By
The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas - George W. Bush, in a bold gesture to assert authority, is moving key operatives to Washington and seeking private financing for a presidential transition.
Meanwhile, even as Democrats continued to press court challenges of Bush's election certification in Florida, the Clinton White House took preliminary steps yesterday to ease the way for a possible Bush presidency, including offering the Texas governor daily national security briefings.
Democrat Al Gore, as vice president, already gets such briefings.
Bush was pressing ahead with plans to form a new government and to fill thousands of top positions now held by Democrats. He met yesterday in both the governor's mansion here and later in his office in the state capitol with Andrew Card, his prospective White House chief of staff.
"We can move fairly rapidly in a couple of areas, but he has to decide the timing," Bush's vice presidential running mate, Dick Cheney, said yesterday on NBC's "Today."
Cheney said there was a "good possibility" a Bush Cabinet would include Democrats.
"The governor has given me instructions to look in those areas," said Cheney, overseeing transition planning. "We clearly will."
Cheney said Bush was reaching out to people with experience, including some from the Bush and Reagan administrations, "but we're also going to want new talent. We're going to want to emphasize diversity. We're going to want a broad Cabinet."
One veteran from the Bush administration is Card, a former transportation secretary, who the Texas governor tapped as his choice for White House chief of staff.
White House press secretary Jake Siewert said White House chief of staff John Podesta had a "cordial" conversation Monday night with Card.
"John offered to meet with him and offered to meet with him either with the vice president's transition staff or separately," Siewert said. "We'll be happy to arrange such a meting to give them an overview of where we are in the transition."
While supporting the federal General Services Administration's decision not to release funds or office space to Bush at this time for a transition, Siewert said the White House was waiting for the Justice Department to complete a formal written opinion on the Presidential Transition Act.
"But I think the legislative history makes pretty clear that if there is any doubt in the mind of the GSA administrator, that they should not move forward and that no moneys should be expended," Siewert said, adding that GSA Administrator David Barram told Podesta on Monday that he planned to stay on the job through Dec. 15.
Siewert said the transition coordinating council, which the president created by executive
order, was expected to meet today to help the next president ease into office. He also said that national security adviser Sandy Berger would be following up with the Bush team to arrange daily national security briefings for Bush - the same kind of briefings the vice president already receives.
The Secret Service, like GSA, was not ready to acknowledge any winner. Officials said the Secret Service was proceeding with "parallel" transition operations - giving both the
Democratic and Republican tickets the same training sessions, briefings, and help securing
personal property for the move into the White House or vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory.
Bush was to designate retired Gen. Colin Powell as secretary of state and Stanford University scholar Condoleezza Rice as national security adviser. He also was expected to give economist Lawrence Lindsey a top economic job.
Bush settled on these selections before the election and has not changed his mind, aides said.
However, there remained some questions about scheduling, with Powell hoping to wait until some of the legal fireworks in Florida have subsided, the aides said.
Associates close to Bush said the list of prominent Republicans under consideration for top jobs included Montana Gov. Marc Racicot and Indianapolis Mayor Steve Goldsmith.
Racicot, who has emerged as a top advocate in the Florida recount fight has been mentioned as a possibility for Interior secretary or attorney general. Goldsmith's name has been circulated as a potential housing secretary.
Bush hopes to appoint at least one Democrat to a high-profile job, his associates said. Former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., has been mentioned as a possible candidate for defense secretary and Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt of North Carolina could find himself on a list of potential education secretaries, aides said.
Rebuffed by the Clinton administration in a bid for office space and $5.3 million in federal
funds, the Bush team announced Monday it would seek contributions of up to $5,000 each from individuals to help pay for a transition office in the nation's capital.
A 1963 law allows private donations of up to $5,000 each to help cover transition costs. President Clinton raised such money in 1992.
Bush also was moving critical elements of his operation from Austin to Washington to establish a presence near the center of federal government.
Cheney himself will be based in Washington.
He announced that Clay Johnson, Bush's gubernatorial chief of staff, would serve as executive director of the prospective transition.
Cheney also announced that Ari Fleischer, a senior campaign spokesman, would serve as transition spokesman.
Both Johnson and Fleischer will move from Austin to Washington.
The actions of the Bush camp contrasted sharply with assertions by Gore that the election
won't be over until the courts say it's over.
"Let the people have their say, and let us listen," Gore said Monday night in a nationally televised address to the nation.
That address was closely monitored in Austin - Bush watching from the Texas governor's
mansion and the campaign staff assembled before television sets at campaign headquarters.
Fleischer said Gore's address offered "nothing new."
