by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Despite stocking her transition team with individuals unfamiliar with Virginia politics and issues, Gov.-elect Spanberger has not followed Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s path of bringing in non-Virginians and persons unfamiliar with government and the Virginia legislature to fill out her Cabinet. Instead, she has, so far, surrounded herself with Cabinet members who have extensive experience with Virginia government and the General Assembly, in particular. 

Here are her announcements so far:

Secretary of Finance—Mark Sickles. Sickles is a long-time member of the House of Delegates from Fairfax County, first elected in 2003. He has been a member of the House Appropriations Committee since 2015 and vice-chair since 2024. In addition to his long experience on the Appropriations Committee, he has been a member of the budget conference committee since 2018. Health care has been one of the primary issues he has focused on, serving as chair of both the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Resources and the full House Committee on Health, Welfare, and Institutions, as well as on the Joint Subcommittee on Health Care. In addition to these legislative assignments, he serves on the House Rules and Privileges and Elections Committees and is chair of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

The Secretary of Finance oversees the development of the biennial budget that the Governor presents to the General Assembly. Included among the agencies that report to him are the Departments of Planning and Budget, Taxation, Accounts, and Treasury.

Comment: Spanberger probably could not have found anyone with a deeper knowledge and understanding of the General Assembly and the budget process. The Commonwealth will be facing major budget challenges in Medicaid and social services resulting from the provisions of the recent federal tax and spending legislation. Sickles’ background in these areas will be invaluable. His main challenge will probably be having to pivot from a legislative perspective to representing the executive branch.

Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources—David Bulova. Bulova is another senior member of the General Assembly from Fairfax County tapped by Spanberger for her Cabinet. Elected to the House of Delegates in 2005, he is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and chairs its Subcommittee on Commerce, Agriculture, and Natural Resources. He also chairs the full House General Laws Committee. He is also a member of the Chesapeake Bay Commission (twice serving as chair) and the State Water Commission. As noted by the Virginia Mercury, he has “30 years of professional experience in water resources policy, Chesapeake Bay restoration, stormwater compliance, strategic planning and stormwater finance.“

The major agencies that report to the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources are the Dept. of Environmental Quality and the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, and the Marine Resources Commission.

Comment: With Bulova, Spanberger has selected another Cabinet member with extensive knowledge and understanding of the legislative process, as well as an extensive professional and legislative background in the area that he will be overseeing. Bulova has been somewhat of a low-key, but steady, advocate of environmental measures during his legislative career.

Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security—Stanley M. Meador.  Meador’s background is in law enforcement. He began as a special agent with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Authority in 1997 and then joined the FBI in 2002. He progressed through the FBI ranks and was named Special Agent in Charge of the Richmond office in 2021. According to the Washington Post, the announcement of his appointment has brought protests from some Republicans. It was under his watch that two analysts in the Richmond office produced a memo in 2023 that suggested that a small subset of traditionalist Catholics may be tied to violent extremism.

The major agencies in this secretariat are the departments of Corrections, State Police, Juvenile Justice, and Emergency Management.

Comment: Meador has an impressive resume, but experience as a law enforcement officer does not necessarily lead to being an effective Cabinet officer. In addition, he has no background in dealing with the legislature.  During my experience in state government, the appointees to this position with backgrounds in law enforcement and as local prosecutors were not strong administrators. The most effective Secretaries of Public Safety I worked with, Gary Aronhalt and Marla Decker, came from the Attorney General’s office.

Secretary of Health and Human Resources—Marvin Figueroa.  Figueroa has an extensive background in health care policy at both the state level in Virginia and at the national level. After serving as the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Northam administration, he was the director of intergovernmental affairs for the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration. Also in his career, he has been a senior adviser to U.S. Senator Mark Warner (Virginia) on health care policy and Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler (D-California).

This secretariat is one of the most extensive and complex in Virginia government. It includes the departments of Health, Social Services, Medical Assistance Services, and Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

Comment: With the provisions of the federal tax and spending bill bringing significant changes to Medicaid and social services, Figueroa’s past experience with the Virginia programs and his experience and contacts in the federal government would seem to make him a good choice for this position. He will bring a different perspective to the Cabinet. Originally from Honduras, he was raised in the Bronx by his mother, a home care worker.

Secretary of Transportation—Nick Donohue. This appointee has been around Richmond’s Capitol Hill and transportation issues for many years. He was Assistant Secretary of Transportation under Gov. Tim Kaine and Deputy Secretary of Transportation under Govs. McAuliffe and Northam. He was heavily involved in major recent transportation initiatives such as increasing rail service and developing the Smart Scale system used to allocate highway funding. When the Democrats were out of power during the Youngkin administration, he founded a consulting firm focused on transportation. One of the firm’s major projects was helping to plan the automation of the Washington Metro system.

