Mary Burke: The Handpicked Heiress

 

Mary Burke, courtesy of Watchdog.org

Most know Mary Burke as the Madison millionaire heiress to the Trek Bicycle Company who has thrown her hat into the race for governor.  However, most know little beyond her basic background.  Burke is quite silent as a candidate for governor, which further enshrouds her candidacy in mystery.  A closer look into her background may help to shed some light on her record, why she is running for governor, and why the liberal elitism mindset in candidates may backfire.
  
  Mary Burke is the daughter of Trek Bicycle founder Richard Burke.  The Burke family members are also philanthropists; founding the Burke Foundation and large donors to the Road Home and Boys and Girls Club of Dane County organizations.  Mary attended Georgetown and later earned her master’s of business administration at Harvard.  She consulted in New York and D.C. before returning to Wisconsin to work for Trek.  In 2005, Mary Burke was appointed Secretary of Commerce by then Governor Jim Doyle.  Wisconsin Democrats had mixed reactions when she announced her candidacy for governor earlier this year.  Despite her private and public sector experience, relatively unknown policy record, and the ability to self-finance her campaign, even some liberals are wary of her.

 Mary Burke is often hailed as the ‘Mitt Romney of the left.’  She enjoys an extravagant lifestyle that is out of touch with most Wisconsinites.  Burke’s wealth has allowed her to make large donations to non-profit organizations.  However, her wealth is a double-edged sword.  Her philanthropy propelled her to a set on the Madison School Board; an election which she financed with $128,631 of her own money.  She has also donated over $220,000 to campaigns of progressive Democrats, the same people aligned with the failing Obama presidency.  Many Wisconsinites see this as the definition of buying an election.

 Burke was handpicked and persuaded to run for governor by Mike Tate, Chairman of the Democrat Party of Wisconsin.  Tate believed she would pose the greatest threat against Scott Walker.  In normal circumstances, party officials are absent from the primary process.  She was presumably handpicked by the Democrat party chairman because of her ability to finance her own campaign, allowing political donations to focus on state senate and assembly seats.  After an embarrassing four years, the Democrats saw a need to cement one candidate early.  However, Mary Burke even has some liberals worried.

While Burke is exceedingly successful at keeping hush on the issues, her record is not completely spotless.  For the left, her $2.5 million support for a charter school is worrisome.  Yet she denounces the expanded voucher system under Walker that has exceeded expectations.  She holds wishy-washy views on education, amongst other issues, despite her school board seat.  Mary Burke was also a part of the mess that Governor Walker fixed.  During her tenure as Secretary of Commerce, there were more than 150 economic development programs that were not properly tracked, and often overlapped.  This wasteful spending and lack of oversight on her office’s behalf helped create the $3.6 billion budget deficit.  As Secretary of Commerce under Doyle, Burke allowed Wisconsin to hemorrhage more than 130,000 jobs, forcing Wisconsin to the bottom of economic outlook lists.  Even her own company Trek outsourced Wisconsin jobs to China.  Today, almost 99% of all bicycles are imported to the United States.  One must question if a Burke governorship would be any different.  While Walker makes trade deals for exporting billions in Wisconsin grown crops, Burke sent China Wisconsin jobs.

  Much like President Obama, Burke may have several scandals already brewing.  The Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a campaign finance complaint in June because a telephone poll refused to disclose who had paid for the poll.  Wisconsin GOP director Joe Fadness told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a June, “We don’t know a lot about Mary Burke right now but she and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin are apparently willing to break the law in testing her viability against Scott Walker.” 

Mary Burke has also come under fire recently for not paying state taxes in 1990, 1992, and 1993.  Liberals believe in the rich paying their ‘fair share,’ and it seems Burke failed to follow her own party’s rhetoric.

 Mary Burke is far from the ideal progressive candidate to take on a strong Scott Walker in 2014.  Ultimately, she may always be perceived as a Madison millionaire heiress who is out of touch with Wisconsinites.  Our leaders have often been elected because they share a special connection with the people, the common folk.  It is elitist arrogance to assume Mary Burke will face Scott Walker.  The same arrogance could very well backfire against Burke in the Democrat primary.  This is Wisconsin, not Illinois.  Wisconsin elections are simply not for sale.

Published: Freedom Weekly December 11, 2013, Vol. 003 Issue 025

See also: MaryBurke.com