Burke Given New Term On Merit Board

Burke Given New Term On Merit Board
Ann Arbor Attorney Re appointed For Eight Years By Governor
By Guy H. Jenkins
(News Staff Correspondent). LANSING — Governor Williams today announced the reappointment of George J. Burke of Ann Arbor to the State Civil Service Commission for a second eight year term.
Burke, a prominent attorney and Democrat, was appointed to the original Civil Service Commission in 1938 and then was named to the present body when it was created in 1941. Ends Speculation
Announcement of the appointment ended speculation- stirred in part by a rumor that Mrs. Hickman Price of Ann Arbor was being considered for the post-that Burke might not be renamed. Mrs. Price emphatically denied she would accept the position.
Burke was not available for comment today on the appointment, but it was considered a foregone conclusion he would accept it.
A practicing attorney for many, years, Burke has also held many important public posts besides his position on the Civil Service Commission.
During 1943 he was chief counsel for the Office of Price Administration in Washington, receiving the appointment from former Senator Prentiss M. Brown. He resigned along with Brown. War Crimes Judge
From July, 1947, through February, 1948, he served as a judge, on the Nurenberg war crimes tribunal which sentenced seven commanding officers of the German army to prison terms ranging up to death, and acquitted two others.
He has also held several high Democratic Party posts on the local and state level. He has never run for major elective office although asked several times to do so.
Burke quit the original commission in 1939, when a change of administration brought a Republican into the governor's chair.
When the present Civil Service Commission was created by constitutional amendment in 1941, Burke was named to it and has served without interruption ever since. Withdrew Resignation
He 'submitted his resignation on Aug. 24, 1946, following publication of an erroneous story that he would act on a Democratic fundraising committee. At the time he said he felt the political implications of the story would destroy his ability to function on the nonpartisan body.
Former Governor Kelly, a Republican, and other prominent state officials, both Republican and Democrat, persuaded Burke to change his mind, and the resignation was withdrawn.
Burke has been highly praised repeatedly by members of both parties for his work on the commission and his efforts to improve the quality of the state's civil service.
When he was not immediately renamed upon expiration of his term Dec. 31, it was hinted he might be replaced.