The endless, bitter race for the White House is over. But it's hardly the time for the winners to bury the hatchet. On the contrary, today is the official start of the truly ugly infighting and backstabbing as original supporters and latecomers joust for top positions in the new administration. The lists are circulating, and the usual suspects are being rounded up. The White House counts more than 3,300 presidential job appointments in all. About half -- 1,600 -- are Schedule C jobs, which include entry-level positions and some senior policy posts, that would go to some of the tens of thousands of people expected to send résumés. This time, they'll file them to Internet job sites that both transition teams have established.Washington Post reporter Al Kamen served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia.
Al Kamen: The really nasty battles are about to start for the 300 or so presidential appointee slots, the top White House jobs, such as the National Security Council -- and especially for the 400 Cabinet and sub-Cabinet jobs that require Senate confirmation, known as PAS positions
The Sport of Spoils
By Al Kamen
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; Page A21
[Excerpt]
The endless, bitter race for the White House is over. But it's hardly the time for the winners to bury the hatchet. On the contrary, today is the official start of the truly ugly infighting and backstabbing as original supporters and latecomers joust for top positions in the new administration. The lists are circulating, and the usual suspects are being rounded up.
The White House counts more than 3,300 presidential job appointments in all. About half -- 1,600 -- are Schedule C jobs, which include entry-level positions and some senior policy posts, that would go to some of the tens of thousands of people expected to send résumés. This time, they'll file them to Internet job sites that both transition teams have established.
About 700 positions are for non-career Senior Executive Service members, generally highly skilled folks -- policy wonks, managers, financial officers -- who will come from the private sector or academia into agencies for specific tasks.
The really nasty battles are often reserved for the 300 or so presidential appointee slots, the top White House jobs, such as the National Security Council -- and especially for the 400 Cabinet and sub-Cabinet jobs that require Senate confirmation, known as PAS positions. The 400 do not include nearly 200 U.S. attorneys and marshals, federal judges, and about 200 ambassadors.
There was a time when those seeking jobs in Washington were confounded by a Kafkaesque maze, a process that was nasty, brutish and long. It's still no fun, but thanks to the Internet and a new project by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Council for Excellence in Government, there's no reason for anyone to be surprised about how trying the process will be.
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The council's Presidential Appointee Roadmap, soon to be fully online for the first time, with lots of links to a wealth of government material, provide one-stop shopping for the answers to almost any question about the job you want. Do you seriously think you're qualified for this job? Do you have adequate clout with the right people? Are you a close friend of insiders who can get you the job? And, most important, can you verify the precise day that you switched from Hillary to Barack or from Mitt to John?
What about all those years you "forgot" to pay taxes? Think they won't find out about that? Or the illegal nanny?
