Sen. Norment's dual roles for W&M: employee and advocate

WILLIAMSBURG

On July 1, 2008, state Sen. Tommy Norment boosted his state paycheck nearly tenfold with the stroke of a pen. That's when he accepted a part-time faculty appointment with the College of William and Mary, his law school alma mater.

His annual salary for teaching two courses: $160,000.

That means Norment now wears two hats with regard to William and Mary: well-paid employee and powerful advocate in the General Assembly.

Having represented Williamsburg and James City County in the General Assembly for 18 years, the Republican has reached a pinnacle matched by few of his peers. As Senate minority leader and a senior member of the budget-writing Finance Committee, he and a handful of colleagues hold the purse strings for state schools such as William and Mary.

During the 2009 Assembly session, six months after going on the college payroll, he sponsored nearly $20 million in spending measures for William and Mary.

The Norment case is not the only instance of a Virginia lawmaker on the payroll of a state university, but it is almost certainly the most lucrative.

By comparison, Bill Janis, a relatively junior member of the House of Delegates from Henrico County, is paid $2,000 per semester for teaching a course on the legislative process at William and Mary.

In an interview, Janis, a Republican, said he'll probably discontinue his William and Mary work after two semesters because the paycheck and time commitment to travel to Williamsburg once a week "probably didn't make up for the cost of gas."

"Like Jefferson said," Janis added, "I will leave office with hands as clean as they are empty."

Another lawmaker, Del. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News, is facing investigations by a House ethics panel and a federal grand jury after revelations that he was lobbying for a $40,000-a-year job with a teacher training center at Old Dominion University while working to secure the center's startup funding.

ODU President John Broderick canceled the deal with Hamilton in August, saying the delegate had been hired without his knowledge.

Unlike the Hamilton case, a Freedom of Information Act request by The Virginian-Pilot turned up no e-mail correspondence between Norment and the college discussing his hiring.

Advocating for William and Mary in Richmond is nothing new for Norment. He has done that throughout his legislative tenure. He also pointed out that none of the spending measures he introduced on the college's behalf this year were adopted.

"So much for my effectiveness," he quipped in an interview.

Also in contrast to Hamilton, Norment's appointment was personally approved by William and Mary President Taylor Reveley.

In hiring Norment, the college got a "twofer," Reveley said in an interview. On one hand, he said, the school got a veteran lawmaker who could give students a firsthand look at how the General Assembly works. The two courses Norment teaches - one in the law school and one in the government department - both deal with the legislative process.

But even more important in his mind, Reveley said, was the opportunity to tap Norment's expertise as a lawyer. Even though his contract says nothing about providing legal services, Reveley said Norment's job has evolved to include advice and consultation on a range of legal issues.

The attorney general's office provides legal counsel to state universities.

"But there are an enormous number of legal issues going on all the time for any college or university where you need somebody working on a sustained daily basis, so you develop your own inside group," Reveley said.

"The opportunity to get somebody like Norment, who is a really splendid lawyer with a lot of experience, in here helping us with those sorts of issues was quite appealing."

For a lawyer of Norment's experience, Reveley added, the salary William and Mary is paying him is "very, very reasonable. Outside an academic context, you couldn't get him for that amount of money."

Brian Whitson, a college spokesman, said even though Norment holds a part-time appointment, his teaching load is close to that of the average full-time faculty member in the law school, who earns about $169,000 for teaching three one-semester courses a year.

Norment teaches two courses each semester. Each class meets for about two hours once a week for 13 weeks in the fall. There are fewer class meetings - typically three to six - in the spring because of his legislative duties, Norment said, but those students also have an opportunity to participate in internships at the Assembly.

Before taking the job at William and Mary, Norment said, he got a written opinion from then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell, now the Republican candidate for governor, concluding that it did not constitute an impermissible conflict of interests.

McDonnell did say that he should not have any financial interest in a private law firm while offering legal advice to the college, Norment said. So he resigned his partnership with the Norfolk-based firm Kaufman & Canoles. He is now associated with the firm in a more limited "of counsel" capacity.

He declined to provide a copy of McDonnell's opinion. The McDonnell campaign also declined to release it, citing attorney-client privilege.

Norment said he sees no problem with submitting spending measures on behalf of the college in the General Assembly as long as they have no direct impact on his role at the college.

"I can't totally abdicate my responsibility to the college as the only senator who represents the college community," he said.

Henry Wolf, rector of William and Mary's governing Board of Visitors, was aware of Norment's appointment and said he considers his compensation reasonable. Wolf, a retired Norfolk Southern railroad executive, acknowledged that the potential for a conflict of interests exists, but he believes Norment is astute enough to avoid it.

"I'd like to think that in his role as senator, he represents not just the College of William and Mary but all of higher education in Virginia," Wolf said.

Norment's big salary boost means he will qualify for a substantially bigger state pension when he retires. Pensions are calculated on the basis of an employee's three consecutive highest-paid years of employment. Norment, 63, who earns $18,000 a year as a senator, now receives a total state salary of $178,000.

He said the pension boost played a "minimal" role in his decision to take the William and Mary job.

Norment has another lucrative government job too. Since December, he has been commissioner of accounts for Williamsburg and James City County. Commissioners, who preside over the disposition of estates, are appointed by circuit judges, who are appointed by the General Assembly.

Norment estimated that he has earned a net income of $40,000 to $50,000 from that job.

Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com