shareCNU President Sent Fundraising Letter for Hamilton
(VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 10/30/2009)
Bill Sizemore - Virginian-Pilot
A few months after carrying $50 million in spending measures for Christopher Newport University in the General Assembly, Del. Phil Hamilton got a nice boost from CNU President Paul Trible: a fundraising letter on his behalf, sent out on CNU stationery.
The May 29 letter, an invitation to an event at the Kingsmill home of Newport News lawyer Donald Patten, cited Hamilton's seniority and influence on budgetary and other matters in the legislature.
"It is important that those of us who live in Williamsburg and the Peninsula do all we can to retain Phil's strong voice and leadership in Richmond," Trible wrote.
Trible now says he made a mistake. "I obviously wasn't thinking," he said Thursday. Even though he paid for the mailing himself, he said, "I should not have used stationery with the CNU name for a political purpose."
But he makes no apologies for supporting Hamilton, then or now.
Since the spring fundraiser in Kingsmill, Hamilton has become the target of investigations by a House of Delegates ethics panel and a federal grand jury over revelations that he was lobbying for a job at Old Dominion University in 2007 while he was securing the state appropriation that funded the position.
ODU canceled Hamilton's $40,000-a-year contract in August after the details of the deal became known, and he is now in a tough battle with Newport News attorney Robin Abbott, a Democrat, in Tuesday's election.
Abbott outraised Hamilton by more than 4 to 1 in the most recent reporting period, Oct. 1-21, receiving $114,211 in contributions to Hamilton's $27,442, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit group that tracks political donations. Each candidate has raised more than $450,000 over the course of the campaign.
Trible, a former Republican congressman and U.S. senator who earns $351,475 as CNU president, has given fellow Republican Hamilton $5,775 in political contributions since 2006. His most recent gift to Hamilton was on Sept. 21.
"I have been involved in politics and government all of my life," Trible said. "But now as president of CNU, it's important that I not engage broadly in partisan affairs, and I do not. I do support the local members of the General Assembly who are personal friends and great champions of CNU."
He noted that he also has contributed to the campaigns of Del. Glenn Oder, a Republican, and state Sen. John Miller, a Democrat. His gifts to them were more modest: $500 to Miller and $250 to Oder. Both are relatively junior lawmakers who do not have seats on Assembly committees that shape the state budget.
Hamilton, by contrast, is the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee and one of a select group of lawmakers who hammer out the final details of the budget.
In a tough budget year, Hamilton's track record in the 2009 Assembly wasn't bad. Of the $50 million in CNU-related spending measures he introduced, $10 million made it into the final budget, including $4 million for an alumni house and $3 million for the Paul and Rosemary Trible Library.
Why was Trible more generous to Hamilton than to other local lawmakers?
"Phil is one of the most knowledgeable and effective members of the General Assembly, and he is in a battle for his life," Trible said. "So his friends need to stand with him."
Hamilton's wife, Kim, earned $91,950 last year as a fundraiser for the private CNU Educational Foundation, according to its federal tax return.
Abbott, Hamilton's opponent, jumped on the Trible fundraising letter, calling it "just the latest example of Phil Hamilton working for himself instead of the people of the 93rd District." If elected, she promised to introduce legislation tightening the Assembly's ethics rules.
There was nothing illegal about Trible's letter. There is no Virginia equivalent of the Hatch Act, the law that prevents federal employees from engaging in partisan politics.
It's a matter of appearances, said James "Jay" Joseph, rector of CNU's governing Board of Visitors.
"I think if he had it to do over again, he would use his personal stationery," Joseph said. "And I would encourage him to use his personal stationery in the future. But I don't see it as any major breach."
As a matter of fact, Trible said, he doesn't own any stationery without the CNU name on it. But he's ordering some this week.