To search stories before 2011, click here to access our archives.
Opinion
The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
After 20 years serving Clark County, Jack Burkman says he is done with community service. Currently in his last few months as a commissioner at the Port of Vancouver, he says he won’t be filing for reelection and is instead supporting Temple Lentz, a former county councilor who is now executive director of The Historic Trust. Lentz has already filed paperwork for a run at the seat with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission. The official filing period to run for public office this year begins May 5.
“I’m done,” Burkman told me over coffee at Java House last week. “I’m deliberately not planning anything.”
Known for his easy-going, collegial style, plus intelligence and hard work, if true it will be a loss for the many government agencies and nonprofits that have relied on him. We talked for an hour. As I had expected, he didn’t have a bad word to say about anyone and feels like Vancouver is generally headed in the right direction.
It’s the same positive attitude that has propelled Burkman throughout his civic career. A research and development engineer by trade, he took Hewlett-Packard’s buyout offer in 2005, when the company was being reorganized by controversial CEO Carly Fiorina. He did the math, he said, and staying with the company wouldn’t have made him any richer. Not that he cares about that. He and his wife of 52 years, Sherry Burkman, have lived in the same house for 40 years.
So, in his early 50s, he made himself available. By that time, he’d already served one term on the Vancouver City Council. He soon got a lot of offers. He took a short-term job in planning with the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Southwest Region. He spent 10 years on the Clark College Board of Trustees, and 12 years on the city council. This is his sixth year as a port commissioner. And he’s served with the regional transportation council, the YWCA board, and even with the League of United Latin American Citizens. Huh?
“I’m privileged,” he explained. “As a white, educated, older male, I can open the door for others.”
About the only place he didn’t serve was in the state Legislature. He ran back in 2006 as a Democrat for a 17th District House seat, but lost in the primary to a less-qualified opponent. “Dazed Clark County Democrats are trying to figure out what it was voters in the 17th Legislative District were thinking, or if they were thinking at all, in Tuesday’s primary,” wrote Gregg Herrington, The Columbian’s political columnist.
By Burkman’s reckoning, he wasn’t political enough. “I’m not partisan. I’m just not,” he said. He’s always considered himself fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and thinks many, if not most, Clark County people are that way too.
His victories are apolitical. He’s proud of the Vancouver Community Library, which was built during his term on the library board, along with the Cascade Park and Salmon Creek branches. He’s proud of the Vancouver Renaissance Trail along the waterfront, and during his remaining time as port commissioner is interested in trying to patch some of the missing pieces between Fourth Plain Boulevard and Frenchman’s Bar. He’s proud the port is in the process of redeveloping Terminal 1. The former home of the Red Lion Inn at the Quay is slated to become a public market in a few years.
But after giving it some thought, Burkman said he decided it was time to step away. He’s 71, and wants to spend more with Sherry, their three children, and their seven grandchildren. He wants to spend more time outdoors, where photographing birds is a major hobby.
So he approached Lentz about running for his seat. “She fills some of the holes I leave,” he said, including experience in transportation. (She currently chairs the state Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board.) According to the Public Disclosure Commission, he and Sherry have already donated $250 each to Lentz’s campaign.
Have we seen the last of Jack Burkman at public meetings? Maybe, but I sure hope not.
Morning Briefing Newsletter
Get a rundown of the latest local and regional news every Mon-Fri morning.
