{news} Harold Burbank in the Litchfield County Times

[David Bedell]

(The article incorrectly identifies Harold's supporter Robert Bowman as a "Star Wars movie director"; actually, Bowman directed a missile defense program under Presidents Ford and Carter, popularly known as "Star Wars.")

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19748785

06/05/2008
Green Party Enters Race
By: Scott Benjamin

Harold Burbank II of Canton, the Green Party candidate in the Fifth Congressional District, is calling on Congress to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney for waging an illegal war in Iraq.

He said that he decided to enter the race for the seat now held by U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Cheshire) after Mr. Murphy told him at a forum in New Britain last year that "despite the Bush administration's being the most impeachable regime in U.S. history, he would not support impeachment."

In a news release, Mr. Burbank, an attorney who specializes in human rights issues, stated that Mr. Bush "is conducting criminal wars of aggression and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and threatening a nuclear war in Iran."

"Except for a very few in Congress, representatives like Chris Murphy have not only done nothing about these criminal wars but are accessories to them by consistently voting to fund them," he wrote.

Mr. Burbank said in a phone interview that the Bush administration entered Iraq illegally since it never verified that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

The candidate, who will be opposed by Mr. Murphy and State Sen. David Cappiello (R-Danbury) in the Nov. 4 election, said that he agreed with the congressman's recent comments that it would be difficult to remove all of the armed forces in Iraq immediately since the troop levels have been at 110,000 or more since Mr. Bush started a surge early last year.

However, he said that steps should be taken immediately to have the United Nations establish a "multi-lateral" peacekeeping force in Iraq.

Regarding Mr. Burbank's call for the impeachment of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, Kristen Bossi, Mr. Murphy's spokeswoman, said, "With six months to go on the Bush administration, our focus has to be on working together to push legislation that needs action by the end of the year.

"We have a looming economic crisis and skyrocketing gas prices that need attention now," she added.

Adam Bauer, Mr. Cappiello's communications director, said that the GOP candidate would decline comment on Mr. Burbank's entry into the race and his criticisms of Mr. Murphy's efforts to impeach Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney.

Mr. Burbank, 51, said that he has the support of presidential candidate Ralph Nader of Winsted, who has been a recognized consumer advocate for more than 40 years.

Some observers believe that Mr. Nader's campaign in 2000 took enough support away from then-Vice President Al Gore to enable Mr. Bush to win the election.

He said that his list of backers also includes human rights activist Daniel Ellsberg, as well as Star Wars movie director [sic] Robert Bowman and renowned legal scholar Francis Boyle.

On another topic, Mr. Burbank said that he believes that the United States could resolve its energy crisis in "five years" through the use of green technologies, including fuel cells.

U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-East Hartford) has said that fuel-cell technology would become Connecticut's biggest export, since the state already has at least five companies doing research and development in the field.

"If President [John F.] Kennedy could come into office and set up a program that would get us to the moon in eight years, then I think we can take care of the energy problem even quicker, particularly if we [have] public funding and public-private partnerships," Mr. Burbank said, making reference to the former Democratic president who started the Mercury space program in the early 1960s.

He said that he opposes expansion of nuclear power, which has been a staple in Connecticut for decades, because that "no solution has been found for storing the waste from the reactors."

Regarding integrated trade, Mr. Burbank said that he opposes the North American Free Trade Agreement and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China, because neither pact enforces labor and environmental standards.

Opponents of those agree­ments, including Mr. Murphy, have said that they have established an uneven playing field for American workers and in some cases have resulted in job losses.

Mr. Burbank has bachelor's degree from Tufts University in Massachusetts, a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin and a law degree from Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire.

He worked in the state attorney general's office in the 1980s when it was headed by U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-New Haven) and has had a private law practice in Canton for the last five years.

Mr. Burbank and his wife, Marianne, a kindergarten teacher in Winsted, have two teen-aged children.

He said Monday that he already had collected 1,300 of the 2,197 signatures that are required to appear on the election ballot this fall.

Mr. Burbank said that he is hoping to build up the base that the Green Party developed in Connecticut during the 2006 campaign, when the Hartford Courant reported that the Green Party gained a greater presence in the state.

Cliff Thornton of Glastonbury ran as the party's candidate for governor and Ralph Ferrucci of New Haven campaigned for the U.S. Senate.

Mr. Ferrucci, for example, participated in statewide televised debates with the other candidates, including Mr. Lieberman, Democrat Ned Lamont of Greenwich and Republican Alan Schlesinger of Orange.


©Litchfield County Times 2008

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