Hamilton update

From this morning’s Virginian-Pilot (click to enlarge:

Del. Phil Hamilton released his own statement on the affair last night. The Washington Post blog has a copy of it here. Speaker of the House Bill Howell sent out a copy of his letter requesting the ethics committee investigation. You can read a copy of it here (pdf). Gov. Tim Kaine today called Hamilton’s arrangement “way over the line” but still has not called for his resignation.

The Richmond Times Dispatch becomes the third newspaper to call for Hamilton’s resignation. The paper takes up the issue of compensation of our legislature, even using some of the same examples I did in my post on the subject.

At this point, I’d have to agree with this:

… the back-room banter among both Republicans and Democrats is that Hamilton is sunk — and that even if he steps down and the Rs can find a candidate to step in, they’d be hard-pressed to hang on against Democrat Robin Abbott in the ever-bluer 93rd District.

Nevertheless, I expect this drama to continue to play out in the media. Hey – scandals sells, right?

By the way, there is one person we’ve not heard from on this issue: DPVA chair Dickie Cranwell. Wonder why?

UPDATE: OK, this is priceless