Resource of the Week: Carroll Publishing’s Transition Tracker
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

Here’s a timely (free!) resource that crossed our radar screen this week, from a publisher that is certainly highly qualified to profile this sort of information.

Staying abreast of current developments throughout the transition from the old administration to the new is important to the American people. Carroll Publishing has always provided the best contact information at all levels of government for its clients. With the addition of Transition Tracker 2008, our government information coverage is even more comprehensive, now for the public.

What’s here?

+ Overview of the Transition, which list all the advisory board members, transition staff, agency review teams, and policy working groups.

+ A continually updated list of Newly-Appointed Officials.

+ A continually updated list of Newly-Nominated Officials

+ A list of Newly-Elected Officials, including governors, congressional representatives, mayors, and more.

+ And then there’s The Rumor Mill:

The following list is a compilation of appointments and nominations, widely reported in the reputable news media, of individuals expected to serve in the forthcoming Obama Administration. These positions have not yet been officially announced by the Office of the President-elect. Once an appointment or nomination is officially revealed by the Office of the President-elect, it will be removed from this list and added to our compilation of Newly-Appointed Officials and Nominations.

We’ve posted several items about resources offering various types of transition information, such as Lost in Transition (National Journal and Government Executive) and SourceWatch’s Presidential transition resources wiki. We offered other sites in our Change Is Good Resource of the Week last November.

But we figured we’d also highlight this one because it seems to be a very easy place to quickly find lots and lots of names.

BTW, Carroll also offers a My Elected Officials Search page, where you input your address and get back a long list of elected officials down to the state level, with contact information for each.

And…as they say in those television commercials…that’s not all! We also commend your attention to another free gem — this one from CQ Politics, which invites you to Track Obama’s Cabinet Nominees.

Barack Obama began vetting his choices for a Cabinet before he was even elected; his first announcement came just days after Nov. 4. In the past, nearly all Cabinet nominees have been confirmed, and with a Democratic Senate, it’s unlikely any of his choices will be rejected. Still, nominees such as Eric H. Holder to be attorney general, or Hillary Rodham Clinton for secretary of State could face some tough questions.

Senate committees with special jurisdiction over each position hold hearings to assess the merits of each nominee before voting to confirm. If the committee approves the nomination it is sent to the full Senate for a full vote.

The Senate may choose not to confirm a nominee in a few ways. Committee members may vote against a nominee or indefinitely drag out hearings — though rarely, a nominee may still proceed to the full Senate. The full Senate may vote against the nominee. Or, a senator or senators may filibuster to block the confirmation.

This is a matrix that shows each cabinet position, the nominee, and where in the process the nomination currently sits — e.g., committee hearing, committee vote, floor vote, confirmed. There is a picture of each nominee and a link to a relevant current news article on the CQ website.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 and is filed under Fast Facts, Government Documents and Political Information, Resource of the Week, Source File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.