Ex-Virginia lawmaker charged with bribery

Source: UPI


Ex-Virginia lawmaker charged with bribery

NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A former Virginia state lawmaker was charged Wednesday with using extortion and bribery to secure a job with Old Dominion University, federal authorities said.

The U.S. Attorney General's office said in a release former House of Delegates member Phillip A. Hamilton, 58, allegedly solicited Old Dominion University for a paid position as director of its Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership from August 2006 through February 2007 -- a period when he was introducing legislation that would fund the center, including his salary. He was named director of the center in June 2007 and paid $40,000 a year.

Hamilton, a Republican who was a state delegate from 1988 to 2009, is to appear in U.S. District Court in Norfolk Thursday.

The indictment alleges Hamilton advised the university not to connect him with the center in the presence of Virginia Senate members and to refrain from releasing incriminating e-mails.

If found guilty, Hamilton faces 10 years in prison for the bribery charge and 20 years for the extortion charge.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/01/05/Ex-Virginia-lawmaker-charged-with-bribery/UPI-38291294279538/

Source: TPM

A former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates set up a plum position for himself at Old Dominion University -- a job he funded through legislation he introduced at the same time he was soliciting the gig, a federal grand jury charged in an indictment on Wednesday.

The scandal all started brewing back in 2007, when a bill Phillip A. Hamilton pushed through to give $500,000 per year to the Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership at ODU, a program intended to train teachers for success in urban school environments. Just a day after the legislation passed, Phillip A. Hamilton and ODU officials exchanged e-mails about Hamilton getting the director job at $40,000 a year (supplementing his income as a legislator), the feds say.

The job was publicly posted and three people other than Hamilton applied, but none of them were interviewed. Hamilton never even submitted an application. The relationship was first reported by the Virginian-Pilot in 2009. His relationship with ODU became an issue in his 2009 re-election campaign, in which he was defeated by Democrat Robin Abbott.



Read more: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/feds_say_va_goper_used_position_to_endow_job_he_was_seeking.php

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This right on the heels of former Gov. Gilmore's Finance Secretary got caught stealing from a Literary Foundation

McDonnell 'very troubled' by claim about Forbes' letter
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2010/dec/22/tdmain01-mcdonnell-very-troubled-by-claim-that-for-ar-730454/

Gov. Bob McDonnell says he was never made aware of a letter sent to his office while he served as attorney general alerting authorities to the misuse of millions of dollars of state tobacco grant money.

Former Virginia Finance Secretary John W. Forbes II was convicted of fraud last month after a probe into how he spent a $5 million grant given in 2001 to the Literary Foundation of Virginia.

If this guy is doing all this illegal crap to get a $40,000 job, he deserves whatever he gets.

He should learn from Wall Street, if you want to steal steal big. You'll have a much better chance of getting away with it.

really know what kind of bonuses or other amenities might have been involved down the road.