Jeff E. Schapiro column

Though school bells are no longer ringing for Republican Del. Phil Hamilton of Newport News, they are for other legislators who have a big say in spending your money.

Tommy Norment, Fred Quayle and William Wampler, all members of Senate Finance Committee, do as Hamilton, vice-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, did, until the discovery of a smoking-gun e-mail: toil in the groves of taxpayer-supported academe.

Norment, Republicans' struttin' Senate floor leader from Williamsburg, teaches at the College of William and Mary law school. (A disclosure: At Norment's invitation, this fellow strutter visited his class. I'm supposed to return this fall. We'll see.)

Quayle, a Chesapeake Republican, lectures on politics at Old Dominion University -- Hamilton's, ahem, alma mater -- and was a prof at Christopher Newport University, where Hamilton's wife, Kim, is a fundraiser.

Wampler, of Bristol, the always-squared-away No. 1 Republican on finance, in June joined the University of Virginia-Wise as a part-timer. He teaches military history, a subject he mastered during 24 years in the U.S. Army reserve, retiring as colonel.

These lawmakers' relationships with schools in or near their districts -- some are disclosed in public records; others, only indirectly -- pay dividends, actual and perceived, for all parties.

There is income, of course. For nosey-bodies, it is not always easily gleaned.

For example, Norment, a six-figure-a-year litigator with extensive investments, makes no reference to his William and Mary job in his compulsory annual financial-disclosure statement.

In his report, Hamilton, a semi-retired public school administrator, does -- kind of.

Hamilton cites employment with the ODU teacher center; not his compensation: $40,000.

It fell to newspapers to uncover e-mails indicating Hamilton sought the job after landing a special $500,000 appropriation for ODU. Now a federal grand jury is asking questions.

The Hamilton controversy notwithstanding, personal ties between lawmakers and institutions potentially give the schools an edge in the hunt for dollars at a time when few are available.

Relationships extend to staff, too.

John Putney, legislative liaison for James Madison University, is a nephew of Lacey Putney, the Bedford independent who is appropriations chairman.

Previously, Pete Giesen, the GOP ex-delegate from Augusta who served on the money committee with Uncle Lacey, was JMU's eyes and ears in Richmond.

The intimacy endemic to the General Assembly, particularly the maze in which lawmakers build budgets, doesn't stop at education. The health-care industry, always feeding at the Medicaid trough, has insiders, too.

Edd Houck, Spotsylvania's Democratic senator, retired from a public school gig to become community relations guy for Medicorp, operator of a Fredericksburg hospital.

But Houck is a two-fer, putting him in a league of his own.

Houck runs the Senate Education and Health Committee and is in line to take over finance when Chuck Colgan of Prince William retires in 2011 -- assuming Democrats hold the Senate.

Wanna bet Houck's employer is keeping his fingers crossed?

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 6496814 or . Watch his video column Thursdays on TimesDispatch.com. Follow him at twitter.com/RTDSchapiro. Listen to his analysis Fridays at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE (88.9 FM).