On the night before Virginia government expert Bill Leighty was fired from his teaching and advisory role at VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, former Gov. Doug Wilder sent the school’s dean an email accusing Leighty of “prejudicial” behavior.

Wilder didn’t elaborate on what he felt Leighty had done wrong, but the email was part of a discussion thread about a dispute that arose over topics to be discussed at a March 19 question-and-answer session the Wilder School hosted with Richmond Mayor Danny Avula. 

Leighty, who served as chief of staff under former Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in addition to a variety of other roles in state government, was the event’s moderator. Leighty chose not to ask Avula a pair of hard-hitting questions he says he was pressured to ask anonymously on behalf of Wilder, a former Richmond mayor who didn’t have a public-facing role in the virtual Q&A with the current mayor.

The email appears to lend credence to Leighty’s belief that he was terminated mid-semester — leaving a few dozen graduate students without the professor they had been learning under — because he angered the legendary Virginia political figure whose name adorns the school.

“I find Mr. Leighty’s actions prejudicial against me and I will follow next steps,” Wilder wrote to Dean Susan Gooden on the evening of March 20, according to documents The Richmonder obtained from VCU through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Gooden, a social equity scholar and a former president of the American Society for Public Administration, seemed receptive to Wilder’s concern.

“Good evening Governor, Thanks for your follow up. Happy to talk further at your convenience,” the dean wrote in response. “I will reach out to you tomorrow morning to discuss next steps. Thanks again.”

The next day, Leighty was fired.

“I believe it’s exactly what it looks like,” Leighty said when asked for his thoughts on the email exchange between Wilder and his former boss. Leighty said he was not aware of any other friction with Wilder apart from the conflict over the Avula event. 

Neither Wilder nor Gooden responded to requests seeking comment for this story and a response to Leighty’s accusation that Wilder has been granted an undue level of authority over the Wilder School.

For the “Lunch and Learn” event with Avula, Leighty was given a list of questions to choose from labeled “Audience Questions.” The two questions at the top of that list, which the Richmonder also obtained via FOIA, took a more aggressive tone than the others.

Leighty says Wilder School communications director David Slipher sent him a text message during the event urging him to ask the first two questions as if they had come from an anonymous audience member even though they were “From Governor Wilder.” 

To back up his account, Leighty posted a screenshot of that text message on his Facebook page. According to the exchange Leighty posted, Slipher said he was just following “marching orders.” Leighty replied that he had “stopped marching” when he left the U.S. Marine Corps.

The questions

The first question dealt with a financial dispute between City Hall and VCU and whether the city would fight to collect $56 million from the VCU Health System over a failed deal to build a medical office building downtown. The General Assembly instructed VCU Health not to pay what the city insists it’s owed as a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT. The state legislature’s action forced Richmond to choose between suing for the money or dropping the fight in favor of less-hostile relations with VCU and state leaders. So far, Avula — a graduate of VCU’s medical school — has shown little interest in suing.

The question Leighty was given was worded: “Why would VCU not be held accountable to pay the city for the PILOT payment of $56 Million for the failed real estate development, especially when Richmonders are struggling financially? What is your position on this?”

The second question read: “How can people trust your administration to follow policy and be transparent when it does not follow the proper procedures to issue grants for qualified candidates? Is it legal for ‘grants’ to become ‘gifts’? Please explain.”

The second inquiry appears to refer to a recent audit that found the city was giving millions in public grant funding to nonprofit groups without clear eligibility rules or oversight of how the money is spent. That audit was released in February, but it mostly examined events that occurred in 2021 and 2022, years before Avula took office. The new mayor has promised to overhaul the process, but he didn’t implement a new system for the budget process currently underway at City Hall. Interim Chief Administrative Office Sabrina Joy-hogg recently told Richmond’s audit committee that the city could reclassify the funding as gifts, without some of the formal paperwork and oversight associated with grants.

The list of questions gets less confrontational after the first two. Other queries touch on housing, schools, regional cooperation, public transit, infrastructure and Avula’s experience being a brand-new city leader during January’s water crisis.

Wilder has blasted VCU Health’s failed building project as a wasteful boondoggle, pushing for investigations and calling for the VCU officials involved, including President Michael Rao, to be held accountable. The former governor has done so despite his own connection to VCU and the $182,430 salary he receives for his part-time role at the Wilder School, where he carries the title of distinguished professor.

Wilder’s job duties, according to his contract, involve raising the school’s profile, helping with fundraising and doing at least five lectures, presentations or other appearances at the school per semester. The contract doesn’t give Wilder any explicit authority to fire or hire staff.

Leighty didn’t avoid sensitive topics altogether. He asked Avula how we would handle the appearance of developers having sway over city government due to the donations they make to political campaigns.

Avula said he supports reforming Virginia’s campaign finance laws and wasn’t thrilled that he had to raise over $1 million to win his race. He said he was clear with his donors about his priorities and thinks he has a greater level of independence because he’s not a career politician and could “at max” only get another four-year term as mayor.

