RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue’s office says she’s trying to run a tight ship in bad budget times although her staff is about the same size as her predecessor.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Monday the number of employees and salaries spent in Perdue’s office is slightly higher compared to numbers late in Gov. Mike Easley’s administration. Perdue had 70 employees in February compared to 67 for Easley’s office.

But Perdue’s office said that will change soon because three Easley administration holdovers will leave soon. Two other workers aren’t funded by the governor’s office.

Perdue has required most state agencies to reduce spending by up to 9 percent to narrow a $2.2 billion shortfall this fiscal year.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Lieutenant Governor-Elect Walter Dalton today announced a seasoned and diverse group of senior staff to assist him in managing the Lieutenant Governor’s Office.

“This team is experienced, dedicated and committed to working on behalf of all North Carolinians,” Dalton said.  “I am proud to have such talented individuals leading my office.  They know our state, they know how to get things done, and they will help move North Carolina forward.”

Caroline Valand will serve as chief of staff.  Valand was raised in Washington, North Carolina, and has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a master’s in Legislative Affairs from The George Washington University.  Since 2005, she has served as the executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party.  Previously, she served as the national political director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, where she oversaw 16 of the country’s most competitive legislative caucus operations.   She also worked as the political director and then director of the North Carolina Senate Committee. 

Kimberly Reynolds will serve as deputy chief of staff.  Reynolds has worked in North Carolina politics and government for nearly ten years.  Most recently, she worked as an associate at the political/governmental affairs consulting firm, Nexus Strategies, where she developed strategies for a variety of political and corporate clients.  Reynolds previously served as deputy director and then director of the North Carolina Senate Committee, and as a research and budget analyst at the North Carolina General Assembly.

Avery Staley will serve as counsel.  Staley has a law degree from Vermont Law School and a master’s from Winthrop University.  He has worked as a consultant to the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and in positions at the Compass Group USA and the Charlotte Area Fund.  Staley also managed Congressman Mel Watt’s 2000 re-election campaign.

Sara Lang will serve as communications director.  Since 2006, she has worked at the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer, first as communications director and then as deputy chief of staff.  There, she secured national television and print coverage for a wide range of issues and managed the response to numerous high profile issues.  Lang began her career with Congressman Bob Etheridge and worked as his press secretary for more than three years.

Cynthia O’Neal will serve as director of external affairs.  She is currently the principal of Cynthia A. O’Neal, Attorney At Law.  A 1999 graduate of Duke Law School, she practices as a construction lawyer and currently serves as an officer and a director of the United Minority Contractors of North Carolina.  In 2006, O’Neal was named one of the Triangle Business Journal’s “40 Under 40″ Leadership Award.  

Mike McLaughlin will be the chief policy analyst.  He brings nearly two decades of experience researching and writing about pressing state-level public policy issues.  Following a series of positions with media outlets, McLaughlin served as editor of the journal for the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research and most recently worked as the director of communications and research for the North Carolina Advocates for Justice.

Zach Ambrose, Governor-elect Bev Perdue’s chief of staff, is doing some reorganizing.

CHICAGO – Clout-heavy Chicago politicians are lining up to replace U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, prompting some experts to wonder if the local Democratic party will split on whom to anoint as his successor.

The strength of the contenders may make it tough for Democrats to unite behind one candidate for the congressional seat. Also in question is whether Mayor Richard Daley will name a favorite. Emanuel, 48, has accepted the job as chief of staff to President-elect Barack Obama and is expected to step down soon, leaving two years on his second term with more than 180 days before the next election. Under Illinois law, that means a special election will be held to replace him.

In a city where Democrats rule, the party stamp of approval usually assures a candidate’s victory. Emanuel was the Democrats’ endorsed candidate when he ran for his seat as representative of the 5th district on Chicago’s far northwest side. So was the person Emanuel replaced, now-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

But it’s possible that the next person won’t be endorsed by the party, said University of Illinois-Chicago political science professor and former city alderman Dick Simpson.

The contenders for Emanuel’s seat include many with strong claims to the district – which may result in a divided vote that gives no one a majority or an endorsement, Simpson said. Daley may not endorse a candidate for fear of alienating others who want the spot, attorney and columnist Russ Stewart said.

Candidates include 38th Ward Alderman Thomas Allen, 47th Ward Alderman Gene Schulter, Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley and state Reps. John Fritchey and Nancy Kaszak.

“The endorsement is critical. If you have an open primary with no endorsement and warring fiefdoms, the candidate with the broadest appeal is going to win,” Stewart said. In Chicago, he said, it’s rare for an election to play out without the Democratic Party or Daley tipping the scales.

