Georgians could get new jobs in ‘09

Depending on who wins the White House on Tuesday, a number of Georgians could get new addresses.

With a new president comes more than 3,000 presidential appointments to everything from attorney general to dozens of ambassadorships to thousands of lower-level leadership roles in the federal bureaucracy.

Big money donors, or those who raise huge sums, often are favored sons and daughters when it comes time to fill plum slots, as are elected officials who helped deliver a state’s primary or electoral votes. But the vast majority go to true believers who share the president’s philosophies and were there for the campaign in its darkest times.

Most of the rumor trading in the national media has been over top Cabinet posts —- attorney general, secretary of state, etc. No Georgians have been mentioned at that level.

But, there are Democrats and Republicans from Georgia who stand to be part of the 44th president’s government. Those mentioned in interviews with journalists, pollsters, activists and political consultants refuse to even publicly acknowledge the possibility before the race is won.

One of those is Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, a vocal and effective Barack Obama backer, in whom he trusted much of his final Georgia push in the days leading to the Feb. 5 Democratic primary.

But Franklin, like the others, demurred when asked if she would be interested in a spot in an Obama administration.

“I am very excited about Senator Obama’s candidacy but have no expectation of a presidential appointment,” Franklin said.

“Additionally, my term as mayor continues through Dec. 31, 2009.”

Their reticence, however, does not stop the speculation that becomes part parlor game, part fantasy baseball. The list of Georgians who stand out as possible appointees of the Democrat Obama is longer than the comparable list of Republicans who might get a call from John McCain.

And there are reasons. A major one is, simply, that Obama won the Georgia Democratic primary while McCain finished second to Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Republican primary and Obama had help from many of the top elected Democrats in the state. U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson, Sanford Bishop and John Barrow all endorsed Obama, as did Franklin.

As for McCain, Georgia’s two U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, both endorsed him, but not until the final week of the campaign and, their endorsements did not deliver the state. The truest McCain stalwart among elected officials in Georgia was Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga). House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Paulding County) backed McCain after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race.

The rest of top elected Georgia Republicans either supported other candidates or stayed out of the fray.

But there are Georgia Republicans who still could be tapped.

At the top of most lists is Alec Poitevint. Poitevint is a member of the Republican Party’s national committee and a veteran McCain backer. He also has personally raised at least $250,000 for McCain’s campaign, more than any other Georgian, and one of just three in the state to reach the Republican’s top fund-raising charts.

He now serves as McCain’s Georgia chairman and has been as visible a McCain campaigner as there is in the Peach State.

If McCain wins the White House and wins Georgia, Poitevint would be an obvious choice for a job. Several Georgia Republicans said Poitevint is interested in becoming the next chairman of the Republican National Committee, a post that McCain would be able to fill with his choice should he become president.

Another Republican mentioned is Atlanta attorney John Sours, who was on McCain’s original Georgia organizing committee and was state chairman of Veterans for McCain.

Neither Poitevint nor Sours could be reached for comment.

Among Democrats, Franklin and two others most often are mentioned as potential Obama appointees: state Sen. David Adelman (D-Atlanta) and attorney Kirk Dornbush, president of Iconic Therapeutics, an Atlanta biotech firm. Both are among Obama’s top Georgia fund-raisers —- Adelman has raised at least $100,000 and Dornbush at least $200,000 —- and both have worked non-stop to deliver Georgia’s 15 electoral votes for the Democrat on Tuesday.

Adelman and Dornbush both declined to comment. Adelman’s wife, Caroline, is Obama’s Georgia spokeswoman. Two others, who are regularly mentioned as part of any Democrat’s team, are former U.S. Sens. Sam Nunn and Max Cleland.

Nunn already has been helping Obama with foreign policy advice. Cleland, too, has backed Obama and this week wrote a column on the liberal news site Huffington Post in which he mentioned a desire to serve the country again.

Finally, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who plans to step down in 2009, has been mentioned as a potential U.S. Supreme Court nominee should Obama win and have a vacancy to fill on the high court.

“Those are bridges that will have to be crossed when we get to them,” Sears said this week.