RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Del. Philip Hamilton, a senior Republican dogged by a federal investigation and a state ethics probe, has resigned.
Hamilton's resignation was effective at midnight, according to a two-sentence letter he sent to the clerk of the House.
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, the top Republican on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, is the subject of investigations by a House ethics panel and a federal grand jury.
The probe focuses 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.