Emanuel’s office has not returned phone messages seeking comment on when he might resign.

City authorities would like the special primary and general election to correspond with suburban elections already planned for February and April and have sent Blagojevich a written plea to that effect, said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections.

“That would minimize costs and minimize voter confusion,” he said.

Blagojevich’s office said Thursday they received the request but had no other comment.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama is putting some longtime aides in senior posts at his White House.

Obama named four new members of his West Wing staff Wednesday.

That include a senior adviser job for his chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod.

He also announced Greg Craig as White House counsel. Craig was President Bill Clinton’s lawyer during his impeachment. Chris Lu will be Cabinet secretary, the White House liaison to the Cabinet and government agencies. And Lisa Brown, a lawyer who served as former Vice President Al Gore’s counsel, will be staff secretary.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama pivoted quickly to begin filling out his new administration on Wednesday, selecting hard-charging Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff while aides stepped up the pace of transition work that had been cloaked in pre-election secrecy.

Several Democrats confirmed that Emanuel had been offered the job. While it was not clear he had accepted, a rejection would amount to an unlikely public snub of the new president-elect within hours of an electoral college landslide.

With hundreds of jobs to fill and only 10 weeks until Inauguration Day, Obama and his transition team confronted a formidable task complicated by his anti-lobbyist campaign rhetoric.

The official campaign Web Site said no political appointees would be permitted to work on “regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years.

And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration.”

But almost exactly one year ago, on Nov. 3, 2007, candidate Obama went considerably further than that while campaigning in South Carolina. “I don’t take a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won’t find a job in my White House,” he said of lobbyists at the time.

Because they often have prior experience in government or politics, lobbyists figure as potential appointees for presidents of both parties.

On the morning after making history, the man elected the first black president had breakfast with his wife and two daughters at their Chicago home, went to a nearby gym and visited his downtown offices.

Aides said he planned no public appearances until later in the week, when he has promised to hold a news conference.

As president-elect, he begins receiving highly classified briefings from top intelligence officials Thursday.

In offering the post of White House chief of staff to Emanuel, Obama turned to a fellow Chicago politician with a far different style from his own, a man known for his bluntness as well as his single-minded determination.

Emanuel, he was a political and policy aide in Bill Clinton’s White House. Leaving that, he turned to investment banking, then won a Chicago-area House seat six years ago. In Congress, he moved quickly into the leadership. As chairman of the Democratic campaign committee in 2006, he played an instrumental role in restoring his party to power after 12 years in the minority.

Emanuel maintained neutrality during the long primary battle between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, not surprising given his long-standing ties to the former first lady and his Illinois connections with Obama.

The day after the election there already was jockeying for Cabinet appointments.

Several Democrats said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who won a new six-year term on Tuesday, was angling for secretary of state.

They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss any private conversations.

Kerry’s spokeswoman, Brigid O’Rourke, disputed the reports.

“It’s not true. It’s ridiculous,” she said in an interview.

Announcement of the transition team came in a written statement from the Obama camp.

The group is headed by John Podesta, who served as chief of staff under former President Clinton; Pete Rouse, who has been Obama’s chief of staff in the Senate, and Valerie Jarrett, a friend of the president-elect and campaign adviser.

Several Democrats described a sprawling operation well under way. Officials had kept deliberations under wraps to avoid the appearance of overconfidence in the weeks leading to Tuesday’s election.

They said the group was stocked with longtime associates of Obama, as well as veterans of Clinton’s White House. Quite apart from transition issues, Obama’s status as an incumbent member of Congress presents issues unseen since 1960, when John F. Kennedy moved from the Senate to the White House.

The Senate is scheduled to hold a postelection session in two weeks, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a news conference Wednesday to reinforce her call for quick action on a bill to stimulate the economy.

That places Obama in uncharted territory – a president-elect, presumably first among equals among congressional Democrats. Yet his and their ability to enact legislation depends almost entirely until Inauguration Day on President Bush’s willingness to sign it.

Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, was elected to a new six-year term from Delaware on Tuesday and he must resign before he can be sworn in as vice president. Democrats are certain to hold his seat, following Jack Markell’s election as governor.

There has been intense speculation that Biden’s son, Beau Biden, is interested in ascending to the seat. But he is serving a one-year stint in Iraq as a member of the National Guard. In the interim, outgoing Gov. Ruth Ann Minner is seen among many Democrats as a likely appointee to hold the office until an election in 2010.

Obama also must resign his Senate seat before he can be sworn in as the 44th president. Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will pick a replacement.