MacKenzie says that Ronald Reagan had the best transition in 1980 because he had filled 87 top positions by November. MacKenzie says the Clinton transition in 1993 was the worst as many of his appointees had no executive experience. Regardless of the fact that this year s election was contested, MacKenzie says, the candidates have the responsibility to be tapping potential administration staff as soon as possible. They should have chosen all of the Cabinet by Christmas, he tells Insight. But choosing the Cabinet is only a start, however.
Pay is adequate but below that of the Washington-area private sector.
Cabinet secretaries are paid according to a scale stipulated in the Executive Schedule. Some ambassadors live in large residences abroad that demand a lifestyle not covered by State Department funding. Most ambassadors are appointed from among senior members of the Foreign Service Corps, but some generous contributors and friends who have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for a candidate get choice postings. The appointment process has become so lengthy and encumbered by forms and background checks that the PAI, cochaired by former Kansas senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker and Fannie Mae Chairman Franklin Raines, has sent a letter to the Senate leadership, as well as Gore and Bush, asking them to assist in streamlining the process. Currently, a senator can put a hold on a nomination for reasons that need not be divulged.