Shirley Vance Wilkins, Jr. (born August 12, 1936) is a retired

American politician The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bic ...

of the Republican Party. He was a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

from 1978 to 2002. In 2000 he became the first-ever Republican

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Virginia House and first non- Democratic Speaker since the

Readjuster Party The Readjuster Party was a bi-racial state-level political party formed in Virginia across party lines in the late 1870s during the turbulent period following the Reconstruction era that sought to reduce outstanding debt owed by the state. Readj ...

controlled the House in the early 1880s. Wilkins was considered the driving force in the expansion of Republican House membership in the 1980s and 1990s, especially after he became minority leader in 1992. In his first term as Speaker, he oversaw the

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

of the House after the 2000 census that led to an increase in the Republican majority from 52–47 (1 independent) to 64–34 (2 independents) after the November 2001 election.

Voting record

The Republican political record of Vance Wilkins is well-summarized by the Virginia state website: "Vance Wilkins was a strong conservative, working for lower taxes, right-to-work laws, and gun-ownership rights." Wilkins supported the Republican values of limited sex education and limited abortion, in a county - Amherst, Virginia - which had the highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation during his tenure.

Eavesdropping scandal

In March 2002,

Republican Party of Virginia The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) is the Virginia chapter of the Republican Party. It is based at the Richard D. Obenshain Center in Richmond. History The party was established in 1854 by opponents of slavery and secession in the commonwea ...

Chairman Edmund Matricardi III (R) pled guilty to eavesdropping on a Democratic Party conference call. State

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 ...

Jerry Kilgore (R) investigated, which expanded to include Speaker Vance Wilkins and his chief of staff, Claudia D. Tucker, who pled guilty resigned, was fined $1,000 and given a year probation.

Resignation from Virginia House and House Speakership due to multiple sexual harassment accusations

June 7–14, 2002, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' reported that executives of Wilkins' former construction company had revealed that Wilkins had paid $100,000 to a former political staffer, Jennifer L. Thompson, to keep quiet about "unwelcome sexual advances" by Wilkins. Multiple women came forward subsequently, claiming similar harassment - so the Post says he may have resigned to avoid further public contempt. Under pressure from Kilgore and his own Republican caucus, Wilkins resigned as Speaker a week later, and then resigned from the House shortly afterward.

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* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, Vance 1936 births Living people Speakers of the Virginia House of Delegates Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Virginia Tech alumni People from Amherst, Virginia 20th-century American politicians