What does “make the leap into the Richmond (or any name of the place) fishbowl” mean?

Washington Post (July 13) reports the gift scandal of Maureen McDonnell, wife of Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell under the headline, “Va. first lady plays central role in gift”.

The article reports that Maureen received a $50,000 check and other monetary benefits from a wealthy businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and that the state and federal investigators are looking into the relationship between the McDonnell and Williams. It says:

Some of Maureen McDonnell’s closest friends are surprised by the reports, saying she is as sweet as her public image. But some people she has worked with at the governor’s mansion and in state government paint a different portrait: one of someone unable to make the leap into the Richmond fishbowl.

What does “one of someone unable to make the leap into the Richmond fishbowl” mean?

I know what “pop out of the fishbowl” means, but I cannot get the idea of deliberately “leaping into the fishbowl.”

If "the fishbowl" means the brilliant cream of society, isn’t the Virginia’s First Lady already there in the luminant fishbowl?

Who is “one of someone,”? Is it a person who has worked with Maureen, or Maureen herself?

Additional question:

The line, “some people she has worked with at the governor’s mansion and in state government paint a different portrait” confuses me. Does Virginia Governor’s wife work at the governor’s mansion and in state government like a staff? Shouldn’t it be “some people who have worked with her paint a different portrait”?

The fishbowl is the fishbowl of public scrutiny.

The one in one of someone is the portrait.

So this is the portrait of a person unable to make the transition to a life wide-open to public scrutiny.

The image below (from fishbowl at yourdictionary.com) shows a fishbowl, as often used stereotypically to portray how visible fish are when they live in a transparent glass bowl that anyone can see through. Saying that Governor McDonnell and his wife are in “the Richmond fishbowl” refers to them being highly visible to one and all. Their privacy is limited because they are prominent public figures, at the top of the heap among important people in the Virginia capitol.