William A. Burkett, a crusading government lawyer and official who fought financial corruption, independent banker and self-styled historian, has died. He was 86.
Burkett, the first Cabinet member named by California reformist Gov. Goodwin J. Knight, died Friday at his home in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Already established for prosecuting bribery scandals in the Internal Revenue Service, Burkett was chosen by Knight in 1953. Over the next five years, the young lawyer served as state director of employment, chairman of the Employment Stabilization Commission, director of the state Manpower Commission, state superintendent of banks, director of the state Department of Investments, chairman of the state Securities Commission and chairman of the state Refugee Relief Commission.
Knight initially named Burkett to the employment post to end fraudulent unemployment insurance payments--one of the governor's campaign promises. Burkett, who was at the time working as a tax consultant and investigator, had led demands for reform as executive vice president of the Inter-Assn. Unemployment Insurance Committee, made up of 26 employer associations and employers. He claimed that jobless pay fraud was costing the state more than $20 million annually.
Despite criticism from labor groups that Burkett was too much of an enthusiastic cop to be a fair administrator, Burkett vowed "to protect the unemployment insurance fund for the unemployed worker by stopping chiseling." He soon proposed a series of bills calling for 77 changes in the state's jobless benefits system.
But when labor leaders continued to demand Burkett's resignation, claiming he favored employers over workers, Knight made him state superintendent of banks.
Years later, in 1978, Burkett tried to run for governor.
Born in Herman, Neb., Burkett earned a law degree from the University of Nebraska in 1936, the same year he ran unsuccessfully for Nebraska secretary of state. Also an accountant, he began his career as an executive trainee with the Bank of America.
He served in the Coast Guard Reserve during World War II, and then from 1945 to 1950 went to Washington as special agent for the U.S. Treasury Department.
Seasoned in rooting out fraud, he resigned in 1950 to work with U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver's committee to investigate bribery of IRS officials in California and Nevada. His work helped lead to the conviction of several major tax evaders and dismissal of a number of IRS employees.
