Original | Wiggins appointed to Prince William Service Authority, Wheeler chastised

After much public outcry and debate, Harry Wiggins won a political appointment to the Prince William County Service Authority.

Supervisors voted 6-2 Tuesday to appoint the controversial, former county Democratic Party Chairman as the at-large member of the county’s water and sewer authority.  The appointment to the high-profile, independent, non-political commission comes after Wiggins was fined by the Virginia State Board of Elections in 2018 after he founded a political action committee called Republicans for Stanley Bender, and then failing to register it with the state as required by law.

At the same time, he was also accused of meddling in a county election when red signs with “Republicans for Stanley Bender” appeared at polling places on Election Day. Republicans said it was Wiggins’ attempt to siphon votes from Alyson Satterwhite, the GOP-endorsed School Board Chairman candidate and for the independent candidate, Stanley Bender.

Bender and Bubur Lateef, the Democrat who went on to win the election, told Potomac Local News they had no advanced knowledge of the signs or the PAC.

District Supervisors Jeanine Lawson, of Brentsville, and Yesli Vega, of Coles, voted against the appointment. Ann Wheeler, At-large chair, advocated for Wiggins’ appointment. He’ll make $9,600 annually for his service on the authority, which does not report to the Board of County Supervisors.

In addition to his state fines and accusations of election meddling, Wiggins drew the ire of residents who spoke against his appointment after he called former Supervisor Ruth Anderson, of Occoquan, and sitting Supervisor Lawson “whores.”

“He’s personally called me a whore,” said Lawson. “He has demonized other women who don’t have the same political ideology.”

Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland voted for Wiggins’ appointment out of the tradition of fellow Board members supporting political appointees. He said he was troubled by Wheeler’s choice and lays the blame for the community outrage solely at her feet.

“Out of the 450,000 people in the county, the chair has decided that this is the most qualified person to sit on the [authority]… this calls into question your judgment, Chair Wheeler,” said Candland.

During the 2019 campaign, Wheeler called out her Republican opponent John Gray and posts he made to his Twitter account that mocked others with an opposing political view. Gray paid to have those Tweets deleted from his account, and then it quickly became the central talking point of the high-profile and expensive race.

“I am going to remind the chair, Mrs. Ann Wheeler, she was outraged, and rightfully so, by her political opponent’s demeaning remarks. I sat in this chair and rejected John Gray… you did too, Ann, you should apply the same measurements…” said Lawson. “I’ve known you for 15 years, and you deserve a better appointee.”

Wheeler quickly rejected that notion and said Wiggins was not running for elected office and said he is wholly competent to do the job.

“I wouldn’t have appointed Mr. Wiggins if he wasn’t capable,” said Wheeler. “He will be an excellent Service Authority member and I trust his judgement.”

Wiggins did not attend the Board of County Supervisors meeting on Tuesday. Prior to his appointment, multiple people who spoke urged Wheeler to reconsider her appointment. “We need open and honest people to be on our boards and commissions,” said George Dodge, who lives in the Coles District. “Wiggins is dishonest, sexist, full of hate speech, and is willing to break the law to achieve his objective.”

Those who spoke in favor of Wiggins, like Barbara Larrimore, vice-president of the Brentsville Democrats, said: “I don’t agree with his tactics, I don’t agree with things that he’s done, but he’s an incredibly smart human being that has experience running boards like this.”

Supervisor Andrea Bailey, of the Potomac District, accused residents who opposed Wiggins’ appointment of browbeating the Board of County Supervisors. “We are all great leaders sitting on this dais, and we don’t need to be bullied into a making a decision on how we lead,” said Bailey.

Wiggins was one of more than 40 appointments the Board of County Supervisors made on Tuesday during its fifth meeting of the year. As of Jan. 1, 2020, the Board of County Supervisors flipped from Republican control to become a majority-Democrat Board.