44 Buzz: Second time's the charm?

Second Time’s the Charm?

David Hayes is emerging as Barack Obama’s choice for deputy interior secretary, according to a source close to Hayes.

If Hayes gets the job, it should be second nature. He was deputy secretary during the Clinton administration, under Bruce Babbitt.

Hayes, however, had been mentioned by some Washington insiders as a leading contender for the top interior post that went to Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.).

The Obama transition team wouldn’t comment on a possible Hayes appointment.  

Hayes, a partner and global chairman of the environment and land practice at the law firm of Latham and Watkins, is co-directing the president-elect’s working group examining the Interior Department.  

— Erika Lovley

Efficiency Czar

President-elect Barack Obama announced Wednesday that he is creating a new position to curb waste and inefficiency as part of a broader push to bring more discipline to federal spending.

Obama introduced a “chief performance officer” — Nancy Killefer, a partner at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and a former Treasury Department official in the Clinton administration.

— Carol E. Lee

New Pentagon Hopeful

Raytheon exec and former Pentagon comptroller William Lynn has emerged as a leading candidate for deputy secretary of defense.

Sources close to the transition say Lynn is leading among several candidates Defense Secretary Robert Gates has interviewed for the No. 2 spot. But Lynn could run afoul of President-elect Barack Obama’s rules on special interests.The transition team has said appointees would be barred for two years from working on contracts involving their previous employer.

Senate records indicate Lynn lobbied the Pentagon, the House and the Senate on the defense appropriations and authorizations bills until the second quarter of 2008 on behalf of the Waltham, Mass.-based company.

— Jen DiMascio