're just nightmares. And I think they're the worst ten weeks of any administration.”

The combination of personal uncertainty and a fair amount of professional uncertainty, people just don't know how to behave in a transition. They don't know if they're keep their mouth shut or to speak out. They don't know who's on which side. So, it makes for a very painful experience.  And I assume that this agony is shared even by the president-elect who's just gotten the greatest honor ever and is very excited about a whole bunch of new aspects of the jobs that he or she is about to take over.  The personal pain of seeing people who have given and given and given and not realized their dreams is especially difficult for the candidate, now president-elect himself.

The Foundation of a Successful Presidency

A president's power comes from one source, and that is legislative victories. And I believe that ultimately that is how a president is perceived as powerful or non-powerful.  So, you better be very careful what it is you're sending up to the Hill or what your administration is going to get behind, that you have a reasonable shot of actually getting a victory. 

 

What makes or breaks the first 100 days is whether you are, in fact, ready to put forward an agenda that has a chance to succeed and give you the chance at launching a successful administration.

Identifying a New Administration

How do you recruit good people and talk about this? You've got all these demands on you. Sometimes you have to reach over that to try to recruit the best in the United States. Ted Sorenson would confirm that Kennedy never met McNamara before he asked him to come in. We can argue about whether that was a good appointment or not, but sometimes they reach out by reputation. Sometimes they reach out by a handshake, sometimes; even presidents read newspapers and say, get the guy on the line for me. What does happen and what does tend to create the articles that are wrong is that some of those names are written in pencil. And they're people you can move around as you need them and as you fill in your secretary of state and treasury, you get fewer and fewer ... You see her here or there and you move her around. That sort of thing does happen. And as it leaks, you write about it and it turns out that she becomes the secretary of labor and not transportation, so be it.

Penfield James on an Early Lesson-Learned for President-Elect Reagan...

One of the reasons Ronald Reagan was so adamant on the details of the appointment process was because while he was president-elect, Walter Annenberg, a very wealthy Californian, Ambassador to the Court of St. James under Nixon, each New Years or Christmas held a big party at his estate in Palm…. And Ronald and Nancy Reagan were always on their guest list. I was in the Washington office of the transition and the day after the Christmas, I got a call from President-elect Ronald Reagan. He said, "Oh, by the way, on the appointment on this ambassadorial post, I'm going to appoint so and so." I'd rather not use the name right now. And I said, "Fine, Governor," and wrote it down and thought, "Gee, that's a curious candidate for that job." It was one of the plumb appointments the President makes, Ambassador to the Court of St. James. Ten minutes later Jim Baker and Ed were on the phone, and I said, "Oh, by the way, I talked to the Governor a little bit ago and we went over the appointments, he signed off on this one, this one, this one." But I said, "He also brought up the St. James, the Ambassador, he wants to appoint ‘Bill Smith’." And they said who is he. And Ed said, "What's his name?" And Mike said, "I never heard of him." And I happened to know who he was, because he was a very prominent wealthy businessman in my business. I said, "He is a very wealthy Chicagoan." "What did he do on the campaign?" I said, "Really nothing, I don't think he was really supportive." And they just went ballistic because he gave away one of the prime appointments. So, when the Governor got back to Washington, you better believe there was a meeting. The President does not cow these guys, they'd been his friends for years and they just, and I’m sitting there amazed. They just dumped all over him. "How the hell could you do such a thing, that is the dumbest god damned thing!" And he was chagrined. He knew he got caught at a cocktail party and probably had a couple drinks, although Reagan didn't drink that much, and Walter said, "You know, Ronnie, this guy over there would be a good Ambassador to St. James," and Ronnie said, "Sounds good to me." [LAUGHTER] And from that point on, Ronald Reagan learned he could get sandbagged. And, so, he was always protective. Any time somebody suggested an appointment, he would say, "put it in the process." "Put it in the process" was his favorite phrase. It always came back to him to make the decisions anyhow. So, I think that's why we controlled the process because of that one mistake.

Penfield James on how a transition can be sidetracked and derailed...

President Clinton’s first presidential personnel director was Governor Dick Riley, who became secretary of education. Right after Clinton was elected, I was in Boston at the time, and I got a call from Governor Riley from the Clinton transition. He said, "Mr. James, you don't know me, but I've got your old job and I really would like for you, if you don't mind," he was very courteous, "to come down and brief me on how Reagan put his team together, what was the process, how did he control it. What were the problems? Where were the land mines?" And I said, "Governor, I would be happy to." So, I went down and we spent a couple hours talking, just the two of us one on one, laying out the process, the controls the mine fields, how to -- and he was most appreciative, notes all over the place. And one of the things I told him was that presidential personnel have to have a couple criteria. You have to have the confidence of the president, you have to be an honest broker and not covet any other appointments. This is the appointment you're going to take and keep and leave. And he agreed with that and then eight weeks later, I hear Clinton takes Governor Riley out of there, makes him secretary of education. And I thought to myself, he's just lost the ball game. Because Riley met the qualifications, he was close to the president, honest guy, honest broker, good politician, good governor. But from that point on it appeared that Clinton did the appointments on an ad hoc basis. Whoever happened to come into the office that day for what special interest group. And I don't mean this disparagingly.

