VAPilot: Phil Hamilton Sentenced To 9½ Years
By Shaun Kenney | Friday, August 12th, 2011 | PoliticsJulian Walker with the Virginia Pilot has the story:
Hamilton of Newport News, who must report to federal authorities by Sept. 19, also faces 2 years of probation after he leaves prison.
Hamilton, 59, was vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee when he solicited a job as director of a teacher training center he helped create at Old Dominion University with $500,000 in taxpayer money. The Republican lawmaker was hired as the center’s part-time director for $40,000 a year.
Sad to see this happen in one sense, but satisfied that such behavior is noticed and punished in Virginia — by both parties.
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Shaun Kenney is the Chairman of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors, former Communications Director for the Republican Party of Virginia, and an active blogger since 2002. Shaun lives in Thomas Jefferson's backyard with his wife, six children, and a modest attempt at a farm in Kents Store, Virginia.
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11 Responses to "VAPilot: Phil Hamilton Sentenced To 9½ Years"
It is sad to see because Hamilton was decent guy and hard-working legislator. But he made a huge mistake.
This seems like a lot of time for these offenses, but it’s well below the federal guidelines, which called for between 12 1/2 and 15 years.
Had to happen this way. Might have been a nice guy, but there’s no question he feathered a nest for himself.
Oh, yeah, I agree. I was sort of surprised he was convicted on the extortion charge, but there wasn’t any doubt he’d taken a bribe.
This thing still stinks, and where’s Runte?… safely in Ottawa, Ontario.
Tim: That’s a point I’ve made too. If Hamilton took a bribe then somebody had to be guilty of offering him a bribe, yes? But all those ODU folks cooperated with the feds and didn’t get indicted.
SV,
There is a thin line between bribery and extortion. The difference is the presence of a credible threat. Hamilton was in a position to not only provide a gift of public funding to ODU but also to withhold public funding if they failed to cooperate with his scheme. That makes it extortion rather than bribery.
As to the unindicted co-conspirators, that is routine in public corruption cases. It is almost impossible to get an indictment and conviction without turning one or more of the conspirators to state’s evidence. In such a situation, the prosecutors go after the elected official who abused the public trust and give the others a walk. A good call, IMHO.
I don’t celebrate anyone going to prison and suffering public disgrace, but I have no sympathy for elected officials who use their office for personal gain. “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”
HR- I don’t disagree. Amazing that this happened in Virginia which has practically no ethics or public corruption laws.
Hamilton would have been fine — at least under Virginia law, maybe not federal law — if he’d talked another legislator, like whoever actually represents ODU for example, into carrying the budget amendment.
The fact that a 20-year veteran legislator didn’t think of that lends some credence to reports that he was facing some serious financial problems.
Along that line, some money went missing out of his leadership PAC when he closed it as well. Haven’t heard if the SBE is following up on that.
SV,
I agree that the public corruption laws in Virginia are far too weak. If they met the Federal standards then Gerry Connolly (D-West Group, SAIC) would be in prison instead of the US House of Representatives. We need far more stringent accountability of our elected officials who spend our tax dollars, both Democratic and Republican.
This is an issue that reasonable minds can differ on, not whether the corrupt should go to prison, but rather whether Phil Hamilton was really a crook. His constituents did not give him a resounding defeat after they were aware of the allegations. The prosecutors here did a good job of painting him bad and the system had it in for him. He faced a jury, not of constituent peers, but rather folks who did not know of his good and the average juror is not included to give the benefit of the doubt. Even the judge stated that this case was a close call, but 9 1/2 years is not a “close call” sentence. For what he did, this is a harsh sentence.
This is not one of those deals where I am comparing white collar crime versus street crime, but rather white collar crime versus white collar crime. If I had to compare this to street crime, then Hamilton is a shop lifter or petty thief. There is definitely a climate of zero tolerance for this type of corruption and Hamilton got no benefit of the doubt.
On the other hand, democrats and their associates nearly always benefit from the hold out juror or an Anthony Casey situation. Anthony Casey killed a little girl and gets a complete acquittal. Had Hamilton’s jury given him the same level of consideration, he would at a minimum been convicted of less charges and perhaps acquitted. He got no due process. At the next step I thought the judge would objectively assess the conduct and give consideration to his previous assessment of the case as a close call. That didn’t happen.
At best (or worst depending on how you look at it), this is a case of a lion catching a mouse, with Hamilton being the mouse. Do a google news search for “Raymond Jefferson,” a VA official who recently resigned due to allegations that he asked for contracts to be awarded to friends. These were basically contracts for non-existing requirements. He let millions out the door and under the Hamilton theory, this guy should be executed, but nothing will happen to him. When I read about Jefferson, I recognized that he is doing something that is very widespread and we see it every day and no one does anything about it and there is no one to complain to. But in Hamilton’s case, he is going to prison for ten years.
Mr. Goose,
I think you mean Casey Anthony. The prosecution in her trial failed to prove a cause of death for her daughter. Having covered a number of murder trials, I’d say there’s not much chance of ever getting a murder conviction if you can’t prove cause of death.
In Hamilton’s case, they could prove the bribe, they had emails back and forth with the ODU officials in which it was discussed. I don’t think there’s much question about the bribery charge. And that’s said as someone who always thought Hamilton was a pretty good guy.
And, although I too initially thought his punishment was harsh, Judge Hudson actually deviated below the sentencing guidelines, which called for the 12-15 years the prosecution was seeking.
Mr. Hamilton if he lives to be 200 yrs old would probably owe money.I do not know Mr.Hamilton but i sure wish someone could petition President Obama to give Mr.Hamilton a pardon.I am very serious in this request.Perhaps one of his friends could assist??
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