David R. Burns is a

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

politician. Burns was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via p ...

representing the District 138, which included his residence in

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

as well as other towns in York County including

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, Newfield and

Shapleigh Shapleigh, pronounced "SHAP-lee", is a town in York County, Maine, York County, Maine, United States which was incorporated as the state's 43rd town in 1785. The population was 2,921 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Shapleigh is di ...

. In his first term in office, Burns ran as a

clean election A publicly funded election is an election funded with money collected through income tax donations or taxes as opposed to private or corporate funded campaigns. It is a policy initially instituted after Nixon for candidates to opt into publicly f ...

s candidate and served on the Taxation Committee. He earned a B.A. in Business Administration from Concordia University Texas. He served 20 years in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. On November 30, 2011, the Maine Ethics Commission ruled that Burns broke campaign finance rules during his 2010 campaign. The ethics commission declared that Burns owed more than $2,000 for violating state law regarding the use of public funds, including the co-mingling of personal and campaign funds, the falsifying of documents and other chargers of malfeasance. The commission also asked

Maine Attorney General The Maine Attorney General is the chief legal advisor and prosecutor of the State of Maine. The constitutional basis of the office is Article IX, Section 11 of the Maine Constitution, and the holder of the position is chosen biennially by the Maine ...

William Schneider to open a criminal investigation and impose a large fine for the violations which Commission chair Walter McKee called "mind-boggling". On January 31, 2012, Burns resigned from the Maine House of Representatives following an investigation by the Maine Attorney General. Earlier in the same day, leading Democratic state representative

Emily Cain Emily Ann Cain (born March 29, 1980) is an American politician from Maine and Executive Director of EMILY's List. A member of the Democratic Party, Cain served in the Maine Senate from 2012 to 2014, representing the 30th district which includes p ...

had called for Burns's immediate resignation. After pleading guilty to misdemeanor forgery and theft charges in connection with his 2010 election campaign he was sentenced to six months in prison.http://www.pressherald.com, Saturday, July 14, 2012, ”Ex-Maine legislator charged with theft”, by John Richardson

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References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people United States Army personnel of the Gulf War American prisoners and detainees People from Alfred, Maine Republican Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Concordia University Texas alumni Maine politicians convicted of crimes Military personnel from Maine {{Maine-politician-stub Prisoners and detainees of Maine