DATE=01/03/01

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=BUSH / CHENEY INFLUENCE

NUMBER=5-48731

BYLINE=JIM MALONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Vice President-elect Richard Cheney is expected to play a prominent role in the incoming Bush Administration in shaping both domestic and foreign policy. Mr. Cheney heads President-elect George W. Bush's transition team, and has already played a key role in the formation of the Bush cabinet. National correspondent Jim Malone has more on what many experts predict will be the significant influence Mr. Cheney will wield in the Bush presidency.

TEXT: Although he likes to remind people of his Wyoming roots, Dick Cheney is one of the ultimate Washington insiders, someone intimately familiar with the federal government and how to wield power.

Mr. Cheney has worked in government for most of the past 30 years. He started out as a lowly congressional staffer but quickly rose through the ranks to become the youngest White House chief of staff in history, under President Gerald Ford. From there, he served in Congress, became Defense Secretary in the first Bush administration and now heads the transition effort for President-elect George W. Bush.

Allan Lichtman is a presidential historian at the American University here in Washington.

/// 1ST LICHTMAN ACT ///

Never before has a vice president-elect played such a prominent role as a spokesperson for the administration, and never before has a vice president elect really orchestrated the transition. And indeed this is as much a Cheney cabinet as it is a Bush cabinet, although the two of course intersect in many ways, both ideologically and in terms of the role of Dick Cheney in the administration of [former President] George Herbert Walker Bush in the late '80's and early '90's.

/// END ACT ///

David Gergen worked with Mr. Cheney in both the Ford and Bush administrations. He was interviewed on CBS Television (the Early Show).

/// 1ST GERGEN ACT ///

I think Dick Cheney comes very, very close to being the chief operating officer of this cabinet. I think that George W. Bush will be the C-E-O [chief executive officer] and the chairman of the board.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Gergen says Dick Cheney played a crucial role in the formation of the Bush cabinet, drawing on relationships he forged during the Ford administration with Defense Secretary-designate Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell and Treasury Secretary-designate Paul O'Neill.

/// 2ND GERGEN ACT ///

Cheney has had far more influence than any vice presidential nominee we have ever seen in selecting this Cabinet. The Rumsfeld, Powell and O'Neill appointments all have a heavy Cheney stamp. Of course, George W. Bush participated in those, but I think that Dick Cheney has emerged as a real powerhouse. And I think on many national-security issues where Powell and Rumsfeld disagree, Dick Cheney will have the swing vote.

/// END ACT ///

/// OPT /// Stephen Hess is an expert on government at the Brookings Institution here in Washington who worked in the Nixon Administration. He says Dick Cheney's Washington experience is a major asset for the incoming administration.

/// HESS ACT ///

An important thing about Cheney, as far as federal government, is how wide his experiences have been. Bush, who has not had comparable experiences, is quite wise in using Cheney and shows a good deal of ego strength that he would delegate this sort of responsibility.

/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///

Some critics contend Mr. Cheney may be wielding too much power, and could overshadow the president once the new administration takes office. Historian Allan Lichtman says while that is a concern, it is not likely to happen.

/// 2ND LICHTMAN ACT ///

I think there is some worry that the president could be overshadowed by both the vice president and by some of the very strong figures in the Cabinet. In the end, though, [former President] Harry Truman was right, the buck [the responsibility] does stop with the president. It is the president who in a time of crisis or national challenge is going to have to go before the American people. It is the president who has to rally public opinion and in the end, in times of crisis, it is only the president who has been uniquely elected to represent the interests of all of the American people.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Cheney's most important task once he is sworn into office will be to preside over a deadlocked U-S Senate, where both political parties control 50 seats. (Signed)

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