Top Va. lawmaker resigns amid investigations by federal grand jury, state ethics panel

Va. lawmaker resigns amid federal, state probes

RICHMOND, Va. — A top Republican lawmaker in Virginia has resigned amid investigations by a federal grand jury and a state ethics panel.

Delegate Philip Hamilton said in a two-sentence letter to the clerk of the House that his resignation was effective at midnight.

He represented Newport News in the House of Delegates for 21 years before narrowly losing his re-election bid earlier this month to Democrat Robin Abbott.

Hamilton was the top Republican on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee.

The investigations focus on allegations that he arranged a $40,000-a-year job for himself at Old Dominion University as he steered hundreds of thousands of dollars in appropriations to the Norfolk school.