F. Michael Burkett

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F. Michael "Mike" Burkett, Jr. (born June 7, 1948 in Keosauqua, Iowa) is an attorney and Democratic politician from Idaho. He currently serves as the Assistant Minority Leader of the Idaho State Senate.

Burkett is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and served in the United States Air Force. He earned his law degree from the University of Idaho in 1979. Burkett is currently a partner with Huntley Park, LLP in Boise.

Burkett first won election to the Idaho Legislature in 1988 by defeating Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Risch in one of the state's most significant political upsets that year. He served in the Idaho State Senate from 1989 to 1992.

In 1994 Burkett was an unsuccessful candidate for Attorney General of Idaho.

In 2002 Burkett was reelected to the Idaho State Senate from District 19, which includes the North End neighborhood of Boise. The district is one of only a few in the state which routinely votes for Democrats over Republicans.

On November 6, 2006 two of Burkett's sons were arrested for vandalizing an Iraq war memorial on the state capitol grounds in Boise. Police charged 24-year-old Michael “Ike” Burkett and 22-year-old Thomas Burkett with malicious injury to property. Boise police say witnesses reported the pair bent two poles that hold flags to memorialize soldiers killed in Iraq. Ike Burkett was also charged with resisting and obstructing officers—and was booked into the Ada County Jail.