The Challenge of Reconciling Political Coalitions after Election

Coalition politics immediately after election, in either party, have to be satisfied in a very fundamental way. You do not have the option at that point of not meeting with a concerned group. And most presidential candidates having been on the record in a series of questionnaires from every possible coalition or interest group -- and they will usually have an appointment as part of it. It's the work of the transition to manage that politically because of its consequence during the administration. The ability to keep supporters together from coalitions or various interest groups, has significant consequence for the balance of the administration.

The Director of Presidential Personnel, Ambassadorships and Constituency Groups

 

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein, the Younger.

Whoever is head of presidential personnel probably can't last more than 18 months. By that time, that person, man or woman, is so destroyed politically by special interest groups, because it's always your fault that their guy didn't get the appointment. Ambassadorships usually are political payoffs. The role of ambassador has changed dramatically from Eisenhower's day. And, today, with instant communications most embassies are run out of the Department of State. There are exceptions. Every senator and every congressman who is in the party of president feels they have the right to make a decision because they campaigned for the president and helped him get elected. Those are the hardest ones. You could probably sit down with labor or Heritage and reason it out. But to sit down with a powerful chairman of a Senate committee and say we're not going to review your candidate is a tough battle and you're probably going to lose it.

Penfield James: "The Secret of Good Government"

 

Lorenzetti Ambrogio: Allegory of Good Government

I always remember the story; Bryce Harlow had lunch with me and said, "Pen, I'm going to give the secret of good government." He said, "You’d never be able to do it." And we were all excited and new and wanted to do it, he said, "Never, ever appoint a Hill staffer to a regulatory appointment, because that Hill staffer will never be the President's appointment. He'll always be the congressman or the senator that lobbied you for that appointment."  And, thus, you'll have the regulatory agencies filled with Hill staffers and not President's men. He was exactly right. Because about six weeks after, I got a call from a major Republican Senator. He said, "Mr. James, I want have lunch."  During the conversation he said, "I sit on six of your nominations." I said, "yes, sir, I understand that." He said, "now here's what I want, I want this person in that job, I want that person in that job," and he had four. I said, "Let me take it under advisement and talk to Jim Baker." I talked to Jim Baker that afternoon about it. I said, "Jim what do you want me to do?" And he looked at me like I fell off the turnip truck. He said, "give it to him," because it was more important at that moment, at that time anyhow.

Covering the Transition from Campaigning to Governing

The Outgoing Transition Staff.  There is an awful lot of available talent right there that truly wants to help the incoming people, regardless of party. They feel that they have learned something; they want to pass on that information. The person that the outgoing administration appointed is crucial to alleviating the awkwardness of the transition.

 

Achieving Consistency through Continuity from Campaigning to Governing.  During the Reagan Transition, Ed Meese was in charge of both the transition team and the campaign, so that he could coordinate it and they weren't out of phase. That is very sensitive. 

 

Personal Challenges Facing Journalists: The problem for the press, of course, is that there's very little to cover. You're waiting for people behind closed doors to come out and make an announcement. You're being paid and supporting your family by producing a story every day. And there's no story. So, you are part of this process of speculation.

 

A transition is a short-term consequence.  It's got to be ready to go January 20th at noon. The American people pay a president for four years starting at that day and the president owes it to be ready at that point.  At the same time, there is a certain thing called the honeymoon if you know how to use it and play it. The Congress, the press, public opinion all are going to be more generous toward a president initially and if the president can survive the transition and is ready to go, he has an opportunity to do some things that might come later.  Moreover because we're a very apolitical country, people elect somebody and then quickly go on to other things and so those first impressions become very important and stick with you far longer than second and third impressions.

 

Who is “In-the-Know” on Appointments?

Generally speaking during the transition those who are talking don't know and those who know aren't talking. Who are the ones who do know? Where would I focus if I were covering this? There are always three advisers to the presidents who do know. One is presidential personnel advisor. The second is the General Counsel, because once the president decides on a candidate, the next step is through the General Counsel for ethics in government, financial disclosure. After that, the third person who really knows is the assistant to the president for legislative affairs.

 

Be aware of those who are trying to influence the process. The appointments are very coveted; they're very sought after. People jockey, connive, and scheme to get these appointments and they will use the media to get an appointment.  They will leak through an intermediary or through special interest groups or a constituency group who the appointee will be for a particular job, hoping that if that appears in the newspaper it will influence the people in the White House to take a look at the person and maybe that person will get the appointment.

 

Keep in mind the appointment process is a lengthy process. In other words, when the president says, "Today I announce Mary Smith to be my assistant secretary", that decision was probably made three months ago because it takes at least three months before he can say, "I'm announcing."  He has to have Mary Smith's financial disclosure, ethics in government, all of that. And that takes a period of time. The President is hesitant to announce whom he's going to appoint until those clearances are done.