Capital shuffle: learning who’s in again
By PAT MURPHY
When President Bush and Vice President
Cheney and their Cabinet as well as hundreds of new political appointees
sweep into Washington, one of the biggest consequences of the change will
escape public attention.
Millions of new business cards, sheets of
official new letterheads and other documents bearing names of the Bush
administration’s team will be spewed out of government printing presses.
Combinations to hundreds of safes used by
Clinton appointees in Washington, in regional offices in the states and
overseas to store documents will be changed.
New code names will be created by the
Secret service for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and members of
their families as well as key White House aides.
Chefs in the White House will create new
menus to suit the tastes of the Bush family and their guests, and
decorators will be hard at work changing the look in some rooms of the
White House.
Thousands of copies of the official Bush
photo portrait will be rushed to replace that of Bill Clinton on walls in
federal offices around the country and in U.S. diplomatic legations
abroad.
And then there’s the major headache
facing Washington’s party hostesses: they make new invitation lists of
who’s "out" and who’s "in."
***
One White House event that should pose an
odd problem for the protocol office and create headlines:
What will President Bush do at that state
dinner when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is invited and is accompanied by
her husband, former President Clinton?
Will the ex-commander-in-chief deserve
special treatment on a par with the honored guest?
***
A tip of the hat to Doug Webb, of Webb
Landscaping.
Before the first morning hikers arrive in
Adams Gulch after a new snow, Webb has been there with his plow-equipped
pickup truck clearing the road to the trailhead.
So, rather than being closed by snow too
deep for vehicles, the way is clear to keep Adams Gulch open year-round as
one of the most popular hiking spots in the Wood River Valley.
And at no cost, thank you, since Webb is an
Adams Gulch devotee, too.
