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Keith Burdette’s political education began early. He was a volunteer for Jay Rockefeller’s campaign for Governor in 1972 at the age of 16 and by 1976 was running for public office in his own right. Elected to the first of two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1978, Keith entered the House as one of its youngest members in history. In 1982 he was elected to the State Senate at the age of 27 and quickly began a climb through the ranks. He served as a member of both the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees during his first term and became the Vice Chairman and than the Chairman of the Education Committee. During his second of three terms in the Senate Keith became Majority Leader and then in September 1989 Keith was elected the 42nd President of the State Senate and first in the line of gubernatorial succession at the historic age of only 34. Keith led efforts to reform the state’s ethics laws; overhaul education funding and the Public Insurance Program. Working with Governor Caperton, Keith lead the Senate through a series of financial reforms that rescued the state from near bankruptcy. In 1992 the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce recognized his leadership by naming Keith one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans for the year. In 1995 Keith formed a very successful government relations firm which had clients that ranged from Fortune 500 companies to small state associations. He was asked by both the Caperton and the administration of Governor Underwood to conduct seminars for Cabinet Secretaries and mid-level managers on working with the Legislature. Days after the 2000 election, Governor-elect Bob Wise asked Keith to join his administration. He was a key player during the transition, assisting with the interviews and selection of countless members of the new administration. His official title as a member of the Governor’s senior staff was senior assistant for policy and legislative relations, but he became the go-to guy for an endless list of administrative goals. Keith directed a legislative agenda that saw major reforms to the medical liability; workers compensation; and coal hauling laws. He orchestrated Governor Wise’s bold reforms to the state’s video lottery laws which were both groundbreaking and financially lucrative for the state. The law ultimately allowed the funding of the PROMISE scholarship program in West Virginia. He was the administrative point man for the development of the state budget, assisting in the production of three balanced budgets without a major tax increase in spite of a significant national economic downturn. Keith played a key role in the selection of appointments to a broad array of government posts including the Public Service Commission, the State Board of Education and a variety of other boards and commissions. In the fall of 2003 Keith and Cam Huffman partnered to form The Burdette Group and quickly reestablished their credentials as an effective force for their clients. While The Burdette Group represents a wide variety of clients before the legislature, in 2004 The Burdette Group took over Parkersburg, West Virginia’s Area Roundtable, the county’s development organization. The organization became the first West Virginia Development Authority to be managed under an independent, non-exclusive contract. Keith and Cam quickly turned the authority around. After over five years of deficits, The Burdette Group had the Authority in the black in less than eight months. Then they turned their attention to creating new investments in Wood County and have succeeded beyond expectations. Just recently Hino Motors announced that they would be locating their first wholly owned U.S. truck assembly operation in Wood County. That followed on the heels of expansions by Coldwater Creek and the announcement that the Development Authority would be building a new $27 million headquarters for Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield and they would be hiring an additional 170 employees in downtown Parkersburg. Few people in the state have such a broad range of experience in and out of state government as Keith does and his ability to apply that knowledge constructively is a valuable commodity.
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Phone: 304-210-4931 |
