Eagleton Report Offers Timely Transition Advice

New Brunswick, N.J. - A report issued in July by the Eagleton Center on the American Governor, From Candidate to Governor-Elect: Recommendations for Gubernatorial Transitions, is now a must-read for anyone interested in New Jersey government. Drawing on the experience and reflections of participants in previous New Jersey transitions, the report includes a checklist of what should be accomplished between the election and inauguration.

As Governor-Elect Murphy starts to shape the personnel and policy priorities of his administration, readers can compare his/her actions with the transitions of previous new governors. The report includes timetables of key dates in the transitions of the seven New Jersey elected governors from 1973 through 2009, as well as a list of executive orders issued in each of their first 100 days. Also included are recollections, advice and stories from former government officials, political operatives and transition team members and extensive excerpts from interviews with Governors Brendan Byrne, Thomas Kean, James Florio and Christine Todd Whitman.

The report, available here or online at governors.rutgers.edu/transitions, was made possible by a grant from The Fund for New Jersey.

Highlights from the report, including quotes from governors and their staffs, are below.

"While each election and new governor is unique, the duration, general framework and subsequent memories of transitions have much in common." -Introduction, p. 5

"It should not be considered presumptuous to plan for what you will do if you or your candidate wins. Rather, it is preparing for a very difficult job." -Introduction, p. 6

"[T]he governor-elect should have a team in place as soon after Election Day as possible that is sufficiently nimble to rise to the challenges that will arise." -Introduction, p. 6

"Making the most of the transition period between election and inauguration increases the prospects for a successful administration. In turn, a good transition is much more likely if the governor-elect has laid the groundwork for it in the weeks and months between securing a nomination and being declared the victor on Election Day." -The Report: Recommendations, p. 8.

"In the weeks and months leading to Election Day, the first priority for any campaign must be winning the election. But even during the tightest of races, candidates should designate one or more trusted people to prepare options and recommendations for decisions that will need to be made immediately after victory is declared." Pre-Transition: Issues that Should be Addressed Prior to Election Day, p. 9

"While virtually all candidates want to be perceived as leaders who will strive to lead an efficient and ethical administration, some specific 'reforms' that can make good campaign sound bites may not lead to better government and can, in fact, be counter-productive." -Don't Make Promises You Might Regret, p. 17

Quotes from interviews with governors and their staffs:

"[Y]ou don't keep doing transitions. So once you get good at it, you know, it's kind of over." -Brenda Bacon, chief of management and planning under Governor Jim Florio and a member of Florio's transition team, at December 1, 2011 Eagleton Center on the American Governor Colloquium on the Transition and First Six Months of the Florio Administration.

"I don't know if they still do it this way, but they should: when you run for governor, you take somebody who's not going to be involved in the campaign, who knows state government, and you tell them you want them to work on the transition." -Governor Thomas Kean, July 12, 2010 Eagleton Center on the American Governor interview.

"You will make mistakes [when vetting cabinet and administration members] and you will pay for every mistake you make. You don't get away with any, so you want to minimize those mistakes. You...are going to depend on [those people], rely on them. You have to look into their souls if you can." Dick Leone, April 5, 2006 Eagleton Center on the American Governor interview.

"When it comes to bringing in outsiders [from other states], unless they have good political skills to supplement their substantive knowledge about the issue area they're in charge of, they're going to have problems." -Governor Jim Florio, September 26, 2012 Eagleton Center on the American Governor interview.

"I think former governors can be very helpful to present governors, if present governors have the humility to reach out." -Governor Thomas Kean, May 2, 2011 Eagleton Center on the American Governor interview.

"[A]ppointing women to [leadership] positions raised the visibility of women, let men and women see that women can do these jobs and brought the kind of diversity I like to see in the office." -Governor Christine Todd Whitman.

"The single biggest mistake...was not spending enough time, not just with the legislature, but being available to just have a cup of coffee with people." -Doug Berman, campaign manager for Jim Florio's 1989 gubernatorial campaign.

"I would suggest...having watched closely the Byrne administration start, the Kean administration start and the Florio administration start, that what all three had in common was that a very small group of people had responsibility to engage a very precise agenda and did so as best they could in the political environment in which they operated." -Steve Perskie, first chief of staff to Governor Jim Florio, March 28, 2013 Eagleton Center on the American Governor interview.

"[After Governor Florio called to concede on election night,] it was tears, and hugs, and kisses, and it was kind of that Robert Redford moment about, 'Oh, my God, what do we do now?' kind of thing. So it was a very, very exciting evening, but it was instantly, 'What do we do tonight? What do we do tomorrow?'" -Judy Shaw, October 24, 2012 Eagleton Center on the American Governor interview.

"[The transition] is the last time you get your feet under you before the white hot light turns and you have to act as the elected official. While they tend to be treated as just a chance to fill cabinet spots and get people jobs, they are the last free time you have with a lot of maneuver room." -Sam Crane, December 22, 2015 Eagleton Center on the American Governor interview.

"We moved very aggressively on selecting a cabinet because we knew that would be a measure of how well the governor was doing." -Judy Shaw, May 14, 2012 Eagleton Center on the American Governor Colloquium on the Campaign, Transition, and First Year of the Whitman Administration.