Towey: GOP ignored whistle

As director of the Virginia State Crime Commission, James O. Towey says he tried to blow the whistle on a member of the House of Delegates who he believes misused $200,000 of taxpayer money in 2006.

In response, Towey said, the House GOP leadership ignored 132 pages of e-mails and other documents that he said was evidence of wrongdoing by Del. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News.

“The e-mails were met with complete silence,” Towey said. “I got disgusted over the fact that here they had evidence of an abuse of power but they turned a blind eye to it.”

House Republican leaders, however, see things differently and suggest that Towey is simply using the matter as a political tool in his bid for office.

“He’s trying to make himself out to be some kind of crusader,” said Del. Dave Albo, R-Springfield.

Towey, a resident of Henrico County, is the Democratic candidate running against Del. Bill Janis, R-Glen Allen, in the Nov. 3 election. The district, held by Janis since 2002, includes Louisa and Goochland counties and part of western Henrico.

Towey decided to run for office, he said, out of frustration over the inaction that followed his allegations against Hamilton. He stepped down from his post at the crime commission earlier this year to launch his campaign.

Hamilton — who is under fire for a separate matter involving accusations that he used his legislative clout to fund and obtain a job for himself at Old Dominion University — did not return a call for comment. In a written statement published by the Daily Press in Newport News, however, Hamilton called Towey’s assertions false and politically motivated.

“Mr. Towey is cynically attempting to attach his own moribund campaign to this story with false accusations he’s been peddling for years,” Hamilton wrote. “Now, since his campaign isn’t receiving attention from his own party, he’s decided to attack in another part of the state.”

Towey denied trying to link his campaign to Hamilton’s high-profile ODU job scandal to gain voters’ attention.

“I’ve been talking about this for a year and a half,” he said. “My motives are pure.”

Janis did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

Towey asserts that Hamilton used his power as an influential budget negotiator to slash the staff of the Virginia State Crime Commission, a state agency that studies and makes recommendations on public safety matters.

Hamilton’s wife, Kim Hamilton, was executive director of the crime commission until 2006. When she resigned from the post, she accused the commission’s chairman, Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, of workplace harassment and discriminatory pay practices.

Towey believes that Del. Hamilton sought to dismantle the crime commission in retaliation for his wife.

According to the e-mails — which Towey obtained after he became director in 2007 — Hamilton added a $200,000 earmark to the state budget to pay for two new full-time jobs at the Joint Commission on Health Care, of which Hamilton is the vice chairman. In a June 19, 2006, e-mail, Hamilton informs the commission’s executive director of the new positions and suggests that she hire away two employees of the Virginia State Crime Commission.

“The final budget provides $200,000 per year to the JCHC for additional [full-time equivalents],” Hamilton wrote. “This is in response to the letter requesting a staff attorney and a legislative analyst for the Commission. I would hope that Jamie Hoyle (attorney) and Kristen Howard (analyst) from the Crime Commission would be hired for these positions. I am in the process of securing their current compensation from Kim [Hamilton].”

Hoyle and two other employees soon thereafter took jobs with the health care commission, receiving raises of 21 percent to 40 percent.

One of the three employees was a secretary with no college degree who received a $20,596 raise for moving to the health care commission, records show.

Howard declined to take the position at the health care commission. She is now executive director of the Virginia State Crime Commission.

Towey believes that Hamilton secured taxpayer money to lure employees away from the crime commission to further a personal vendetta.

Believing that this would be improper and a wasteful use of taxpayer money, Towey met with the crime commission’s leaders, Stolle, Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston, and Albo. They decided that Albo would bring up the matter with Speaker of the House Bill Howell, R-Fredericksburg, Towey said.

The matter had not been made public until Towey’s campaign began discussing it in the aftermath of revelations about Hamilton’s former job with ODU.

Speaker Howell denied stonewalling Towey over his allegations of misuse of taxpayer money.

“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Howell said. “This guy sends out letters to everybody.”

Towey sent a letter to Howell about the matter on Aug. 31. In the letter, Towey writes: “… few should feign surprise at the news of Delegate Hamilton’s abuse of his position of power.”

Towey said that Albo told him to lay off the allegations against Hamilton and suggested that he was jeopardizing his job.

“They went after the termite inspector and left the termites,” Towey said.

Albo said he has told Towey numerous times that if Hamilton wanted to use his power as a lawmaker to de-fund a state agency, then that was within Hamilton’s rights.

“I must have told him 1,000 times,” Albo said. “If Phil Hamilton or any other legislator wants to eliminate departments, they have every right to do so. There’s no corruption. James didn’t like what Phil was trying to do. That doesn’t mean there was some conspiracy.”

Towey wants to “hitch onto the Phil Hamilton story” to boost his House campaign, Albo said.

Towey was simply worried that Hamilton might de-fund the crime commission and eliminate Towey’s job, Albo said. “This was a guy who just wanted to keep his job,” he said.

Howell said that the independent House Ethics Advisory Panel has been convened to look into the matter of Hamilton using state funding to create and fund a teaching center at ODU that subsequently hired him.

Towey requested that Howell allow the inquiry to include his allegations. Howell encouraged him to send his stack of e-mails to the panel.

“I’m sure they’ll look at this, too,” Howell said.

Howell added, however, that Towey ought to be focusing on his campaign.

“He needs to concentrate more on his election effort and what he can do for the people of that district,” Howell said. “That’s his issue, not mine.”