Chain of events
Here is a timeline of the dramatic events that led to state Senator Dianne Wilkerson's resignation yesterday after 15 years in office, just six weeks before her final term was to end.
Oct. 28 - Wilkerson is arrested after an FBI operation that captured videotape of Wilkerson allegedly accepting cash bribes. She is charged with accepting eight bribes totaling $23,500 to secure a liquor license that can sell for $300,000 on the open market, and for legislation to pave the way for a Roxbury development.
Oct. 29 - Wilkerson vows to continue her reelection campaign, asking voters to stick with her. "Not only does this represent the biggest challenge in my personal and political life, but it will test to the limit the notion of innocent until proven guilty," she said in a statement.
Oct. 30 - The state Senate unanimously calls for her resignation and strips her of her committee assignments and chairmanships. It also launches an Ethics Committee investigation that could have led to expulsion. Wilkerson rejects the notion that she resign, saying it is "unreasonable."
Oct. 31 - Wilkerson announces she will end her bid for reelection after a meeting with ministers in her Roxbury district. The ministers join the Senate in urging her to step aside. She says she will wait until after the election to decide whether to quit.
Nov. 4 - Sonia Chang-Díaz, who defeated Wilkerson in the Democratic primary, easily wins the election.
Nov. 5 - Wilkerson promises to resign "as soon as humanly and responsibly possible," but takes no concrete steps to leave.
Nov. 14 - After the resignation of Senator J. James Marzilli, who is facing sexual assault charges that he accosted women on a Lowell street, the Senate president renews calls for Wilkerson to resign.
Nov. 18 - Wilkerson is indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of attempted extortion, spurring increasingly urgent calls for her resignation from colleagues.
Nov. 19 - Wilkerson submits her letter of resignation as the Senate Ethics Committee readies its final report recommending what discipline she would have faced from the full chamber. 