Planned presidential transition of Mitt Romney

The planned presidential transition of Mitt Romney was the planned transfer of power from President of the United States Barack Obama to Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's candidate for president in the United States presidential election, 2012. Because Barack Obama was re-elected President of the United States, the transition did not take place.

Planning for the presidential transition of Mitt Romney was led by Mike Leavitt.

Known internally as "the Readiness Project", transition planning began in June 2012, two months prior to the 2012 Republican National Convention.[1] Led by Mike Leavitt, it consisted of a skeleton staff of four until August when additional employees were retained, eventually growing to include more than 100 persons.[2][1] Other senior executives within the project included Robert Zoellick and Al Hubbard.[3]

Activities undertaken by the Readiness Project included preparing policy briefings for civil servants at federal agencies which would be delivered by "parachute teams" following the election, creating a list of candidates to fill the several hundred political appointments made by the President, coordinating with the Obama administration for the transfer of occupancy of presidential residences including the White House and the Number One Observatory Circle, liaising with the United States armed forces for the assumption of National Command Authority and launch control of nuclear weapons, and developing a post-election communications plan which reportedly included a 1,000-word victory speech Romney would deliver.[1][4] On the evening of the election, the Readiness Project's transition website, declaring the victory of Mitt Romney, was accidentally pushed live, though was quickly taken down again. The site was built by a Utah-based web development company, SolutionStream.[5]

In accordance with the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010, the project was provided with office space by the General Services Administration (GSA) beginning in September 2012, two months prior to the election.[1][4] The offices of the Readiness Project were shuttered and completely cleared within three days following Romney's defeat.[4] Total spending by the Readiness Project between its inception and dissolution was $8.9 million, all funds appropriated by the U.S. government.[4]

In 2013, Leavitt published a 138-page case study of the Readiness Project, Romney Readiness Project 2012: Retrospectives and Lessons Learned.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Parker, Ashley (16 August 2012). "Campaigning Aside, Team Plans a Romney Presidency". New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  2. ↑ Hayden, Eric (8 November 2012). "Mitt Romney’s Transition Website: Where ‘President-Elect’ Romney Lives On". TIME Magazine. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  3. ↑ Palmer, Anna (24 September 2012). "Mitt transition efforts intensifying". Politico. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Fund, John (13 January 2013). "What was Romney Planning?". National Review. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  5. ↑ Eaton, Kit (8 November 2012). "If Mitt Romney Had Won, Is This What His Website Would've Looked Like?". Fast Company. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Hicken, Jackie (29 May 2013). "Blueprint outlines work former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, others did to prepare for President Romney". Deseret News. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
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