Henry "Hank" Wilkins IV (born December 13, 1954, in

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff, officially the City of Pine Bluff, is the List of municipalities in Arkansas, tenth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County, Arkansas, Jefferson County. The population of the city wa ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

politician and a Democratic former member of the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

. He represented District 17 from January 2011 to 2015. Wilkins was consecutively a member of the Arkansas House from January 1999 until January 2001 and the Arkansas Senate from January 2001 until January 2011. He held the District 5 and 8 seats. He was convicted and sentenced for crimes related to bribery.

Early life and education

Wilkins was born on December 13, 1954, in

. His parents were Henry Wilkins III, who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1973 to 1991, and Josetta Wilkins, who served in the House from 1991 to 1998. Wilkins earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, his

M.Div. For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

from the St. Paul Seminary in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

Philander Smith College Philander Smith University (previously Philander Smith College) is a private historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is a founding member of the United Negro College Fund (UNC ...

, and his Doctor of Laws from The University of Arkansas System.

Elections

*1998 Wilkins was initially elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in the 1998 Democratic Primary and the November 3, 1998 General election. *2000 When the Senate District 8 seat was open, Wilkins ran in the 2000 Democratic Primary and won, and was unopposed for the November 7, 2000 General election. *2002 Redistricted to District 5, Wilkins was unopposed for the 2002 Democratic Primary, and won the November 5, 2002 General election against

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate Jimmie Wilson. *2006 Wilkins was challenged in the 2006 Democratic Primary, but won, and was unopposed for the November 7, 2006 General election. *2010 When House District 17 Representative

Stephanie Flowers Stephanie Anne Flowers (born August 8, 1953) is an American attorney and Democratic politician, serving in public office since 2004. Flowers started in politics when she was elected in 2004 to the District 17 seat in the Arkansas House of Repr ...

ran for Arkansas Senate and left the seat open, Wilkins ran for the District 17 House seat and was unopposed for both the May 18, 2010 Democratic Primary and the November 2, 2010 General election. *2012 Wilkins was unopposed for both the May 22, 2012 Democratic Primary and the November 6, 2012 General election.

Conviction

Wilkins pled guilty to conspiracy and filing false tax returns in 2017 for accepting $80,000 in bribes in exchange for influencing state legislation. He was sentenced to one year and a day in prison and ordered to pay $123,000 in restitution.

References

External links

Official page
at the

*
Hank Wilkins
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Henry (Hank) Wilkins IV
at

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1954 births Living people African-American state legislators in Arkansas Democratic Party Arkansas state senators Democratic Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly Politicians from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Philander Smith University alumni University of Michigan alumni 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians {{Arkansas-politician-stub

Early life and education

Elections

Conviction

See also

References

External links