Ordinary lives on hold until election resolved

By MARY JACOBY

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 15, 2000

WASHINGTON -- The banner reads, "Welcome Home Daddy!" But Mark Fabiani, deputy director for the Al Gore presidential campaign, hasn't seen it yet.

On the Wednesday after the election, Fabiani was scheduled to fly from Gore headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., to his home in La Jolla, Calif., a San Diego suburb overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Instead, he flew to Washington to help direct the recount strategy.

He has not seen his wife and two children in three months.

Back in California, 4-year-old Joe and 1-year-old Isabella keep adding to their banner. A little glue and construction paper here, a handful of glitter and some feathers there.

"Now it's as long as the living room," said Fabiani's wife, June.

The story is a reminder that thousands of ordinary lives are strapped to the mast of the unresolved presidential election as it pitches on those uncharted waters we hear so much about from the TV pundits.

It is not just the immediate campaign staff for Vice President Gore, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and their families who are affected. As many as 200,000 others who might be interested in a job in either a Bush or Gore administration are left in the lurch, said Paul Light, an expert on presidential transitions at the Brookings Institution.

"Here's the poor potential nominee who would really like to be part of the Gore or Bush administration, and they are really frozen," said Light.

The new administration will make about 6,000 political appointments.

But the real spoils of government are at the lower levels: the hundreds of undersecretaries, counsels, directors and assistants that will be named to run federal agencies and departments.

Francisco Sanchez is one whose fate hinges on how many votes are counted in Volusia and Palm Beach counties. The Tampa native is assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs at the Transportation Department. As a recent appointee of President Clinton, he has a good chance of staying on in a Gore administration. But he'll be cleaning out his desk drawers if Bush is declared the winner.

And so, Sanchez finds himself glued to the television. "But then you get to the point where you don't even want to watch it anymore. You just get frustrated. Tired of the whole thing," he said.

If Gore wins and he stays in government, Sanchez must make another decision: whether to keep an equity stake in a consulting business he left in 1999 to come to Washington. His former partners want an answer.

"They need to move on," Sanchez said.

Congress, meanwhile, is meeting in a rare lame-duck session to complete spending bills that are now six weeks overdue. But talks with the White House have been postponed until Dec. 5.

"Everyone is waiting for clarity," said Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass.

"I think everyone wants the dust to settle," added Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas.

The outcome of the presidential election was supposed to jump-start stalled budget negotiations when it became clear which party would occupy the White House next year.

It has not.

"We're still trying to figure out who has that upper hand and it is having a substantial impact," said Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C. "It's turned into a waiting game."

But there is no sense of panic yet on Capitol Hill, Delahunt said. "We're not in any constitutional crisis. Bill Clinton is not leaving before Jan. 20th. We have plenty of time." Not far from Capitol Hill, the government has rented, for $700,000, two floors of a large office building and furnished it with desks and computers. This is where the presidential transition team is supposed to be working furiously.

The floors are empty.

"We've got all this empty space. It is not going to waste. It will get used," said Viki Reath, spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, the agency that handles government office rentals.

Another office for the inaugural festivities is set up in downtown Washington and waiting, Reath said.

Congress was doing its part to keep the process moving. It passed a stopgap governmental spending measure Tuesday that included $7-million for inaugural expenses and $200,000 in moving expenses and "executive residence transition" costs.

Back in California, the Fabiani children scribble hopefully on their banner. They are used to getting face time with their father only when he pops up as a guest on one of the television talk shows.

During the campaign, Isabella would light up when her father appeared. "She starts jumping. If I lift her up she bangs on the TV. She knows exactly who he is," said June Fabiani.

In that respect, she said, "When he walks in the door it will be like he never left."

-- Staff writers Bill Adair and John Balz contributed to this report.

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