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Harold Burbank  US House of Representatives
Welcome to my official web site. I am running as a Green for US House of Representatives.
District: 5th District
State: Connecticut
Election Day: Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Elected: No Results Yet
About Harold Burbank
| Job History: |
| Attorney Harold H. Burbank, II, Canton, CT, USA. General Practice of Law
International Law (human rights and development), US Civil Rights, Military Rights, Education Law, Disability Law, Entertainment & Sports Law, Non-Profit Law, Art Law
Office of CT Attorney General child support department staff (10 years); cited for outstanding work for CT's children, parents and families
Penobscot Indian Nation Director of Human Services
Maine Assistant Attorney General, child protection
Connecticut Assistant Attorney General, public works
Member, CT & ME bars, CT federal bar, US Supreme Court Bar
United Nations Delegate, Veterans for Peace USA, to date
Executive Director, BOCED (Buguruka Orphan & Community Economic Development), Tanzania, East Africa & CT, USA, to date
Chair, The Bill Johnson Foundation for Brain Injury Awareness (501(c)(3))raising funds for and awareness of brain injury victims worldwide, in the name of 1984 US Olympic ski racing Gold Medalist, and 2001 TBI victim, Bill Johnson (my friend since our training days, 1975-76).
We are endorsed by IOC President Dr. Jacque Rogge, and US FIS World Cup Champion Bode Miller.
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| Important Issues: |
| Ending War and US Imperialism; Full US Employment & Job Protection, Fair Trade, & Economic Justice; International Human Rights; War Crimes Indictment & Prosecution; Impeachment; US Constitution Preservation; US Civil Rights Restoration; Climate Change and Environment; Universal Health Care; Universal Education through College; Universal Basic Needs (food, clothing, shelter). |
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| Why Vote For Me: |
| CHARACTER COUNTS: I am honest. I am earnest. I will not lie to voters about wars, the economy or any issue.
COMPELLING PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE: I am experienced in government (12 years with the Office of CT Attorney General alone). I value and know the Constitution and the law. I have worked in the peace movement for over 30 years, and trained for this work by earining 3 degrees in international relations and law (BA, international relations, Tufts U. and U. Maine-Orono; MA, U. Wisconsin-Madison, comparative politics, Africa focus, National Resource Fellowship alternate, PhD prgram admittee; JD, Franklin Pierce Law Center, ranked first in class in human rights and related law classes). I have always worked for the public interest and never for any corporation. I have two children who deserve a clean, safe, honorable society where the powerful are not above the law.
MY FRIENDS KNOW I MEAN AND WILL DO WHAT I SAY FOR YOU AND OUR COUNTRY TO END WAR AND SUPPORT THE COMMON GOOD: The wars must end immediately, the troops must be brought home immediately, the war bases must be closed immediately and permanently, and the funding must be ended immediately. Anything less is a formula for perpetual war, perpetual US debt, and perpetual erosion of our quality of life at home and abroad. I will always work and vote to end these wars, their costs and their impacts on the nation's reputation and future.
I am supported by Daniel Ellsberg and Randy Kehler, the man who inspired Ellsberg to release the Pentagon Papers, when he chose 2 years at Danbury, CT Federal Prison (5th Dist) rather than CO status or Canada when he was drafted for Vietnam. Ellsberg knew Randy's choice made the maximum statement that the war was illegal and immoral. I have counseled Randy and his wife Betsy Korner and their legal team(s) on human rights law over their years of peacework. I am supported by Ralph Nader, for whose 2004 campaign I volunteered legal services and again for 2008. I am endorsed by former Star Wars Missile Defense Shield director turned whistleblower Dr. Robert Bowman and renowned human rights attorney-professor Francis A. Boyle (JD, PhD poli sci, Harvard).
In 2004 I defended Nader-Camejo and won their Maine lawsuit brought by the DNC which tried to sue that campaign off most state ballots. I elicited the only testimony in the nation under oath from a state Democratic chair that the DNC funded and coordinated a 2004 national lawsuit campaign against Nader-Camejo which severely impacted Nader-Camaejo voter rights. That sworn testimony underpins a current Nader suit against the DNC for 2004 mass voter and presidential campaign rights violations.
President Eisenhower was right to warn us about the military-indutrial complex that threatens to control our nation and the world. It is no accident that renowned conservatives like father or Reaganomics economist Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former Deputy US Attorney General Bruce Fein, and former Nixon advisor Pat Buchanan freely refer to the Bush-Cheney regime as fascist and impeachable. We are in perilous times, and in need of the best possible leadership. To save our government and nation from worse disasters than the illegal and immoral Iraq and Afghanistan occupations we must be prepared to put our lives, our treasure and our sacred honor to the test for US constitutional freedom and a better world. I am prepared to do all of these, and will campaign for all of us to do so as well for our children and theirs.
TO SAVE THE CONSTITUTION: The Constitution is at unprecedented risk from Bush-Cheney attacks. Rights to habeas corpus, privacy, US treaty protections against war, and many other rights have been erased or severely threatened. As CT attorneys, Congressman Chris Murphy and I swore oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Chris swore this oath again when he entered Congress.
