RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia's House of Delegates speaker is calling for an ethics investigation into an influential fellow Republican who pursued a job at a new teaching center before securing money to create it.
Speaker William Howell on Monday called for the House Ethics Advisory Panel to investigate whether Delegate Phillip Hamilton violated policies or laws. Hamilton had asked for a job at the center at Old Dominion University before using his position as a budget negotiator to direct $500,000 toward its creation in 2007.
Howell said he hopes the independent ethics panel would conclude its work "as thoroughly and expeditiously as possible."
Hamilton is one of the legislature's most influential members. A number of statewide Democratic candidates have called for him to resign.
