Nah, this is a lot of projection. More likely fanfic: could be that the one who got tenure had the former advisor who would add her to grants and bring in a lot of $$, or who started a center that would bring in a lot of $$.

Routine research often is easier to get through funding committees and get published. Less "what journal does this fit in, I'm not sure our division should fund this, does the PI truly have the expertise needed to do research in this, this result doesn't clearly advance the field"