“I have the luxury of being a physician and being able to move into different employment and have this not be my long-term career calling,” Avula said. “I think that gives me a different ability to not be influenced by financial interests.”

Leighty also asked a gentler question about what kind of relationship Avula wants to have with VCU, whose two campuses Leighty described as “huge economic impact drivers” for the city.

In his answer, Avula addressed the financial tension between the city and VCU, although in a more roundabout way than if he had been asked specifically about the botched development deal. 

The mayor said the city “struggles financially” because of non-taxable real estate that belongs to VCU and the state government, adding that he believes the two sides should continue talking about what kind of payments VCU could make to the city in addition to the economic vitality the university brings. The goal, he said, should be to meet in the middle.

“If the city’s infrastructure is struggling, that hurts VCU too,” Avula said.

‘...he indicated he really preferred not to discuss it’

Leighty has said he felt the question about the development deal was legitimate, but overly aggressive for the setting.

In the internal email thread, Leighty gave a slightly different explanation, suggesting it was Avula who wanted to steer clear of the topic.

“Dean Gooden, the reason I didn't ask the Governor's question during yesterday's Lunch and Learn was because the mayor and I discussed that issue during our meeting and he indicated he really preferred not to discuss it outside of the context of the legal/discussions that are in progress, especially given the action by the General Assembly,” Leighty wrote to Gooden. “My apologies if my lack of doing so offended you.”

For a journalistic interview, it would be unusual to allow a political figure to declare a topic off limits. Leighty is not a journalist bound by neutrality. He endorsed Avula’s run for mayor last year, donated money to his campaign and introduced Avula as “a friend” during the Wilder School event. 

Leighty said he didn’t give Avula any questions in advance, because he didn’t have the list himself when the two met prior to the event. Avula didn’t flatly say he didn’t want to be asked about the VCU dispute, Leighty said, it was more of a shrug and an indication he wouldn’t be able to say much about it.

“I had no idea that Governor Wilder would be involved in the Lunch and Learn,” Leighty said. “But I did believe that the subject of the PILOT payment would probably come up and indicated that to the mayor.”

A city spokesman said Leighty’s account aligns with the mayor’s recollection of the discussion before the event.

As the school was hosting Avula, Leighty and others were discussing ways to forge stronger ties with City Hall. Leighty offered to help make connections between the Wilder School and the new Avula administration to discuss the possibility of embedding government students at City Hall through a fellowship program, and other Wilder School leaders seemed enthusiastic about the idea.

Gooden herself was involved in those discussions, but gave little indication Leighty might be gone before the week was over.

“Bill Leighty spoke with Mayor Avula, who expressed interest in the City of Richmond hosting two Wilder Fellows,” the dean wrote to the director of the school’s fellowship program shortly before the Avula event began. “Will you please follow up with Bill for additional details?”

Leighty offered to make a virtual introduction between Wilder School officials and Avula Chief of Staff Lawson Wijesooriya on March 21, the same day Leighty was fired. That introduction didn’t happen, according to the city, but the mayor’s office remains interested in a partnership with the Wilder School. 

Despite the talk of more cooperation, the feud over the questions for Avula didn’t fade away.

In response to Leighty’s explanation of how he handled his moderating duties, Gooden said she was “not aware” of Wilder submitting any questions. She then asked Leighty if he had “spoken with the Governor directly.”

“No I received a group text requesting that I ask the question and the text said the question was from Governor Wilder but was to be posed anonymously,” Leighty wrote back.

Though Gooden said she had no knowledge of any questions originating with Wilder, Leighty also posted a screenshot of a text message he says he received from the dean during the event that said “Can you please ask the VCU question?”

Gooden didn’t respond to an emailed question asking if she still believes no questions came from Wilder.

After Gooden sent the former governor Leighty’s comment about Wilder having a hand in the questions, Wilder indicated he had heard about the text message. In the same email, Wilder made the comment about Leighty’s “prejudicial” actions, without explaining why he felt Leighty had wronged him.

Less than 24 hours later, the school informed Leighty he was being fired immediately. 

Gooden didn’t respond when asked via email if Wilder had encouraged her to fire Leighty.

A termination letter Gooden sent to Leighty didn’t give a reason for the firing, pointing only to a VCU policy that says adjunct faculty can be dismissed at any time for reasons “such as failure to perform with professional competence in the areas of satisfactory teaching, research and other services; neglect of duties; policy violation; ethics violation; unprofessional conduct; misconduct, etc.”

On April 4, Leighty contacted Gooden to ask if she could be more specific. He said he was applying to other schools in the hopes of continuing to “mentor Virginia’s future public officials.” 

Those other schools, he said, might also want to know why he was let go.

“Just to be clear, I have no desire to return to the Wilder School,” he wrote.

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org. VCU is a sponsor of The Richmonder, but did not influence or review this story.