In September, 2007, Chris held a town meeting on Iraq in New Britain. I asked him that since he agreed with me that the Bush regime had committed major crimes against the Constitution, why did he not support impeachment of Bush-Cheney? Chris could not answer. He said he could "fix" the Constitution with legislation. That was wrong and insulting. The Constitution is the fundamental law underpinning American freedom. Weaken it, and you have no freedom. You have fascism. Chris knew this. He simply lacked the character and courage to say he supported his sworn oath to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and is therefore unfit for office.
The Bush regime has made devastating attacks on basic constitutional rights. They must be fully restored before America becomes an unrecognizable police state.
MY UNITED NATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW ACTIVISM FOR PEACE: I have volunteered for years for Veterans for Peace, a UN NGO, which I represent at the UN as needed. I support the United Nations Tripartite Forum for Interfaith Cooperation for Peace, founded by IRAN, PAKISTAN, Philippines, Russia, China, Ukraine, and many others, and REJECTED by the US and ISRAEL. The Tripartite was created because the 3 Tripartite groups - UN members states, UN agencies (UNESCO,ECOSOC, others) and the member religious NGOs (non-governmental organizations)- understand that self-interested politics as usual do not work, and a new "idea" about UN practice, incorporating the best of the world's universal religious principles, government practices, and practical diplomacy is necessary for a safe and good world.
I was recommended (unsolicited) to law school by President GHW Bush, for whose family I worked high school summers in my hometown of Kennebunkport, Maine. I correspond with President Bush to this day on matters of mutual interest, especially war and peace. In 2007 I brought the Tripartite's work to President Bush's attention, and asked him to discuss it with his son. Soon afterward, Iran's former president Khatami was invited by President GW Bush to come to the US - the first Iranian leader so invited since the 1980-81 Iran hostage crisis - where Khatami spoke of reconciliation with the US at several large US universities such as Harvard. Khatami was in power when Iran helped found the Tripartite.
In March, 2007, I, with others, lobbied Iran, the US and UK not to use the Iran capture of a small UK naval patrol crew in Iran's waters, as a pretext for a US-UK-Iran war. I asked Iran to release the UK soldiers in the spirit of the Easter Christian season of that time, which would show good faith of Iran's religious commitment to peace. Iran complied, quoting my religious request as a basis for the release.
In July, 2007, I lobbied President GHW Bush to ask his son to rekindle nuclear disarmament talks with Russia during the Kennebunkport Bush-Putin
"Lobster Summit". By summit's end, Bush-Putin announced that they would re-sign the old START US-USSR nuclear build-down treaty, scheduled to expire in 2009. In 1974 the Bush family recommended me to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, to which I was nominated from Maine in 1975, but did not pursue due to my opposition the Vietnam War into which my Kennebunk neighbor had been drafted and killed.
I SUPPORT IMPEACHMENT AND INDICTMENT FOR WAR CRIMES: No one is above the law, especially for war crimes under international treaties such as the UN Charter, Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg Charter, which make war crimes the ultimate crimes against humanity. Because of compelling evidence that the Bush-Cheney regime is contemptuous of human rights treaties and our Constitution, which makes the treaties the supreme law of the land under Article 6 Section 2 , I drafted the nation's first municipal ordinance to make a town (Kennebunkport) a "war criminal free zone" by incorporating the Nuremberg Charter. Activists in CT 5th District towns of Cornwall and Lakeville are considering revamping the model to fit their towns. Henry Kissinger lives in the 5th District town of Kent, which could pass and apply the ordinance. I would be pleased to assist that work, and encourage all 5th District towns and cities to consider such an ordinance. Congress refuses to protect us from insane Bush-Cheney war policies. It is clear that it is now necessary to build a human rights law system from the grassroots up to protect our families and our nation under these far sighted human rights treaties.
I support the stance of US Army Lt. Ehren Watada, who in June, 2006 refused to deploy to Iraq, rightly stating that such orders were illegal under the US Army Field Manual, the international law of war, and the Constitution which compels compliance with this law. I briefly assisted Ehren's legal defense team by acquiring internaional law expert witnesses, including nenowned Princeton University Nuremberg Charter scholar Dr. Richard Falk, to defend Ehren's views at trial, which is currently under federal temporary injunction, while Seattle Federal District Court Benjamin Settle reviews case issues. The Army has appealed the injunction.
In April, 2008 I organized NH State Representative Betty Hall's Rally for HR 24, a bill to impeach Bush-Cheney for crimes against the Constitution and humanity (4-16-08), featuring Daniel Ellsberg, Ramsey Clark and Dr. Robert Bowman (Star Wars director under Ford and Carter who quit under Reagan and became a project whistleblower when Reagan ordered the weapon capable of striking earth). Betty's bill was tabled by a 225-95 vote, but she is pursuing its resurrection to the NH House floor in the NH Democratic caucus, which could supply her the 107 votes needed for a full House floor debate and vote.
Dr. Bob Bowman recently asked me to schedule the New England portion of his 2008 summer Patriots Tour for Impeachment, including a July 4, 2008 Kennebunkport, ME rally to "Re-State the Declaration of Independence".
