Virginia Lawmaker Helps Start University Center, Then Is Hired to Run It

Old Dominion University’s president says that the decision to pay a powerful Virginia legislator $40,000 annually to coordinate the campus’s Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership does not represent a conflict of interest even though the lawmaker, Del. Philip Hamilton, sponsored legislation that provided startup funds for the center, which has received $500,000 a year in state money since 2007. According to The Virginian-Pilot, Old Dominion’s president, John Broderick, said Mr. Hamilton, a Republican, had been hired as an independent contractor on the basis of his background in education.