The deep bench in Connecticut

It has been a long eight years of a Republican Administration in Washington.

So with Barack Obama closing in on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, ambitious and experienced minds are contemplating the opportunities that lie just ahead. Connecticut has a wealth of talent, ready to answer the call to serve their country.

There are currently no fewer than five US Ambassadors hailing from Greenwich, for example, including those to Ireland and France.

And remember what Dick Blumenthal was doing before he ran for Connecticut’s Attorney General? And Kevin J. O’Connor, currently Associate Attorney General of the United States, went to Washington to serve as Chief of Staff to Alberto Gonzales from United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. In 1998 he took a run at the open First Congressional District seat, losing to John Larson. Who wants to be US Attorney in Connecticut?

The Presidents inner circle of appointees includes about fifteen Assistants to the President, plus Counsel. The next tier are the Deputy Assistants to the President, then you have the Special Assistants to the President including a bunch of Legislative aides, policy slots and the various Associate Counsels.

You’ve got the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Legislative Affairs, Communications, Council of Economic Advisers, Council on Environmental Quality, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of National Drug Control Policy. And that is just the President’s staff.

Then there are the Cabinet Departments. Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, Veterans Affairs.

And that doesn’t include the Independent Agencies and Government Corporations, excepting the Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which already occupied by Lee Hamilton.

About 7,000 appointments in all. Plus the Ambassadorships and the Federal bench.

Lots of opportunity.