The General Services Administration, which provides logistical support for the presidential transition team, turned over the keys to the 120,000 square foot office space it has leased for President-elect Obama’s team today. But GSA is remaining tight lipped about where the space is. A press release issued by GSA just says the office space is somewhere in downtown D.C. Yesterday, Diane Merriett, a GSA spokeswoman, refused to tell yours truly where the office was located, stating that GSA decided to leave it up to the president-elect’s team to release. This FedLine found funny because the new boss is a transparency…
Monthly Archives: November, 2008
I just discovered the most outlandish thing I’ve seen in quite some time. JW Mariott is offering a “build your own inaugural ball” package for the three-day weekend for the mere sum of $1 million at its 14th and Pennsylvania hotel. Here’s what you’d get for your bucks: • Two Presidential Suites • Two Vice Presidential Suites • 300 guest rooms • $200,000 in food and beverage • Private access to the 12th floor balcony under a heated framed tent • Custom tailored events to fit 450 people • 24-hour Red Coat Serviceâ„¢ • 5% of proceeds will be donated to the Amazona Sustainable Foundation Oh yeah, and…
If you’re looking for tickets to President-Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration and parade, you may want to prepare yourself for disappointment. While stopping in various congressional offices today, I noticed one thing: the phones are ringing off the hook. In fact, all of the phone lines were ringing at once for five solid minutes in one representative’s office, and all of the callers had the same question: How do I get tickets? Aides told me tickets aren’t yet available, and some offices have started waiting lists. It’s likely that, due to demand, the majority of the inaugural tickets will be held…
Make sure you check out our latest stories on Barack Obama’s agenda for the federal work force. I just filed a story on some of his personnel and contracting plans, and Gregg Carlstrom has some interesting details on Obama’s plans for the Program Assessment Rating Tool, ethical rules, and other government reform ideas. Keep an eye on www.federaltimes.com for more updates.
All the things we’ve been moaning about for the last eight years, now we have to correct. – A noticeably hoarse John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a Nov. 5 conference call with reporters. Gage spoke from Chicago, where he and other supporters of President-elect Barack Obama celebrated the Democrats’ Nov. 4 victory.
I’m about to join a conference call with the American Federation of Government Employees to get their thoughts on what an Obama administration will mean for federal workers. But we already know that Obama could make some significant changes in the Defense Department’s National Security Personnel System. Obama in September told unions that he was unhappy with how NSPS was set up, and pledged to alter its regulations or even repeal the controversial program. Obama has not said how he might alter NSPS. There will be roughly 205,000 Defense employees under NSPS by the time Obama takes power, though observers don’t expect…
President-elect Barack Obama won what can only be described as a resounding victory yesterday: More than 62 million popular votes and at least 338 electoral votes. His victory caps off a grueling two-year campaign that overcame the well-funded Clinton machine, a popular Republican opponent and a series of domestic and foreign crises. That was the easy part. Obama now faces the most difficult presidential transition in a century: The economy is stagnating. The country is still fighting two wars. The national debt has ballooned past $10 trillion. The American people do not trust their government to serve the public good.…
Tomorrow the transition starts. But the Bush Administration isn’t over yet. It is still plugging away on its initiatives, as evidenced by the fact the Office of Management and Budget posted the latest President’s Management Agenda scorecard on Nov. 3. The stoplight-style scorecard, which may or may not survive transition to the new president, has an abundance of green these days, indicating success in achieving President Bush’s management priorities. According to the scorecard, agencies did very well at achieving their human capital and performance improvement goals this quarter. Commercial services management, e-gov, and financial performance were a bit tougher for…
Like Elise said, voter turnout is indeed heavy; more than 300 people were lined up at a few polling places in Arlington and Alexandria that I visited early this morning. The lines seemed to be thinning, though election officers expect them to pick up again later this afternoon. So if you haven’t voted yet and you can get away from work before the evening rush, that might be a good time to vote! A few photos I took of early-morning polling places:
Happy Election Day Feds! It is finally here. The day you get to pick your new boss. We here at FedLine cast our ballots this morning and can report turnout is heavy at the polling stations inside the Beltway. This reporter stood in line for 62Â minutes to make her choice, which seemed pretty speedy given the fact that there were 210 people ahead of her when she started. If you’ve headed to the polls today, or are on your way later, we want to hear from you. Did you choose McCain? Obama? A third party candidate? How will your choice…