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If
Governor-elect Tim Kaine signaled anything with his
first appointment, it was this: The rash of good
government that broke out during the Warner
Administration could become an epidemic before this
is over.
Bill
Leighty?
Think
Yoda without the ears. Okay, a little taller. Okay,
not quite that old.
Chief
of staff? Think master of the Force (100,000 state
employees) and teacher of the Jedi Knights (Mark and
Tim.)
Among
those across Virginia who closely follow stuff like
this, the reappointment was met a collective sigh of
relief. With rare succinctness, the keepers of the
blunderbuss fire at the Times-Dispatch’s
editorial page flashed off the first round.
“When
Mark Warner named Leighty to the position, he
signaled that his administration would be run with
efficiency and integrity,” the T-D said.
“Virginia’s reputation as the best-managed state
is due in large part to Leighty’s skills—and to
his support from the Governor. Leighty’s
reappointment ensures a welcome continuity.”
Says
John Chichester, chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee: “Bill is brilliant. He has the unique
ability to see around corners and accurately predict
what will most likely develop.”
UVA’s
Larry Sabato echoed the TD’s take. “He deserves
a major share of the credit for Mark Warner’s
success, and Tim Kaine was very smart to ask him to
stay on. Bill is providing the continuity that
Virginia’s one-term limit for Governors denies us
otherwise.”
Former
Gov. Jerry Baliles characterizes him as a sort of
prime minister of state government, very much in the
mold of the legendary Carter Lowance, who served the
top staff post for six successive Virginia
governors.
“This
guy’s radar is in constant motion,” Baliles
says. “If there is any one individual in Virginia
who knows state government, it is Bill Leighty. What
Kaine is signaling with this appointment is that the
campaign’s over. It’s time to govern.”
Except
for a formative stint with a little agency called
the United States Marine Corps, Leighty has spent
his working life in service to the Commonwealth, a
career that began 25 years ago as an economist in
the research division of the Virginia Department of
Taxation, and tacked through the upper echelons of
the state’s vast transportation and retirement
systems.
He
holds degrees from Mary Washington and Virginia
Commonwealth and along the way has picked up
post-grad credits at Duke and the Wharton
School, and though his resume is seeded with career
ticket-punches, the concept of public service is a
very real thing to Bill Leighty.
“It
comes from my Scouting days, when I was taught ‘to
be of cheerful service to your fellow man, even in
the midst of irksome and weighty
responsibilities,’ Leighty says. “I do actually
get up every morning expecting to be helpful and to
make people happy.”
Says
Jay DeBoer, the former Petersburg delegate who heads
Virginia’s aging program: “I have never met a
person who takes such obvious pleasure in excellence
and efficiency. Bill has made it an art form, and he
is a joy to behold when he thinks of a new way to
measure whether a government service is working well
or in a cost-effective manner. He pursues excellence
with a passion that many reserve for golf or
fishing.”
Golf?
Fishing?
If
passion for public service and efficiency, if simply
being helpful, affected most folks like it does
Leighty — and if you could bottle it — the world
wouldn’t need Viagra.
Leighty
ticks off a handful of mentors, but he pauses on Ed
Willey, the legendary chairman of Senate Finance.
“He taught me what it means to be a Virginian.”
Why
this chief of staff gig again? Why not a seat on the
Warner Express to Washington? Leighty mulls over the
question.
“Years
ago in Sunday school, as I struggled with the
concepts of faith and belief, I was hung up on this
thing that everybody would talk about as “your
calling.” Whenever I used to press to understand,
when I’d ask ‘How will I know what my calling
is?’ the elders would always say, ‘You will know
when it comes.’ It is as clear as they promised it
would be. My calling is Virginia.”
--November
28, 2005
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