Bush Moves Ahead with Transition Plan as Gore Fights onUS Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush moved ahead with his transition plan for forming a government on November 27 after Florida officials certified that he had won the state's presidential election.Bush met with Andrew Card, who was named White House chief of staff by Bush, and discussed the transition business in Austin, Texas. Card, a former secretary of transportation, said the Bush team may open its own transition office in Washington after the General Accounting Office in Washington refused to open a transition office or release US$5.3 million for Bush's team until the contest is settled. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican and Bush's former campaign manager, certified on Sunday that Bush won the 25 electoral votes in Florida with a margin of 537 votes out of nearly 6 million votes cast. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott called on Monday for Senate committee chairmen to start hearings on January 4 for Bush's Cabinet appointees, mounting pressure on Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore to concede. "Given the protracted contest to determine the presidential victor, it is critical that we move expeditiously and be prepared to confirm the new Cabinet on January 20 after the president has been sworn in to office," the Republican leader said in a statement. Meanwhile, White House spokesman Jake Siewert made clear on Monday that the government will not release transition money "if there's any doubt about the outcome of the election." However, Siewert said, government agencies will continue to gather all the appropriate information for a smooth transition either for Bush or Vice President Al Gore. Gore refused to accept the election results in Florida and contested the results in a local court on Monday. Gore's lawyers challenged the Florida election results in papers filed with a Leon County Circuit Court on Monday in Tallahassee, the Florida state capital, saying the certified count improperly included illegal votes and excluded legal ones in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Nassau counties. Gore is expected to make a nationally televised address on Monday evening to take his case to the public. |
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