Vance Wilkins


Shirley Vance Wilkins, Jr. is a retired American politician of the Republican Party. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1978-2002. In 2000 he became the first ever Republican Speaker of the Virginia House and first non-Democratic Speaker since the Readjuster Party 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 of the House after the 2000 census that led to an increase in the Republican majority from 52-47 to 64-34 after the November 2001 election.

Eavesdropping Scandal

In March 2002, Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Edmund Matricardi III pled guilty to eavesdropping on a Democratic Party conference call. State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore investigated, which expanded to include Speaker Vance Wilkins and his Chief of Staff, Claudia D. Tucker, who pled guilty resigned, was find $1,000 and given a year probation.

Sexual Harassment Scandal

Then, on June 7, 2002, The Washington Post 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. Under pressure from Kilgore and his own Republican caucus, Wilkins resigned as Speaker a week later, and then resigned from the House shortly afterward.