Georgia transition veterans offer Gov.-elect Bottoms a playbook
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A gubernatorial handoff is a monumental undertaking, according to members of the small club of political operatives who have managed the transitions in Georgia.
Driving the news: Axios spoke with four people who led transition teams for Governors Roy Barnes in 1998 and Sonny Perdue in 2003 when the office flipped from Democrat to Republican for the first time in 130 years.
🔎 Recruit and retain: Bottoms' transition team is searching for people to lead agencies, staff the governor's office and navigate the bureaucracy.
- Former Perdue chief of staff and transition vice chair John Watson told Axios that career employees who have served governors of both parties possess valuable institutional knowledge.
- Be wary of job seekers with their own agendas, he warned.
Eight weeks isn't a long time, and a governor doesn't need to start his or her first term with empty desks.
- "The key is to understand you don't have to reinvent the wheel," Keith Mason, a Barnes transition advisor and former Gov. Zell Miller's first chief of staff, told Axios. "You just got to refine it. And you got to put the personnel in who can execute on it."
🤫 Secrets and to-dos: Outgoing administrations prepare briefings on agency operations, contracts, pending litigation, economic development projects and other matters the incoming governor might not know about.
- Eric Tanenblatt, Perdue's former chief of staff, told Axios the team should ask each agency for rundowns of looming decisions, deadlines and risks rather than overwhelming the new administration with thick briefing books.
💵 Study the budget: Bobby Kahn, Barnes' former chief of staff, told Axios that his boss visited the Office of Planning and Budget every day, sometimes multiple times, during his 1998 transition.
- "Focus on the budget," Kahn said. "That's one thing you have to do."
🤝 Build legislative relationships: In January, Democrats are projected to take control of the Georgia House of Representatives, giving Bottoms allies in advancing her agenda.
- But Tanenblatt said the transition is also an opportunity to build trust with lawmakers from both parties, especially legislative leaders.
She will need those relationships when she seeks support for her budget, legislative priorities and appointees, some of whom require Senate confirmation.
👂 Seek guidance: Mason recommended governors-elect and transition staffers learn from people who served in similar senior positions in Georgia and elsewhere.
- Organizations like the Democratic Governors Association and National Governors Association and civic research groups like The GovLab have resources available to assist new governors and staffers, he said.
🎉 Parties and moving trucks: Tanenblatt advised transition leaders to create a team to handle the swearing-in ceremony, inaugural ball and festivities so the people preparing to run state government can focus on their jobs.
- Same goes for moving families into the 24,000 square-foot mansion on West Paces Ferry Road.
📋 Day One prep: Review campaign promises and decide which can be accomplished immediately, which require legislation and which must wait.
- The transition is also a chance to discover which campaign promises might prove harder to accomplish than expected.
- As Tanenblatt put it, an incoming governor might realize they couldn't do something exactly as planned.
🏃 It's a marathon: Perdue's transition officially ended when he became governor, Tanenblatt said, but the work went on for months as the governor's office continued hiring staff agency heads and navigating a divided legislature.
The bottom line: "You get sworn in, and the legislature starts immediately," Tanenblatt said. "You have to do everything you can during this transition period to prepare yourself for day one."