If It’s True, the Speaker Should Resign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 07, 2002
NEWS CONTACT: Joe Glover – 804-419-4483

Forest, VA ““ The leader of a statewide pro-family organization today suggested the Speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates may need to resign after hearing the 24-year incumbent paid $100,000 to a female office worker to hide allegations of sexual misconduct.

Joe Glover, President of Family Policy Network, said, “If there is any truth to these allegations, the Speaker should resign.”

According to sources quoted in a June 7 Washington Post article, House Speaker Vance S. Wilkins, Jr. (R) “paid at least $100,000 last year to settle a sexual harassment complaint by a woman who said he repeatedly made unwelcome advances on her in the warehouse complex where his legislative office was located.”

According to the article, a 26 year-old clerical worker who was working for a construction company located in the Speaker’s office building in Amherst, Virginia described a series of unwelcome sexual advances by Wilkins. They included him “groping and pinning her against office furniture.”

Wilkins’s attorney is denying the allegations are true. Meanwhile, The Washington Post describes a confidentiality agreement that sources say was accompanied by a $100,000+ payment, requiring eight people close to the situation to keep quiet. According to the Post, the terms of the settlement included a provision that required Wilkins to relinquish his office in the construction company complex.

Glover said, “Vance Wilkins has done many things as a legislator and Speaker to keep Virginia’s families strong. Resigning under these circumstances may be the only way he can reinforce his commitment to the family values he has worked so hard to uphold until now.”

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Information related to this story:

Washington Post story:
“Va. Speaker Settles Sex Complaint”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9360-2002Jun6.html

Website of House Speaker Vance S. Wilkins, Jr.
http://www.vancewilkins.com/

Richmond Times-Dispatch Article
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/vaapwire/MGBB50XB62D.html