USTIN, Texas - The expectation that he will nominate Colin L. Powell next week as his secretary of state shows that George W. Bush is moving ahead with personnel matters, but Bush continues to withhold comment about congressional business and about when he might resign as Texas governor.
Among such congressional business is a proposal to raise the minimum wage, as well as spending proposals that could cut into projected federal budget surpluses that Bush would rely upon to finance his tax-cut and policy proposals.
''The governor will not begin his service until Jan. 20, 2001, and therefore he will not comment on any of the pending items that may be before this existing Congress and the current president,'' Ari Fleischer, spokesman for the Bush transition team, said yesterday.
Fleischer rebuffed questions about when Bush might step down as chief executive of Texas. The uncertainty has created some concern in Austin, where Bush would be replaced by Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry.
Under the state constitution, Texas's lieutenant governor holds more power than its governor. The No. 2 post is filled by a vote of the Texas state Senate, and the jockeying is at a fever pitch. The Legislature is to reconvene in January.
''On previous occasions, the governor has indicated he will do what's best for Texas. And like all quesitons ... that deal with timing, that will be a judgment call that the governor will make, and he will advise you when those decisions have been reached,'' Fleischer told a reporter in a conference call.
Dick Cheney, Bush's running mate and transition head, said the team had rented private transition office space in McLean, Va., a Washington suburb. He opened a news conference yesterday in Washington by appealing for donations, and giving a national television audience the name and address to use when mailing contributions. They are capped at $5,000 per individual.
Cheney also announced the naming of Michael Toner, a lawyer for the Bush-Cheney campaign, as transition counsel; of David Gribben, who was Cheney's congressional liaison at the Pentagon and a former colleague at Halliburton Co., as congressional liaison; and of Juleanna Weiss, a campaign spokeswoman for Cheney, as Fleischer's deputy.
Fleischer said Bush has called top congressional Republicans after the declaration of his victory in Florida's disputed presidential vote. Gore continues to contest the outcome; the case remains before Florida courts and is up for a hearing tomorrow at the US Supreme Court.
Fleischer said Bush would not make such calls to Tom Daschle, the Senate Democratic leader, and Richard A. Gephardt, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, until after the dispute is resolved.
''The governor believes very much in governing in a bipartisan fashion,'' Fleischer said. ''That's how he governed in Texas, and that's how he intends to govern in Washington.
''But part of bipartisanship is also respect and understanding, and the governor respects and understands that some Democrats are working closely at this time on the contest of the election results in Florida, and out of a bipartisan spirit, a sense of understanding, the governor is going to wait for the appropriate moment for his bipartisan phone calls to be well-received,'' he said.
