HONORING GEORGE BURKE
______
HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY
of Virginia
in the House of Representatives
Monday, December 7, 2015
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember and honor a dear friend
and colleague, George Burke. Full of passion and energy, he dedicated
his life to fighting for our progressive Democratic values. A trusted,
wise and gifted political mind, George's vision and leadership helped
build and grow our Democratic Party of Virginia.
A man of many talents, he was an accomplished journalist,
photographer, congressional staffer, senior labor leader with the
International Association of Fire Fighters, the Chair of the 11th
Congressional District Democratic Committee, and my trusted confidant
and Communications Director.
A constituent and friend of both George and mine, Mike Burke Kirby,
recently endeavored to interview many of those who knew George and
capture what George meant to so many. I submit Mr. Kirby's eloquent
tribute to George.
For more than 30 years I have been fortunate to call George my close
friend. We will all miss his stories, his unwavering optimistic
approach to life, and his love for his friends and family. His loss
will leave a great void in all our lives and I will miss him dearly. I
ask my colleagues to join me in remembering George Burke.
George Burke [1951-2015]
(By Mike Burke Kirby, Former Chair Fairfax County Democratic Committee)
With all of his spirit, I thought George Burke was going to
keep beating cancer for another ten years. He certainly had
ten more years of wisdom and advice, laughter and courage for
all of us.
After centuries of subjugation on their own island, many
Irish Americans were conditioned to thrive in politics in
this huge nation of democracy. Fighting for their own freedom
here, and for the rights of other minorities and women. Those
include Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran. George has been a hero
in many of those fights.
George was a ``Connector,'' like Paul Revere. Many people
rode from Boston to tell people that the British were sending
troops west from the city. For weeks, panicky calls were
made. Finally, they only listened to Paul Revere because
everyone knew and trusted him. George knew 50 times as many
people as you and!. They all thought George was one of the
best people they ever met.
George never seemed to parse the issue differences among
Democrats. He simply thought that any Democrat was more of a
democrat than any Republican He fought to make sure the
nominating processes were fair. With a nominee, he put his
shoulder to the wheel.
The print and broadcast media industries declined early in
the 21st Century. When George got young people, journalists,
press staff and politicians, into the ``Burke Zone,'' he
mentored them into the integrity and responsibility, the
professionalism and punctuality from that loss. George's
effect on Hill staffers was evident the week after his
death--with a hundred young faces gathered outside of Rayburn
Building for a memorial.
For those who lived through the 1960s, the memory of Civil
Rights, the Viet Nam War, the draft, the Kennedy and King
Assassinations, the demonstrations, the politics and music
can all come through with just a few words, which mean little
to later generations. Many of us shared that with George,
especially Gerry Connolly who was with him daily for many
years.
George often bragged about his independent ways, including
his own travel routes. In the Snowmagedon, George left the
office well after Gerry and James. Six hours after they left
DC, the two were only at Bailey's Crossroads, and on a radio
station by phone. George called to say ``hi.'' He had been
home already, far beyond Bailey's, had a coffee from
Starbucks and was on his way back to Sears to buy a washing
machine on sale. Gerry asked where he was; actually George
could see them from his inbound car across the street.
After a broken neck George's hearing suffered enough that
he couldn't pick up the vibrator on his phone. So, he never
turned off the sound. In a medium sized event with President
Obama, George's phone went off. With everybody looking, he
answered it. It was Rachel.
An ``8 X 10 Glossy'' Penny called him, with vast brain
power, a pure political analyst and tactician. A total friend
who always remained common, who persevered with a lot more
than grace through four bouts with cancer. He attended all of
her weekly campaign staff meetings until he went into the
hospital for the last time.
George held court at the Mason District Crab Feast. The
next day, he showed up again to help dismantle the ``God
awful tent.'' Even with the broken neck he still came to sit
under the porch and spin tales.
Rachel pestered him early to write the Mason Precinct
Letter. George waited until the issues were ripe. Letters
almost always perfect.
Mark Levine got George into Public Access TV, where he
covered local politics. The stage may have been small; but
George covered it like Dan Rather. He was proud of a large
new set, and was completely unfazed when the lighting panel
dropped and other parts of the set disintegrated,
George's last student, Jake, was grateful for the little
time he was able to spend with George. No conversation, no
detail, and definitely no person was too big for George--it
all mattered to him. Over their 20 to 30 to 90 to 180 minute
phone conversations, everything mattered Every question
deserves a well thought out response, every roadblock
mandates a thoroughly strategized plan to go around it.
George's main lesson, looking back on it, was to ``pay
attention'' and not to let any opportunity, no matter how
small, be wasted.
George hosted the debate among the seven Democratic
candidates for the 8th Congressional District nomination in
2014. On the race, he gave political advice to all of them.
George spent 16 years as head of Communications at the
International Association of Fire Fighters, a job he loved
and talked about all the time. Even after he left the IAFF,
at every big political dinner, no matter what other hat he
was wearing, he always sat at the Fire Fighters table. He
served with the Fire Fighters through September 11.
