Bush Appointees Holding Down Fort While Obama Nominees Await Confirmation

As Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton await confirmation as President Obama's choices for attorney general and secretary of state, veterans of the Bush administration are running the day-to-day operations of those and other Cabinet level departments.

Eight Cabinet-level departments are still without confirmed Obama designees -- Justice, State, Treasury, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and Transportation -- and so, at noon Tuesday, a holdover from the Bush administration took the reigns, agreeing to run the department until the Senate confirms Obama's choices.

At the State Department, Under Secretary for Political Affairs William Burns is holding down the fort for Clinton as she awaits her secretary of state confirmation. The department's normally third-ranking official is a career diplomat who joined the foreign service in 1982 and was Bush's Russian ambassador from 2005 to 2008.

While Holder awaits his confirmation, Bush appointee Mark Filip is acting attorney general. A former U.S. District Court judge in Illinois, the native Chicagoan holds a law degree from Harvard and a was a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.

Timothy F. Geithner's placeholder at the Treasury is Stuart Levey, the department's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Geithner's confirmation has been mired in controversy after revelations about back taxes and an illegal housekeeper surfaced.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's withdrawal as nominee for commerce secretary means that the department's chief financial officer Otto J. Wolff will remain on a bit longer than the other Bush holdovers. Wolff joined Commerce in 2001 and has overseen its $5.6 billion budget.

Howard Radzely, the deputy secretary of labor, assumed daily duties Tuesday as Hilda L. Solis awaits her confirmation. Bush appointed Radzely to his deputy post in 2007 and has been with the department since 2001.

As Tom Daschle awaits his appointment as the secretary of health and human services, Charles E. Johnson is acting secretary. Johnson, who was appointed in 2005 by Bush as the assistant secretary for budget, technology and finance, was a public accountant for 31 years prior to joining the department.

Shaun Donovan's wait for confirmation puts Federal Housing Commissioner Brian D. Montgomery in charge at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Bush appointee joined the agency in 2005 after serving in Bush's White House.

Department of Transportation Secretary-designate Ray H. LaHood will take the reigns from xxxxx.