Bush prepares for transition

Karen Gullo

Monday, Nov. 27, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

AUSTIN, Texas -- George W. Bush is moving full-speed ahead with forming a new administration, despite legal questions that continue to cloud his ascendancy to the White House.

"Time runs short, and we have a lot to do," Bush said late Sunday as he declared himself the likely winner of the contested presidential election after Florida's secretary of state certified 25 electoral votes for him.

Bush lost no time in beginning the process of filling top jobs, naming former Transportation Secretary Andy Card as his White House chief of staff. Another top job could also be offered soon -- Bush wants former Gen. Colin Powell as his secretary of state. Senior advisers said Powell didn't want his selection to be part of Sunday's political tumult.

Bush also wants to open a transition office in Washington and asked running mate Dick Cheney, head of his transition team, to work with President Clinton to move that effort forward.

Card was meeting with Bush about transition matters this morning. On his way into the state Capitol he was asked whether Bush would move quickly to fill Cabinet positions and White House jobs.

"We'll be talking about that," Card told reporters.

"We know how important it is to keep moving," he said, adding Bush "is getting ready to be a great president."

Card said he would talk to Cheney about the Clinton administration's decision not to release federal money yet for a transition office.

"We may just open our own transition office," Card said.

The Texas governor -- he won't trade in that title for "president elect" until Vice President Al Gore gives up his legal challenges -- said Sunday he was "honored and humbled" to have won Florida's contested election.

Bush contended that he and Cheney would prepare immediately to serve as America's next president and vice president. He asked Gore to reconsider his decision to contest the outcome.

A further challenge of the results in Florida, Bush said, "is not the best route for America."

But Gore's challenge and a myriad of court actions in Florida had already placed a roadblock in front of Bush's transition plans.

The General Services Administration won't release $5.3 million to help Bush prepare for office until the challenges to the election are resolved, a GSA spokeswoman said Sunday.

By law the GSA has had a transition office set up and transition funds available since Election Day, but the door has remained locked and the funds have not been released. The certification of Florida's vote for Bush won't change that because the agency believes that, with all the legal challenges still to be resolved, there's not yet an apparent winner.

Gore's lawyers were to file their challenge in the courts of Leon County, Fla., site of the state capitol at Tallahassee, this morning.

Bush plans to go ahead with his case in the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging the Florida Supreme Court ruling that led to the extended certification deadline and hand recounts of ballots cast by machine in four disputed Democratic-leaning counties.

He'll drop it only if Gore decides not to challenge the election, said Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes.

Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Bush campaigner, announced final certified totals giving Bush and Cheney a margin of 537 votes out of roughly 6 million cast on Election Day nearly three weeks ago.

Bush delivered a televised speech about two hours later in which he said he respected Gore's decision to continue to fight in Florida but suggested the time to throw in the towel had come.

"I did not agree with his call for additional recounts, but I respected his decision to fight until the votes were finally certified," said Bush. "Now that they are certified, we enter a different phase. If the vice president chooses to go forward, he is filing a contest to the outcome of the election, and that is not the best route for America."