Apr 17, 2023 - Politics
Former Warner and Kaine chief of staff spills governing secrets in new book
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Cover: Courtesy Bill Leighty
Remember that time Mark Warner was governor of Virginia and his administration had state police bug an agency head’s office?
- Us neither, because as far as we know, no one’s talked about it publicly. Until now.
What’s happening: Bill Leighty, who served as chief of staff to Govs. Warner and Tim Kaine, is out with a new memoir, "Capitol Secrets."
- The book offers an unusually candid look behind the curtain of the state’s executive branch, which in Leighty’s telling comes across as equal parts "West Wing" and "Veep."
Take the spying episode Leighty recounts, which apparently backfired spectacularly.
- In his telling, it was the early days of the Warner administration, and the unnamed agency head in question was deemed untrustworthy but necessary, at least in the short term.
- The day after state police planted the surveillance equipment, the local commonwealth’s attorney contacted Leighty to let him know a break-in had been reported by the agency head, who had apparently taken counter surveillance measures and had video of officers wiring his office.
- "He received one of the best retirement packages afforded by law. … In return, I got the tape," Leighty writes.
For the record: Warner's office said it had nothing to add when asked about the incident.
Other highlights: Leighty recounts Warner’s cabinet goading him into issuing his first budget vetoes by calling him a "weenie."
- He recalls accidentally curtseying instead of bowing during a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth during her 2017 visit.
- And he describes how a midnight tour of the Capitol he and Warner gave Tom Hanks helped the state land an HBO series on the life of John Adams.