Ex-Del. Hamilton charged with bribery, extortion for ODU job

NORFOLK

Former state Del. Phil Hamilton was indicted Wednesday on federal bribery and extortion charges for soliciting a job at Old Dominion University while securing state funding for it.

A grand jury in Richmond handed up the indictment. Hamilton made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Norfolk this afternoon during a 10-minute proceeding. He was released on $25,000 unsecured bond.

The trial will take place in Richmond; his next court appearance is scheduled there Jan. 13.

Speaking to reporters after today’s court proceeding, his attorney Andrew Sacks of Norfolk conceded that Hamilton’s actions may have been imprudent, but called the federal charges “way out in left field.”

“It may have been a mistake in judgment,” Sacks said, “but it’s a far cry from a criminal offense.”

If convicted, Hamilton, 58, faces maximum penalties of up to 10 years in prison on the bribery charge and up to 20 years on the extortion charge. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of the roughly $80,000 that he received from ODU.

His attorney said Wednesday that his client is innocent.

"No official from Old Dominion University paid any bribe to Phil and Phil received no bribe from any official at Old Dominion University," Sacks said in a statement. "This simply did not happen."

Hamilton, a Republican, was one of the Virginia General Assembly's most senior lawmakers, having represented Newport News and James City County since 1988. He was a committee chairman and sat on a select panel of legislators who crafted the state budget.

His relationship with ODU, first reported by The Virginian-Pilot in 2009, became an issue in his re-election campaign, and he was defeated that fall by Democrat Robin Abbott.

The ODU matter sparked an ethics investigation by the House of Delegates, which was short-circuited when Hamilton resigned his seat in November 2009. It also led to an overhaul of legislative ethics rules in 2010.

The federal indictment alleges that from August 2006 through February 2007, Hamilton solicited employees of ODU for a position as director of a new teacher training initiative, the Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership.

At the same time, according to the indictment, Hamilton introduced legislation that would establish and fund the center, including his salary as director.

Hamilton purposely kept ODU's name out of the funding legislation so that it would be assigned to a subcommittee on which he served, the indictment alleges. The measure was approved, funneling $500,000 to ODU for the first year's operations.

The next day, prosecutors allege, Hamilton and ODU officials exchanged e-mails (read the e mails) about Hamilton receiving the director's job. According to the indictment, about three people applied in response to a job posting for the position, but none of them were interviewed. Hamilton was awarded the job without submitting an application.

He went on the payroll in June 2007 at a salary of $40,000 a year.

The indictment also alleges that Hamilton took numerous steps to conceal the arrangement, including telling ODU officials not to mention his name in connection with the center to other state lawmakers.

He is also alleged to have tried unsuccessfully to persuade ODU administrators not to release incriminating e-mails in response to Freedom of Information Act requests that the school had received from The Pilot and the Daily Press of Newport News.

ODU canceled Hamilton's contract after the relationship became public in 2009.

An internal audit at ODU in 2009 found little documentation of any services Hamilton provided for the money he was paid. Auditors also found a lack of internal controls and a skirting of normal hiring and procurement processes at the center.

The center's office near Hamilton's district on the Peninsula, which auditors said sat virtually unused for two years, has been closed.

In a Dec. 21, 2006, e-mail to then ODU President Roseann Runte, Hamilton wrote that he had initiated preparation of the funding legislation and reminded Runte that "when we talked about the Center last August, I expressed an interest in being associated with the initiative from a professional perspective."

Runte, now president of Carleton University in Canada, and current ODU President John Broderick, who was a vice president at the time, have both said they didn't know about Hamilton's hiring until The Pilot began inquiring about it.

Broderick removed David Blackburn, the administrator who hired Hamilton, after the relationship came to light. William Graves, dean of ODU's Darden College of Education, was relieved of his leadership responsibilities with the center and retired at the end of the academic year.

House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong has been an outspoken critic of Hamilton since his dealings with ODU were made public, but he wasn't in a celebratory mood when he learned of the indictment.

"None of this brings any honor to a state and a government that's always prided itself on being a role model.... This is not a proud day for Virginia," said Armstrong, D-Henry County.

The Hamilton case serves as a reminder that "we have to be ever vigilant in making certain that we have ethical rules and that we properly enforce those rules," added Armstrong, who last year successfully pushed for a change in how ethics investigations into legislators' conduct are conducted.

House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford County, who initiated the legislative ethics inquiry that was later aborted, said the indictment "reflects the seriousness with which I and others viewed the alleged offenses."

Sacks, Hamilton's attorney, said he tried to persuade federal prosecutors that there wasn't sufficient evidence to bring a case against his client.

"Phil believes that the very system for which he has stood during 21 years of service to Virginians will ultimately be the same system that will deliver him from charges of which he is innocent and will restore to him his good and honorable name."

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

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

Phil Hamilton Indictment