Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Lawrence Ukenye. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren It’s TAMARA KEITH’s last day as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association and the press workspace behind the briefing room is in shambles — just as she’d always envisioned. The NPR correspondent started working on a plan to renovate the friendly confines — two-stories of cramped desks, cabinets and closets — upon joining the WHCA board five years ago. Finally, it’s happening: an overhaul of furniture, carpets and the “lavateria,” the shared space near the restrooms that’s home to vending machines, one high top table and a fancy espresso machine donated by TOM HANKS (calm down, people, it’s not going anywhere). West Wing Playbook spoke with Keith about the project and her tenure. The conversation has been edited for clarity. So how old are the desks and filing cabinets getting hauled out? They were installed during the Bush administration. Which one? Oh, the second one! Why was this such a long and complicated process? We are trying to coordinate and meet the needs of dozens of news organizations, while also coordinating with the White House and GSA [General Services Administration] and then working with subcontractors on furniture and everything else. Last August, [board member] SARA COOK and I were both on vacation and I actually had to do a call with GSA and the furniture subcontractor from Disneyland. They sent us plans that did not reflect what we wanted and we had to go (media) outlet by outlet correcting the plans. Each news organization wants something different? And you’re the intermediary, getting their specifications and then dealing with the subcontractor? Yes. That sounds exhausting. The other night, I was on a call with GSA about an overflowing urinal. And my son was like, ‘So Mommy's job is to call people about urinals?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, this is part of Mommy’s glamorous volunteer job.’ Who pays for the renovations? The only way to make this project work was for the White House Correspondents’ Association to pay for it upfront due to the bizarre intricacies of GSA contracting. And all of the organizations with workspace are reimbursing — or have reimbursed — WHCA. So it’s not the White House? No. But we were able to convince the White House that they should replace the seats in the briefing room that were in terrible disrepair. One of my great regrets is that I was not able to convince the White House to pay to upgrade the bathrooms themselves. I guess if they don’t have to use them… We've been spending years trying to convince them that the air movement in those bathrooms is unacceptable. But we have not succeeded. Why did you want this job? Are you a bit of a masochist? I don't know exactly. I think that it was largely because there were problems that needed to be solved and I felt like I could help. That's everything from access issues to… urinals. It's a silly thing, but I am extremely proud that I got us a vending machine that has both Coke and Pepsi products and coffee. But there are a lot of problems that come to you that you can’t really solve, right? Yes. When you get a middle of the night phone call about access issues at a summit, it's not like I have the power to go negotiate with the G-7 to get us more pool cards. What’s different about being WHCA president compared to serving on the board? I didn’t understand when I was just on the board how much the president is in day-to-day, minute-to-minute contact with the White House, largely about logistics. It is a constant back and forth, a constant negotiation about press access, things that the rest of the press corps doesn't see. If we're doing our job right, then we’ve smoothed out the points of friction so that people don't see them. And so that the journalists covering the White House can do their jobs. It’s a full-time job that obviously affects your other full-time job. Yeah. The time-suck is incredible. And yet, it sounds like you’re going to miss being president? I could be headed for an identity crisis, I’m not sure. All I know is, starting on the 22nd, I’ll be riding my bike across Iowa as part of RAGBRAI. I'm not going to be able to look at my phone. And I'm not going to be able to think about anything other than the pain that I'm putting myself through. This supports our masochism theory. You know, you might be onto something. [Editor’s note: A sincere thanks to Tamara and WHCA board members TODD GILLMAN of the Dallas Morning News and DOUG MILLS of the New York Times, who are also cycling off the board Friday, for your years of hard work on our behalf.] MESSAGE US — Are you incoming WHCA president KELLY O'DONNELL? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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