The major agencies that report to the Secretary of Transportation are the Departments of Transportation, Rail and Public Transportation, and Motor Vehicles.

Comment: With this appointment, Spanberger has chosen someone who is thoroughly familiar with Virginia transportation issues, knows all the players, and is knowledgeable about the legislative process. He will hit the ground running.

Secretary of Administration—Traci J. Deshazor.  She is also a veteran of the McAuliffe and Northam administrations, having served as deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth under both. Most recently, she was Deputy Chief Administrator for Human Services for the city of Richmond.

The Dept. of General Services, the Dept. of Human Resource Management, the Compensation Board, and the Virginia Information Technologies Agency are the main agencies under this Secretary.

Secretary of Labor—Jessica K. Looman. So far, this is Spanberger’s only Cabinet nominee without a Virginia connection. She has served in senior positions in Minnesota state government, including deputy commissioner of the state’s department of labor and industry and commissioner of its department of commerce. Under the Biden administration, she was the administrator of the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Most recently she was a senior fellow with the Wage Labor Initiative of New York University.

The major agencies in this secretariat are the Dept. of Labor and Industry, the Dept. of Professional and Occupational Regulation, and the Virginia Employment Commission.

Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs—Maj. Gen. Timothy P, Williams (ret.). This appointment is both a homecoming and a promotion. Gen. Williams served as the Adjutant General of the Virginia National Guard for nine years, under three governors, resigning in 2023. Since then, he has served as adviser to the chief of the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C.

The agencies that report to this Secretary are the Dept. of Military Affairs (the National Guard) and the Dept. of Veterans Services.

Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry—Katie K. Frazier. Although Frazier has not served in a government position, as a lobbyist, she has been around the state legislature for many years. Since 2018, she has been the Chief Brand Officer for Farm Credit of the Virginias. The organization is an agricultural lending cooperative that “provides more than $2.2 billion in financing to nearly 12,000 farmers, agribusinesses, and rural homeowners throughout Virginia, West Virginia, and western Maryland.” In her position, Frazier “leads [its] marketing strategy, legislative advocacy, [and] educational initiatives.” Prior to working with Farm Credit, she was the executive director of the Virginia Agribusiness Council, which is a lobbying organization for agricultural and forest industries.

The Secretary oversees the Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Department of Forestry.

Comment: With this appointment, Spanberger has chosen someone with deep roots in Virginia who has extensive knowledge of Virginia agricultural interests and the General Assembly and who received immediate support from the person she will be replacing. Matt Lohr, a Republican former member of the House of Delegates (2006-2010), Commissioner of the Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services under Gov. McDonnell, and currently Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry and a fellow Rockingham County native, had this reaction to Frazier’s nomination, “I’ve known Katie since she was in high school and I couldn’t be more pleased with the selection.”

Secretary of the Commonwealth—Candi Mundon King. This is the third legislator that Spanberger has tapped for her Cabinet. Mundon King is a two-term member of the House of Delegates, representing parts of Prince William County. This secretary does not oversee any agencies. The incumbent is the keeper of the seals of the Commonwealth and is responsible for keeping a record of all executive actions and arranging and preserving all records and papers belonging to the executive branch. The duty with the highest profile and which consumes most of the time of the secretary is overseeing the appointment process for the governor. In addition to Cabinet and agency heads, the governor of Virginia has more than 900 board and commission appointments to make.

Still to be announced by Spanberger are her choices for Secretary of Education and Secretary of Commerce and Trade. However, the contrast between Youngkin and Spanberger is stark. Youngkin’s Cabinet was composed primarily of figures from the private sector, who had little or no experience with government. A couple of the others had either local or federal government experience. Only four members had experience with the state legislative process. On the other hand, of Spanberger’s choices to date, none come from the private sector, with the arguable exception of Frazier; all but three have either worked in Virginia state government positions or have extensive knowledge of Virginia state agencies; and all but two have at least some experience with the General Assembly and several have extensive experience with the legislature.

 Other appointments will be her choices for sub-Cabinet posts and agency head positions. With some exceptions, there has historically been a great deal of continuity in the leadership of Virginia state agencies, even when there was a change in the party affiliation of the governor. Under Youngkin, however, there was a significant amount of turnover. It will be interesting and instructive to see what Spanberger does in this arena. Most of her agency head appointments will not be reported in the media but will be chronicled in the appointments bills taken up by the General Assembly.