Transition Time

Vice President-elect Dick Cheney said Thursday that the incoming GOP administration was moving to build its Cabinet "as quickly as possible," though the job might not be done by Christmas.

"We're going to move as rapidly as we can," Cheney said after accepting the keys to a government transition office. Asked about the possibility of announcing President-elect Bush's Cabinet before the holidays, Cheney said, "I don't want to set artificial deadlines."

"The transition is well under way," Cheney said. "We will move as rapidly as we can to have a Cabinet in place by the inauguration," five weeks away on Jan. 20.

Bush and Cheney, who is leading the transition team, also were authorized to use a $5.3 million federal bank account for the transition.

Despite the private Virginia office set up Nov. 30, Cheney said the election deadlock, broken Wednesday night with Al Gore's concession, slowed the process of filling positions in the administration that will take power Jan. 20.

He said it was especially hard to interview Democrats for positions a course Bush seems interested in taking to give his administration a bipartisan flavor after such a bitter fight for the White House.

Approaching Democrats was "awkward while there was still a contest under way," Cheney said.

Now, he said, the transition team can be "much more aggressive."

The 21,000 square foot Virginia office has served as the epicenter for Bush's transition effort and provided Cheney and other key Bush aides with a home during the election impasse.

Gore's concession following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that halted recounts in Florida cleared the way for Bush to get both the keys and the money.

The Bush-Cheney transition foundation has raised nearly $3 million for the purpose of putting together a new government and spent nearly $500,000 so far on everything from the office lease to rent on computers, trash cans and more.

Cheney said the team would use both the Washington and Virginia offices for now.

The Virginia site is close to his home and he said he would be based there for a time. "It's a great commute," he said with a smile, "and I want to take advantage of that."

The government's space in Washington is stocked with computers and other equipment.

One outstanding issue was wheher the Bush team could use some of the government money for transition expenses incurred before he became the undisputed president-elect Wednesday night.

"We're trying very hard to find a way under the law to do that," said Viki Reath, speaking for the GSA. Federal officials had said previously such a reimbursement faced legal hurdles.

The government held off awarding both the money and the office since Nov. 8, the day after Election Day, when the winner would have moved in under normal circumstances. Officials said the law required an "apparent" winner before the aid could be delivered.

The transition team already has accumulated almost 21,000 resumes from people seeking some 6,000 administration jobs, from Cabinet secretary to office secretary. Most resumes were sent via the Internet, lightening the paper load to be moved to Washington if everything is transferred from Virginia.

Although the circumstances of the delayed transition were extraordinary, the raising of private money to help pay for the effort is not.

In the 1992-93 transition, President Clinton's team raised $5.3 million in donations and got $3.5 million from the government.

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