Kurt Daims, author of the Brattleboro, VT Indictment, which passed that town's March 2008 vote, suggested that luminaries like Bowman, Ralph Nader, Ramsey Clark, and others be asked to come to Kennebunkport for the 4th of July and help Maine US Senate Candidate Laurie Dobson collect signatures to put the indictment ordinance on the Kennebunkport fall town meeting agenda. What do you think Ralph, Ramsey and Bob? I will ask you soon.
This week (5-5-08) Dr. Boyle asked me to find a ME prosecutor to indict Bush-Cheney for murder of Maine soldiers lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have accepted the challenge. Dr. Boyle and I were encouraged by the 4-30-08 Bangor, ME jury trial acquittal of 6 anti-war protesters arrested for criminal trespass of Maine US Senator Susan Collins' Bangor office 3-7-07. The jury found all not guilty, clearly deciding the moral bases of the protest to be of greater legal weight than the trespass law. Dr. Boyle and I concluded the jury was a good indicator that ME people may lead the nation in outrage over the wars, making ME a top test state for the murder indictment theory of former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, whose new book makes the case for Bush-Cheney indictment for the murders of all US soldiers lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.
TO CREATE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE; TO SUPPORT THE DISABLED: I unequivocally support a single payer public universal healthcare system. I created the Bill Johnson Foundation for Brain Injury Awareness, for my friend 1984 Winter Olympics Gold Medalist (men's ski racing) and 2001 TBI vicitm Bill Johnson. Bill and I work with celebrities like Bode Miller, former Red Sox ace Bill Lee, and Canadian Olympian and 2001 TBI victim Dave Irwin to raise funds for the brain injury community worldwide, including for US war veterans. TBI is the most common serious injury resulting from the Iraq war, due to vehicle bombings. Harvard University estimates TBI care for US soldiers in Iraq alone will cost over $ 1 billion.
TO PROTECT US JOBS & ECONOMY: I am for a strong US economy which benefits all, and supports fair trade in the world. This means policies which raise wages and living standards in poor countries so US wages and living standards provide equal or better trade environments when compared to cheap labor and overhead abroad. We must rebuild CT'S industrial base in basic manufacturing industries, such as alternative energy (hydrogen, solar, wind, hydro, even clean carbon driven energies like coal with proper filters), hydrogen powered vehicles, and fuel cells. We should continue to try to feed the world with research and development of stronger, higher yielding food plants, much like those developed by my ancestor, botanist Luther Burbank. We should try to make food and energy available to all Americans and all peoples at prices they can afford to promote world peace and stability.
FOR US ENERGY INDEPENDENCE: I am for US energy independence, especially with hygrogen energy, to be developed by a joint government-private veture, with 51% public ownership, and a Marshall Plan style implementation program to keep our environment clean, and wean us from oil which exposes us to to war and economic risk.
TO REFORM DEFENSE POLICY: I am for abolishing the CIA and creating a new intelligence agency under congressional oversight authority. I am for cutting the defense budget at least such that all of the public programs described herein can be afforded, and probably cut more than that to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse by the military-industrial-banking-oil-
transportation oligarchical complex.
TO REFORM US MONETARY POLICY: I am for abolishing the Federal Reserve and creating a US owned federal bank beholden only to Congress.
TO RESTORE CIVIL RIGHTS & LIBERTIES: I have two children who I want to have the unfettered civil liberties I did. I want the 9-11 investigation reopened and the the whole truth.
FOR EDUCATION REFORM: Free, quality education through college should be a basic right. Teachers must be paid respectful salaries and work in the best possible conditions (ie no more than 15 students/class) so they will remain in teaching.
TO SUPPORT BASIC HUMAN NEEDS FOR ALL: Every basic need (food, clothing, shelter) for all Americans must be met with government assistance if necessary.
TO SUPPORT TAX REFORM: The rich must pay pre-Bush regime levels of taxes or more, and the poor must pay fewer taxes. I am for progressive taxation to sustain old and new government services, including Social Security.
This is not a final list of issue and views. Please contact me with questions at 860-693-2687, or haroldburbank@comcast.net for more details.
Thank you for your attention.
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| On 4-28-08 I MC'd a luncheon for the "Bangor (Maine) 6" Iraq war protesters on trial at Bangor, Maine. Go to Youtube and search "Iraq Occupation Project" for video of 4-28-08 comments by the "Bangor (Maine) 6" at mid trial break for alleged criminal trespass of Maine US Senator Susan Collins' office 3-7-07. All defendants were found not guilty since they believed they had rights under international and other laws to stay in the office to peacefully state to Senator Collins that the war is illegal and immoral and that Collins has a legal and moral duty to end the war(s) so Maine soldiers are not killed.
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Contact Harold Burbank
| Phone: |
(860) 693-2687 | | Donate: | Please mail donations to:
Burbank for Congress '08
Art Mauger, Treasurer
38 Dyer Ave.
Collinsville, CT 06019 |
| Mail: | Burbank for Congress '08 |
| | 84 N. Mountain Rd. |
| | Canton, CT 06019
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