In Fairfax County, the Fire Fighters called George a
mastermind. After years of failing to get a federal grant for
the Safety for an Adequate Fire Emergency Response, George
and Gerry Connolly stepped in. They now have a grant for
millions of dollars that gives the County 49 additional staff
on ladder trucks.
George took care of any issue, knew how the legislatures
work and could always find a way to fix any problem. John
Niemiec, said as a friend, George even helped people get
recommendations.
Dan Duncan was Communications Director for the Seafarers
Union, while George was president of the International Labor
Communications Association. George worked hard to get labor
press respected both within the union movement and among the
general media. They were all propagandists of one kind or
another because, if they didn't promote their members, they
certainly could not expect any one else to do so. George
understood that and worked hard to transition labor media
from membership newspapers and magazines to the emerging
world of what would become social media.
Dan Duncan knew George when he was on the 11th District
Democratic Committee,
[[Page E1720]]
which George chaired. When Dan presided at the NoVA Labor
Federation, George knew the numbers and he knew the people.
He worked hard for consensus, but allowed those with opposing
views about candidates and/or issues to get their points
across without folks becoming alarmed or challenged.
Long discussions with Cathy Hoffman, a boss at Liberty
Mountain Resort in near Gettysburg, of the triumphs and
challenges of their teenage kids. Many stories of George, the
very patient instructor of the most timid skiers. Many ski
instructors are prima donnas, but not George. George's name
is still on the instructor schedule at Liberty for this
winter They can't seem to take it off.
Kelly Kurtyka also instructed at Liberty. She tried her
son, Spenser, at skiing at the age of three. His response of
``It's really cold, Mommy'' devastated her. The next year,
Cathy put Spencer with George Burke. ``Mr. George'' worked on
his own time and waved his magic wands, and Spencer joined
his family as a great skier. George brought him stuff from
skiing in Switzerland, and Spencer drew pictures of him in
school.
After George travelled across the U.S., he met Sharon the
Nurse, who, ``took him into the woods.'' Great couple for
hiking, kayaking, camping in New England. Not many spouses
are blessed with a partner who loves the outdoors so. That
worked really well for Sharon and George for 45 years.
With different knee and ankle strengths, Sharon lost her
downhill ability, but cross country skied a lot. George was
better at downhill and loved it, and taught it. Still, he
often cross country skied with Sharon.
None of us can quite remember what George was like before
he had two cell phones, on in any environment. With the blue
tooth in his ear in New England, a little kid walking down
the beach noticed that his arm was raised: George's hand with
the phone in it, way up to get better reception. An hour
later the kid came back and noticed that George's arm was
still in the air.
George and Sharon were a team, and you could see that
whenever and wherever they were together, more often at Labor
events than political ones.
While folks in local politics never knew where he got the
time, George was a five star dad. He changed the diapers. Mom
nursed on the weekends and dad was full time. Skiing of
course, but also an indulgence in swimming, crew, marching
band at Jeb Stuart. The Burke kids loved the outdoors with
their parents.
None of George's kids got the political infection. But they
did get his love of music: the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton,
B.B. King. They still mostly do the music. The youngest
however follows more rap and ski boarding.
Family holidays were always a very big event with them.
Sharon will especially miss the big holiday related events.
In the spring, Sharon will take Georges' ashes on a two
hour hike to his favorite ravine in New England.
When you get the vocation for public service, it can be
joyful and rewarding. But you will miss a lot, mostly your
wife and kids; and they'll miss you. This is a great country
for public service: on the Hill, for the union, and in state
and local politics. For almost 250 years, this nation has
followed the path to ever more democracy. Rarely as good as
spending all your time with your family, and certainly better
than leaving your family a fortune, you can leave them a
better country to live in. George Burke very much did that.
After he last got out of the hospital, George wanted a
party, sort of an early Irish Wake. Some said he wanted his
kids to know what he did; some that he wanted to critique
whatever we all said. His editing eyes are very much on my
shoulder. We will still have George's party, maybe in
January. Lots more of the best we know of him and very little
of grief. Do you know many people who had such a good run?
Whenever I needed advice or had a question for 30+ years,
every voice mail or e-mail got an immediate answer. Nobody
else ever does that.
In writing this, I spoke to more than 30 people. Not all
were included specifically here; but they brought a flood of
great adjectives. Everyone said ``true friend.''
The list of candidates and campaigners who got great advice
from George would take many pages. If you are reading this,
you are probably one of them.
Whatever you think about after death, the memory of George
is softly etched in all of our hearts. He will continue to
live in each of us as we remember him almost every day.
Susie Warner with photo of smiling, skiing George on
mountain in the west: ``I love to remember George like
this.''
