VSU Pitching Coach Now Kaine's Chief of Staff
Kaine's new chief of staff makes history 

Richmond Times-Dispatch Saturday, Jun 09, 2007 - 12:09 AM 

By MICHAEL HARDY TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Wayne Turnage wishes no one would have noticed that he is the first African-American chief of staff to a Virginia governor.

"I have a passion for anonymity; I wasn't disappointed with the lack of press" about his appointment, he said. "My appointment was not driven by race. . . . I have to do the job whatever my race, or the governor will hire someone else."

The self-effacing Richmonder, appointed two weeks ago, is well-known in the state government community where he has spent most of his professional career. He has worked as a legislative researcher and analyst and was deputy state secretary of health and human resources before joining the Kaine administration as a deputy chief of staff in 2006.

His vocation was inspired by a vinyl recording his father gave him. The record contained a speech delivered by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the night before the civil-rights leader's assassination in Memphis.

"He said the most important thing in life is public service," Turnage recalled.

"I decided that if I could make a career out of it, it would be something worthwhile even if you can't make much money," Turnage said in an interview off Capitol Square. "My first and last interview," he joked.

The athletic Turnage, a tee-totaler who doesn't cuss, had been a college pitcher -- he won a baseball scholarship to North Carolina A&T -- and is very competitive in sports and policy debate.

Hanging prominently in his office at the Patrick Henry Building is a framed picture of baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson stealing home plate against the Chicago Cubs.

Turnage specializes in health care and public safety; he co-wrote or led 15 major reports while a staffer at the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the legislature's watchdog agency. Among others, he wrote on the application of the death penalty in Virginia and the state's Medicaid program.

"I'm more of a policy person than a political person. I'm not political at all," he said, adding that he has voted for Democrats and Republicans. He told Gov. Timothy M. Kaine that he'll have to turn to someone else for political advice.

Turnage spent 14 years with the commission and was known as a tireless staffer, generous with colleagues and always eager to debate issues.

In his new job, he'll have to be a point man for the governor's agenda with a legislature now controlled by Republicans.

"What I've found is that if you're straight with people and deal in factual issues and are fair, regardless of party or affiliation, people respect that," he said.

"My job is to present the governor's position" as well as possible.

Turnage hopes that facts, not partisan politics, will prevail in the General Assembly, where political hardball is the sport.

Colleagues who worked with him at the commission describe him as a gifted policy analyst and passionate advocate who will excel as Kaine's right-hand man. "Whether he's talking sports or Medicaid policy, he can analyze you into submission," remembered Marcus Jones, a former deputy finance secretary in two administrations who now is Norfolk's budget director. "Wayne has that booming voice and I wonder how he keeps all those numbers in his head."

"He's a humble person; he doesn't need credit for anything and he's a man of faith," Jones said. "I think he's one of a select number of people who understands public service."

Susan Massart, a senior staffer for the House budget committee, described him as "one of the brightest individuals I've encountered in state government. He doesn't just see the surface side of things. He'll dig into the data" and grasp the heart of a problem.

"He doesn't like the limelight; he likes to work behind the scenes. And he has a fantastic work ethic."

He's not a bloodless bureaucrat, she said. "He'll give the shirt off his back to someone in need. He's someone you can count on if you need someone to talk to."

Many years ago Massart was hospitalized for two months because of a serious car accident. "He saved me when he sneaked in some kind of spicy chicken."

Turnage credits what he calls "the JLARC Mafia" for its influence on him. The agency's longtime director, Philip A. Leone, was his mentor.

"He was one of the best researchers and analysts and project leaders we had around this place," Leone said.

"He's a gifted writer who could work under pressure. He sticks by his friends and he has no agenda; he's going to do a fine job" for the governor.

Turnage has not been a public servant chained to a cubicle in the state bureaucracy.

Despite a demanding schedule, he's managed to squeeze in a lot of volunteer work in the community. He's also an avid baseball and football fan -- the Washington Redskins are a passion.

For years he participated in Bible study classes for inmates at the Richmond City Jail.

He also coached Little League ball and a traveling AAU team of 12-year-olds.

For six years he has been a pitching coach at Virginia State University and during that time the club reached the conference regionals. When Kaine appointed him chief of staff, the governor suggested that he might have to scale back his coaching duties.

"Now it's going to be very difficult but I hope to sneak down there and help out," Turnage said. "It saddens me, but I have to pay the mortgage."