PASs came to their initial PAS position in the Bush administration through a variety of channels, some overlapping. Eighty-nine were recommended by a cabinet member, agency head, or colleague, thirty-six by President Bush, thirty-five by a member of Congress, twenty-two by their party, while eighteen were self-referred, thirty came through other means, and curiously, nine were uncertain how they came to the attention of the White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO).
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As discussed above, a constant source of complaint has been the amount of time it takes for an appointee to be confirmed after the president's nomination. While the time varied greatly, with some processes lasting many months, a comparison of nomination and confirmation dates reported in the Bush PAS Survey revealed that the median number of days for confirmation was only seventy, though the mean was eighty-three days, indicating that some confirmations took a very long time.
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There was a fairly representative spread among respondents to the Bush PAS Survey throughout the five executive levels of PAS service. Additionally, a few were in other categories that are comparable to ELs 4 or 5 or, surprising in status-conscious Washington, did not know their executive level.
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The majority of appointees lived in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area prior to assuming their initial PAS position in the Bush administration. When they leave their job most of the locals will stay in town, as will some, but not most, who moved there to assume their PAS position. One Democratic PAS mover was "ready to go home unless a new and interesting position developed in the Clinton administration." He noted that "some people forget why they came here and will do a lot to stay here once they get Potomac fever." For many of the newcomers the move was seen as a temporary adventure, resume enhancer, or as service to their country or president, and they were quite ready to go back home. ''This has been a nice run," said another, but he was ready to resume his former life, as he had always planned. Said another, "I'm going home after this. I don't have Potomac fever. I'm not 'a survivor."'
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Post-PAS salary expectations pointed to both the financial value and the cost of political service. As discussed in chapter 5, PAS salary, per se, is a potent disincentive for long tenure for many. Yet many PASs hope their experience will translate into a significant post-PAS salary boost, as attested by the 36 percent who believed their salary would increase anywhere from 51 percent to more than 200 percent post-PAS service (see table 7.2).
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It is possible that those expecting large increases were substantially the same group that reported a moderate-to-great sacrifice in accepting
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