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William Leighty
Leighty was fired by VCU
William “Bill” Leighty, a heavyweight in Virginia Democratic politics, was fired from his role at VCU after he refused to ask Richmond Mayor Danny Avula a question during a forum, he says. He has served as a senior advisor to the Dean at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government at Virginia Commonwealth University since 2017.
Leighty hints in his post that he believes the reason for his dismissal was his refusal to ask Avula about the legislation passed by the General Assembly that would let VCU off the hook for making payments to Richmond on a failed construction project.
In a post on social media, Leighty described how it went down.
“At noon today, March 21, 2025, Dean [Susan] Gooden of the VCU School of Government and Public Affairs called me and terminated my employment effective immediately. I was given no reason, nor offered an explanation, only told that “your services are no longer needed,” Leighty wrote Friday night.
He then provided a lengthy description of why he believes this happened.
