Darcy Burner

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Darcy Burner

Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington, 8th district

Born	November 12, 1970 (1970-11-12) (age 37)
Nationality	United States
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Mike Burner
Children	1
Residence	Carnation, Washington
Occupation	Politician
Website	http://www.darcyburner.com/

Darcy Gibbons Burner (born November 12, 1970) is a Democrat from Carnation, Washington. She was a candidate for Washington's 8th congressional district in 2006, but lost to Congressman Dave Reichert. In March 2007 she filed her intention to run again in 2008. She worked for a dozen years in high technology including five years at Microsoft as a Group Program Manager, working on .NET. Burner left Microsoft to attend law school at the University of Washington in 2004. She left her law studies to enter her first political race against U.S. Representative Dave Reichert in 2005.

1 Early life, education, and family
2 2006 Congressional election
3 2008 election
4 Views
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life, education, and family

Burner was born in Alaska and grew up in a Republican household in Nebraska farm country. She was adopted at birth. Her father, Ralph Gibbons, spent 20 years in the Air Force, settling after his military retirement with his wife and five kids in Fremont, Nebraska. Burner was the Civil Air Patrol National Cadet of the Year in 1989.^[1]

In high school, Burner was a National Merit Scholar. She worked multiple jobs, both part time and full time, to earn her way through Harvard, graduating in 1996 with a B.A. in computer science and economics. Her jobs included working for Lotus Development, Asymetrix, and, starting in 2000, as a lead product manager for Microsoft .NET.^[2]

Burner married in 1993. She and her husband Michael have a son, Henry, born in 2003. They live outside Carnation, Washington.

[edit] 2006 Congressional election

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2006

Eighth Congressional District of Washington

Darcy Burner had been a volunteer in the unsuccessful 2004 campaign of Dave Ross for Washington's 8th congressional district, an open seat, and was a local Democratic activist. In 2006 she became a first-time candidate running for the same seat against freshman Republican U.S. Representative Dave Reichert.

The 8th Congressional has never been won by a Democratic candidate. In 2004, however, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry won the district with 51% of the vote. She was a top-tier candidate of netroots group ActBlue,^[3] and both national parties spent heavily on the race.^[4]

In August 2006, CQPolitics wrote: "though Reichert appears to maintain at least a slight edge in the fall contest, CQPolitics.com has changed its rating on the race to its more competitive Leans Republican category from Republican Favored."^[5] On October 11, they changed their rating to "No Clear Favorite"^[6] Multiple polls showed Burner in a virtual tie with Reichert with just weeks left before the election^[7]^[8]^[9], and in late October the two major Seattle newspapers split in their endorsements: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer endorsed Burner^[10] while the Seattle Times, which had endorsed Democrat Dave Ross in 2004, endorsed Reichert.^[11]

It took a week before enough votes had been counted to make the result clear, partly due to the flooding on Election Day that had isolated several communities in the district, and the uneven demographics of the district. Burner conceded at a press conference on November 14, 2006. In the weeks following the election, Burner observed that many top-tier Democratic women running for the U.S. House lost in 2006.^[12]

The certified result showed Reichert winning with under 51.5% of the vote^[13] Post-election analysis showed that Burner performed less well than incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell, who was running at the top of the ticket.^[14]

In late October 2006, The Seattle Times issued an editorial regarding Burner's failure to denounce an ad that was released by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee using footage from Washington's public-affairs network, TVW. Burner's campaign acknowledged having a copy of the footage but denied any involvement in creating the ad. The ad was created and aired as part of the DCCC's independent expenditure program which by law has no communication with campaigns. No evidence that the Burner campaign had any involvement with the ad was ever presented.^[15]

[edit] 2008 election

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2008

Darcy Burner is running for the 8th district seat again in the 2008 election and raised $1,402,287 through the first quarter of 2008. She had $921,615 cash on hand by the end of March, compared to Dave Reichert's $698,035.^[16]

Burner has said that she wants to focus on getting the U.S. out of Iraq, and has made the "Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq"^[17] the cornerstone of her campaign. Another primary focus is making health care more affordable.

She was briefly challenged in the 2008 Democratic primary by State Senator Rodney Tom.^[18] On the morning of September 5, 2007, Rodney Tom stepped out of the race, citing Burner's effective mobilization of the 'netroots' to raise money.^[19] Tom immediately endorsed Burner, and encouraged his donors to do the same.^[20] On November 26,2007 Emily's List endorsed her campaign.

[edit] Views

Burner describes herself as a "practical progressive".^[21] Her positions on various issues include:^[22]

Reproductive rights: Pro-choice, increased access to family planning services.
Education: Supports better pay for teachers, smaller class sizes, expanded access to early childhood education and more support for college or vocational training.
Energy and Environment: Supports an energy policy that minimizes U.S. reliance on foreign and domestic oil and helps address global warming concerns. Supports investment in energy-efficient technologies that will help create jobs in Washington State.
Foreign policy: Opposed to further overextending the U.S. military. Supports the goals of peace, prosperity, stability, and security in the Middle East, including Israel and Palestine. "Supports United Nations efforts to provide essential family planning and healthcare services to poor nations."^[23]
Iraq: On March 17, 2008, Burner unveiled "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq"^[24], endorsed by eight other Democratic challengers for Congress, Major General Paul Eaton, former Security Transition Commanding General in Iraq, Dr. Lawrence Korb, former Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, Capt. Larry Seaquist, former commander of the U.S.S. Iowa and former Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning, and Brigadier General John Johns, specialist in counterinsurgency and nation-building. Within one week the plan received the endorsement of an additional 24 Democratic challengers, and as of May 2008 has over 50 endorsements and been cited on the House floor.^[25]
Health care: Supports stem cell research.
Military benefits: Supports extending military health coverage to families of Reservists and National Guardsmen.
Labor: Supports a strong labor movement that can counter-balance corporate power.
Ethics: Supports ethics reform to stop the revolving door between lobbyists and Congress.