Thomas Kent Norment Jr. (born April 12, 1946) is an American politician serving as the
Minority Leader of the
Senate of Virginia
The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...
. He has served in the
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...
since 1992. A
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, he represents the
3rd district of the Virginia Senate, which includes parts of the
Virginia Peninsula
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the ''Lower Peninsula'' to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the ...
, plus
King and Queen County,
King William County
King William County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,810. Its county seat is King William.
King William County is located in the Middle Peninsula and is included in the Greater R ...
,
New Kent County, and
Gloucester County on the
Middle Peninsula
The Middle Peninsula is the second of three large peninsulas on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the Middle Peninsula was home to 92,886 people. It lies between the Northern Neck and ...
.
[Senate of Virginia]
Background
Norment graduated from the
Virginia Military Institute
la, Consilio et Animis (on seal)
, mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal)
, established =
, type = Public senior military college
, accreditation = SACS
, endowment = $696.8 mill ...
and received his
J.D. degree from
William and Mary School of Law.
Norment is an adjunct professor of law at William and Mary Law School.
[William and Mary Law School] He served as on-campus attorney, and counselor and attorney to the president of William and Mary.
[Virginia Gazette]
In 2008, Norment requested an opinion from
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Bob McDonnell
Robert Francis McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is an American attorney, businessman, politician, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014. His career ended after his corruption scandal and convic ...
that "at no time will I assume a relationship of 'attorney-client' that would result in the exercising of any attorney client privilege or any work product privilege. It is my understanding the College would continue to rely upon legal services through the Office of Attorney General."
[Case Finder] McDonnell concluded, "it is my opinion that you do not have an impermissible conflict of interest under the Act based on the facts herein", writing, "I affirm the intention that your relationship with the College will not be that of attorney and client."
Attorney General
Ken Cuccinelli
Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli II ( ; born July 30, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, ...
released the Norment opinion to the public and issued a press release on September 2, 2011. The press release read: "Recent public statements made by state Senator Thomas Norment suggest that for the past several years, he assumed a role of legal counsel for the College of William & Mary. One of his reported statements also incorrectly implied that a 2008 opinion he requested from the Office of the Attorney General affirmed that such an arrangement would be acceptable under the law."
Political career
Initially a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
,
[Tommy Norment: the Peninsula's new legislative powerhouse](_blank)
(Daily Press) Norment was elected to the
James City County
James City County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the adjacent independent city of Williamsburg.
Located ...
Board of Supervisors as a Republican and served from 1987 to 1991.
[In Norment-Reyes race, it's the old versus the new](_blank)
(Daily Press) He was elected to the state senate in 1991, defeating Democrat Bill Fears with 54% of the vote. Norment was unopposed for reelection in 1995, reelected with 63% of the vote in 1999, reelected with 62% of the vote in 2003, reelected unopposed in 2007 and 2011, and reelected with 70% of the vote in 2015. He has led the Virginia Senate Republican caucus since 2008.
Controversies
In January 2001, Norment was charged with
driving under the influence
Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...
after he was pulled over on
Interstate 64
Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange w ...
outside Richmond with a
blood alcohol content
Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes; it is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume or mass of blood. For exampl ...
of 0.10.
[NORMENT APOLOGIZES FROM FLOOR OF STATE SENATE OVER DUI](_blank)
/ref> He apologized to his constituents and colleagues from the Senate floor two days later, saying, "I offer no excuses, no avoidances of responsibility. I do, however, offer my sincere and contrite apologies for any embarrassment or shadow I may have cast over the integrity and dignity of this body."
In April 2015, a 2013 letter from Norment to the Virginia State Bar saying that he had previously had an extramarital relationship with a female lobbyist was made public. Norment was responding to allegations from an unsatisfied legal client, Christopher Burruss, who attempted to extort him by revealing Norment's affair. Rather than comply with Burruss's demands, Norment turned the evidence over to the State Bar. Burruss was convicted of extortion and sentenced to two years in prison. Norment reported that his marriage had recovered from the affair, but he later divorced. The lobbyist's name, Angie Bezik, was withheld from news reports until 2018, when Norment announced he was engaged to marry her. He restricted press access to the Virginia Senate in 2016, a move seen as catalyzed by the coverage of his affair.
In August 2015, Norment's name and personal information appeared on the hacked Ashley Madison
Ashley Madison, or The Ashley Madison Agency, is a Canadian online dating service and social networking service marketed to people who are Marriage, married or in relationships. The site has been widely condemned for being a "business built on t ...
servers, showing one payment of $68.99 and two payments of $79. Clients of the dating service were required to pay to initiate a conversation with another client, and male clients paid to read the first messages from female clients. Norment declined to comment.
In 2019, former students of Norment's at William and Mary accused him of teaching racist material and making racist and transphobic statements in class.
In February 2019, it was revealed that Norment was an editor of the 1968 Virginia Military Institute yearbook that showed students in Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
attire and blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
and with racially offensive nicknames, which came to light in the context of the 2019 Virginia political crisis
Over the course of one week in February 2019, all three of Virginia's statewide elected executive officials (all members of the Democratic Party) became engulfed in scandal, and were consequently the subjects of nationwide bipartisan calls for ...
. Norment does not appear in the photos and issued a statement saying he condemned the use of blackface[Top Republican Virginia Sen. Norment caught up in blackface scandal](_blank)
(NBC News) and said his role was ensuring writers and photographers made their submissions on time and that he was "still culpable, but it is by association with a team that produced that yearbook with those photos".
(Virginian-Pilot) He pointed out that page 236 of the same yearbook shows he supported VMI's racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...
in 1968, and that he led an effort to enroll women there in 1997.
Notes
References
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Tommy Norment; Virginia Senate
(constituent website)
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Norment, Thomas K., Jr.
1946 births
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American politicians
College of William & Mary faculty
Lawyers from Richmond, Virginia
Living people
People from James City County, Virginia
Politicians from Richmond, Virginia
Republican Party Virginia state senators
Virginia lawyers
Virginia Military Institute alumni
William & Mary Law School alumni