any response there, max stier? >> guest: well, i kee coming back to that really wonderful quote y read earlier from president nixonot and how, you know, fundamental i is for us to have the mhinery of government and the machinery of our g eleions be trusted. you know, it is a stanford profsor and remarkable newer said you need -- thinker said you need three things for a successful democracy in today's world. fyou need to have rulef law, you needo have accountability, and you need efftive govement. and the accouability piece is, obviously, what we're seeing in the election itself, and the effective government is what transition is necsary for. d it worries me, honestly, that, you know, t basicrust in t processes of our elections and our government are coming under such scrutin and distrust. scrutiny's oka the trust piece worries me. we need to have shared rules, we need to be able to have a shared faith in our processes to make sure that our voices are heard andhat our government is responsive to the american people.

. >> host: joining us to talk about the presidential process of a presidential transition is max stier, president and ceo of the partnership for public service and the group center for presidential transition period max stier we will start by

morning to talk about the presidential process of a presidential transition is max stier -- max ther, president and ceo for partnership for public services center for presidential transition. why is a successful presidential transition so important? safety isabout our the ultimate answer here. when you think about it, our democratic system envisions transfers of power when you have election so you have accountable government. that means that a new team has to figure out how to take charge immediately on january 20 in an effective way. it's a big task. when you think about our government you are looking at trillions of dollars, 4 million of people -- 4 million people, hundreds of operating units, and historically presidents have aborted 4000 political appointees. it's a massive underage -- have appointed 400 political employees. it's a massive undertaking. the world is such a dangerous place that there is not a lot of time on the other postosted january 20 -- january 20 to do your learning curve, you have to be on top of it right away and have plans in place and work well together. tha

morning to talk about the presidential process of a presidential transition is max stier -- max stier

: joining us this morning to talk about the presidential process of a presidential transition is max stierx ther, president and ceo for partnership for public services center for presidential transition. why is a successful presidential transition so important? safety isabout our the ultimate answer here. when you think about it, our democratic system envisions transfers of power when you have election so you have accountable government. that means that a new team has to figure out how to take charge immediately on january 20 in an effective way. it's a big task. when you think about our government you are looking at trillions of dollars, 4 million of people -- 4 million people, hundreds of operating units, and historically presidents have aborted 4000 political appointees. it's a massive underage -- have appointed 400 political employees. it's a massive undertaking. the world is such a dangerous place that there is not a lot of time on the other postosted january 20 -- january 20 to do your learning curve, you have to be on top of it right away and have plans in place and work well togeth

. >> host: max stier, president and ceo of the partnership for public service, talking about the transition process. thanks for being with us once again on "washington journal." >> guest: hey, my pleasure. thank you. >> we're back with louisiana dash shah brown who is the co-founder of the black voter matters organization, and she's here with us today to talk about the black voter and the 2020 elections. louisiana dash shah -- latasha, good morning. >> guest: thank you for having me.vo >> host: first, tell us what the black voters matter fund is. >> guest: the organization started in 2016 because we wanted to shift the dynamics around how we were hearing the national media talk about black voters. more importantly, we wanted to build more power in our communities so we could have more influence on policies impacting us. so we started the back voters matter fund because what we felt is that in order to really have a robust democracy, you have to have an edge gauged electorate. and -- engaged electorate. and we would do work to engage voters on the ground level, on the local level so that the

max stier, thanks so much. >> thank you. >>> these are important conversations. dr.e general public could start getting vaccines as soon as april, but right now coronavirus cases are surging in this country and hospitalizations are setting records. theres a lot of work we have to do. >> for sure. >>> also taking a look at the markets, we are moments away from the opening bell on wall street. futures pointing higher, investors preparing for a biden white house and figuring out how to profit from it. market strategists say solar, other alternative energy companies along with infrastructure, building suppliers and railroads could be some of the biggest beneficiaries of the incoming administration. sales are down from last quarter but we are hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uh... boss: doug? sorry about that. umm...what...its...um... boss: you alright? [sigh] [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has powerful, easy-to-use tools to help you find opportunities, 24/7 support when you need answers plus some of the lowest options and futures contract prices aroun

max stier, thanks for telling us the way it should be done. >>> as the president-elect prepares to introduceis foreign policy team in the next hour, we can expect dramatic changes from the trump administration's policies. but is it obama world revisited? biden was asked yesterday about the likelihood also of republican opposition during confirmation hearings. >> reporter: do you expect republicans to put up significant roadblocks to your nominations? >> are you kidding me? >> reporter: why did you go with national security first? >> because it's national security. thanks. >> joining me now is ambassador wendy sherman, former undersecretary of state for political affairs, wendy, great to see you, thank you very much. you know all these people, you've worked with a lot of these people, you know their expedience. there is some suggestion that this is obama revisited rather than the aggressive new, shall we say, progressive approach to the crises at hand. what do you say about that? >> what i say about that is, if there was ever a time for seasoned, professional competence, it is now. and every

then partnership for public services max stier talks about the work of the group's center for presidentialion.

max: i think there are a couple things that play. you in love to join being called by my first name. bill andcalls you calls me mr. stier, max is fine. the color makes an important point. about thesome things gsa decision that would enable the biden transition team to get access to certain resources are very clear, access to the agencies so they can go in and learn what happened, than there are things like the intelligence sharing during the daily brief, i think those things could happen without a former -- formal asset -- formal ascertainment. the current administration has a fair amount of discretion and i think they should move forward with everything. they should have ascertainment and move forward in every way possible to make sure that the biden team will have what it needs, assuming that they take charge on january 20. about, whatquestion happened in terms of the shortened transition? it was not until after the supreme court decision in december 14 that this was ecided and gore gave his concession that the ascertainment happened. there is some argument over whether it should have happened earlier. that may be the