Budget boss a top concern

In late summer, with polls pointing to victory, Bob McDonnell may have realized his No. 2 in the attorney general's office, Bill Mims, was out of the running for gubernatorial chief of staff.

At the time, Mims, a former legislator who was completing McDonnell's term as AG, was being romanced by Hunton and Williams, the white-shoe law firm with which he signed last week as a lobbyist.

Mims' shift from the public to private payroll, while lucrative for him, is a loss for McDonnell, denying the Republican a big foot -- someone with heft, knowledge and feared, if only a little -- for dealings with lawmakers, bureaucrats and favor-seekers.

The problem for McDonnell, however, is that this may not be an isolated incident. He could find himself similarly challenged on another, more significant front: managing the crippled budget.

Of all members of a governor's Cabinet, first among equals is the secretary of finance, a slot usually filled by an often-apolitical career state employee, such as the 38-year veteran who now occupies it: Ric Brown.

But would McDonnell keep Brown, if only to make dollars and sense of a budget that continues to bleed red ink? Virginia has seen shortfalls totaling $6 billion since 2007. Now the state's an additional $1.5 billion in the hole. That figure could more than double within a year.

Legislators in both parties believe McDonnell would be well served retaining Brown, and they've told the governor-elect as much. Not only would McDonnell be the beneficiary of institutional knowledge -- translated: Brown knows where the bodies are buried -- but keeping him would send an important signal.

First, that McDonnell, with roots in the Republican right, is serious about centrist governance -- particularly as it applies to fiscal discipline.

Second, continuity in the budget office could assure Wall Street that the state puts ahead of partisanship the preservation of its Triple-A bond rating, the highest-possible and shared with six states.

A familiar face is no guarantee the bond rating will survive -- not if the shortfall swells to $3 billion or more and McDonnell pushes for spending beyond the basics, such as public schools, which he vows not to cut.

Perhaps Brown, who expects to retire in January and says he hasn't talked "officially" with the governor-elect's staff, could protect McDonnell from himself.

There are risks in sticking around.

Brown probably recalls the reaming by Democrats of another finance secretary, Paul Timmreck, who put in place policies for Doug Wilder, then unraveled them for George Allen.

If not Brown, then who -- Robert Vaughn, head of the House Appropriations Committee staff?

Republicans need Vaughn where he is, following the defeat of Phil Hamilton and the possible departure of another budget conferee, Kirk Cox. He's mentioned for education secretary or McDonnell's new veterans' affairs post.

Matter of fact, to use Jim Gilmore's signature line, the GOP is short on budgetary talent -- a consequence, in part, of the long losing streak McDonnell snapped Nov. 3.

Running a budget may not be rocket science. But we wouldn't have made it to the moon without hiring the Germans we beat in World War II.

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 6496814 or . Watch his video column Thursdays on TimesDispatch.com. Follow him at twitter.com/RTDSchapiro. Listen to his analysis Fridays at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE (88.9 FM).