Santos Administration

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Headed by the President of the United States Matthew Santos, the Santos administration was the executive branch of the United States from 2007 to 2015.

About

The Santos administration took over for the Bartlet administration in January 2007; the following are the appointments that he and his staff made or intended to make after inauguration. Personnel and cabinet members included a mix of veterans of the two-term Bartlet Administration, including Josh Lyman, Sam Seaborn, Amy Gardner, Donna Moss, Oliver Babish and Nancy McNally, but also new people from Santos' campaign, from Congress and other sources.

West Wing staff

• President of the United States: Matthew Santos
  • Executive Secretary: Ronna Beckman
• Chief of Staff: Josh Lyman
  • Deputy Chief of Staff: Sam Seaborn
• Communications Director: Louise Thornton
• Director of Legislative Affairs: Amy Gardner
• White House Speechwriter: Otto
• Director of Scheduling and Advance: Bram Howard
• Director of Domestic Policy Council: Crandell
• National Security Advisor: Glenn

• First Lady of the United States: Helen Santos
  • Chief of Staff to the First Lady: Donna Moss
  • Press Secretary to the First Lady: Annabeth Schott

Cabinet-level

• Vice President of the United States: Eric Baker (D-PA)
• United States Secretary of State: Arnold Vinick (R-CA)
• United States Secretary of Treasury: Rosenthal
• United States Attorney General: Oliver Babish (D-IL)
• United States Secretary of Agriculture: Keenitz (D-MO)
• Ambassador to the United Nations: Nancy McNally

White House staff

• White House Usher
• White House Decorator Gail Addison

Priorities

Unlike President Bartlet, Santos was elected alongside a Democratic House, albeit with a small majority (four seats) and a moderate speaker in Mark B. Sellner who disagreed with aspects of the Santos agenda, notably lobbying reform. Santos also still faced a continuing 54-46 Republican majority in the Senate, led by Majority Leader Robert Royce (R-PA), who while moderate also had 2010 presidential aspirations and would have the power of block confirmations, including potentially his vice president-designate Eric Baker (D-PA). However, deputy chief of staff Sam Seaborn signed on to the administration in the belief that Santos' record of bipartisan dealmaking as a congressman and his unifying rhetoric might enable him to navigate a divided Congress and country:

"Santos may be the future this country wants. For all the partisan noises made on the margin, we're a nation of centrists. He may be the right man with the right message at the right time and if he is, I wanna be a part of it. But he can't do it without you. Liberal Democrats will try to force him left. Moderate Republicans will fence-sit as long as they can. It's [Josh] who's gotta make this go, who's gonna cut through the demagoguery and timidity and make people do what they were sent here to do - actually govern. Serve the voter's interests, instead of striking poses and playing gotcha."

Against this backdrop, Santos governing priorities included:

• A major Education Bill including ending teacher tenure, extending the federally-mandated school year, performance incentives, access to Head Start and after-school programs, affordable college, and investment in training and infrastructure
• Continued deployment of US peacekeepers to Kazakhstan and a summit in Tashkent to strike a long term Russia-China peace accord there
• Lobbying reform
• Healthcare reform to expand insurance
• Prescription drug benefits
• Middle-class tax cuts and a tax increase on incomes over £1m
• Deficit reduction
• Ongoing peacekeeping the Middle East
• Appointing new pro-choice Supreme Court justices