The Obama Project
President-elect Barack Obama and his transition advisers are
creating a permanent, nonprofit entity, which they intend to use
not only to seed supporters into high-paying lobbying jobs in
Washington, but also to employ those supporters who cannot qualify
for jobs in the Obama administration.
According to an aide working on the Obama transition, the
campaign is aware of some senior staffers and others who probably
could not be hired by the Executive Office of the President or by
senior Cabinet level offices, so the “Obama/Biden Transition
Project,” as the nonprofit is called, will allow the campaign to
retain talent and pay it at competitive salaries.
The “Project” is a 501(c)4 tax-exempt organization, with no
limits on the contributions it can receive and no requirements to
divulge the names of individuals or organizations that give it
money. Such a structure has not been used before for
transitions.
“To my knowledge, it’s never been done, and people should be
asking why the Obama people chose to do it this way,” says a
longtime Washington Republican, who has been involved in
transitions for the Reagan and Bush campaign teams.
Traditionally, the victorious campaign has set up inaugural
funds, as well as funds to deal with legal costs and other expenses
to close down the campaign. Others have set up quasi-corporate
offices to deal with transition issues. In 2000, with the election
in doubt, the Bush-Cheney team set up a private transition office
in McLean, Virginia. Ultimately, the federal government, headed by
the Government Services Administration, covers the cost of the
transition staff, providing it with office space and all
equipment.
According to an Obama campaign staffer who has is being retained
for the transition and inauguration planning, the “Project” is
intended not only to identify personnel for the Obama
administration, but to then send those Project employees who know
all the senior staff in the various Cabinet departments and federal
agencies out into the corporate and lobbying community to leverage
those contacts.
“It’s taking the old ‘K Street Project’ that Republicans had and
doing it twice as fast and on steroids,” explains the aide. “So, if
you have a Project aide working on Commerce Department transition,
that Project aide will be more likely to get a senior lobbying job
because of all those connections at Commerce. That former Project
aide will also be able raise more money for Democrats in this town
and help others with jobs and such.”
As well, the nonprofit may also serve as a haven for Obama
supporters and campaign loyalists who for one reason or another
can’t be employed by the administration or in the federal
government. “There are some people who have been with us from the
beginning who are clearly political liabilities or who won’t be
able to qualify for a job, say, because they can’t get a security
clearance,” says another aide, who was unaware of the unique Obama
transition project’s tax status.
Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama’s closest
advisers who serves on the board of the “Project,” has been named
as a possible White House senior adviser or even as Cabinet
secretary for Housing and Urban Development, but her longtime ties
to the Daley political machine in Chicago, as well as potential
scandals from her role in housing projects, may make her
unconfirmable.
“The transition project will be a perfect place for her,” says
one longtime Obama fundraiser. “She can raise millions, be a power
player in Washington, help shape the Obama administration and not
have to worry about accountability.”
Calls From Cantor
House Republican Deputy Whip Eric Cantor
(R-Va.) quickly cut the legs out from under one of his longtime
allies by undermining House Republican conference chair Rep.
Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) among House Republicans and
forcing Putnam to step aside from the leadership race.
Cantor spent the days leading up to November 4 calling fellow
Republican House members to apologize for the ugly way the votes on
the Paulson-Pelosi federal economic “recovery plan” were handled,
thereby hurting a number of House members in tight races. Cantor,
according to those who got the call, didn’t take all the blame for
the botched votes of late September and early October. At the time,
instead of congratulating Republican House members for their
principled votes against the massive $800 billion bailout, he
claimed their opposition was nothing more than a reaction to the
vitriolic floor speech made by House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi.
“He said the bailout bill and the votes were a mistake,” said a
House member who received a call. “He was apologetic about it, but
he also claimed the problem was with the communications coming out
of the conference. He indirectly blaming Putnam, who was standing
beside him during all those press conferences.”
Putnam won reelection to the House but announced the next day
that he would not stand for a leadership job. Some believed that if
Cantor chose to challenge minority leader John
Boehner, Putnam would seek to challenge minority whip
Roy Blunt. Instead, Cantor is looking to take
Blunt’s job and wait out Boehner for another election cycle.
Putnam was viewed as a fast riser in the House and, coming from
Florida, as perhaps someone with the ability to grow into a
national leader, but his strength was not in fundraising, as it is
with Cantor.
“Adam is a good man. He’s the odd man out, but Cantor isn’t
doing himself any favors by playing politics the way he is,” says
another House Republican. “Given where we are politically in the
House, it will be interesting to see how he handles the situation.
He isn’t going to have much to whip, that’s for sure.”
Subprime Slippers
One reason Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was eager
to jump to the White House as Barack Obama’s chief
of staff: hope that he could use the White House communications
infrastructure to block attacks on him for his role in the mortgage
and housing scandals sure to envelop Democrats in the coming
months.
Emanuel served on the board of Freddie Mac after leaving the
Clinton House, and by some accounts pulled down more than $250,000
for less than a year’s work in that capacity. He also earned
millions working for hedge funds and Wall Street speculators before
running for his congressional seat. That’s a lot of dough for the
former ballet dancer to spend on whatever it is former ballet
dancers spend their money on.
The Anti-Palin Louts
Fallout continues from the smear campaign against Sarah
Palin engineered by bitter McCain aides and former
Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers. At
press time, conservatives loyal to Palin were attempting to unmask
those responsible for spreading what many say are totally false
tales of Palin, portraying her as a diva and slow on the
uptake.
Romney supporters, some working for McCain, others working as
talking heads on TV, were actively seeking to diminish Palin,
attempting to present her as a second-tier contender for 2012.
“Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won’t be the first, not even
the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,” said
one former Romney aide working for McCain-Palin. “The only serious
candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt
Romney. He’s in charge on November fifth.”
As is becoming increasingly clear, that simply isn’t the case.
If anything, the attacks on Palin have increased talk that she will
have long-standing leadership role in the conservative movement, if
not the Republican Party.
