Career employees told to toe the party line

Career employees must set aside their own policy beliefs and put forward the new administration's agenda, former and current federal officials said Tuesday. "The rule is to advance the administration's view," said Barry White, former deputy associate director of the Office of Management and Budget. "I'm used to sharp zigs and zags in policy." White joined other seasoned government leaders at a Council for Excellence in Government forum, "The Invisible Transition: Aligning Political Goals and Agency Mandates." The leaders shared their experiences of finding their way through different presidential transitions, offering tips for those at many departments and agencies that are still awaiting the arrival of President Bush's second- and third-tier appointees. White, now head of the council's Government Performance Projects, offered several survival tips for career employees, including the need to avoid direct confrontation with the new boss. "[Political appointees] can often be educated, but they can rarely be bullied," White said. While political appointees often view career employees with suspicion, career employees can't worry about that, said George Braley, an associate administrator at the Agriculture Department. "You need to make the sale and convince them that even if they come in with preconceived notions, you can help them be successful in carrying out their policy agenda," Braley said. According to Braley, a prized project does not have to end with a new administration. Career employees worried about the future of a particular project can prepare a briefing book and try to market the projects they think might be good for the agency regardless of party politics. Betty Duke, a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, told career employees to expect change. "What used to be routine is no longer routine," Duke said. "New folks coming in basically want to assert how we are going to do it here." In December, the Senior Executives Association sponsored a two-day forum to help prepare career executives for the transition. Panelists there said that first-rate skills and professionalism would be the career executive's most useful tools.