This fall’s contest for the District 61 seat in the Iowa House is a different kind of campaign, but Democrat Cecelia Burnett is a different kind of candidate.

Burnett, a two-term incumbent from Ames, is running — sort of — against Republican Tom Harpham, also of Ames. Harpham is no longer seeking votes actively, but he made the decision too late to take his name off the ballot.

“You have to take any kind of an opponent seriously,” said Burnett, who defeated Ames residents John Parks and Dick Woods in 1994 and 1996. “But this time, I have to admit, it’s a little bit different. His name’s still on the ballot, so you never know. You still have to campaign as though you have an opponent.”

A 1983 wildlife biology and journalism graduate from Iowa State, the soft-spoken Burnett pushes two common issues: education and the environment. But she attacks the problem from a different angle than most politicians.

“Last year was supposed to be the year of education, and what happened was that it disintegrated into partisan politics and bickering,” she said. “What came out of that was legislation that will not help our kids learn better.”

Burnett wants to reduce class sizes in the lower elementary grades and provide alternatives for at-risk and disruptive students, but she adds a caveat.

“We need to help school districts fund the mandates that we pass down to them,” she said. “In the last four years since I’ve been there, we’ve passed some of the biggest tax cuts in this state’s history.

“If we still have a surplus, and it looks like we still do, I think it’s time to invest in education,” she said.

Burnett also says the state should maintain its investment in the bottle-deposit law.

The law pays 5 cents for each Iowa-made can or bottle returned to a refund center, typically located in grocery and convenience stores. Some of these store owners want the law repealed because they feel they get little return for the work of collecting the containers.

The reasoning that people will still recycle their cans and bottles without a 5-cent incentive is false, Burnett said.

“Most places in the state, especially the rural areas and even Ames, are not covered by curbside recycling,” she said.

With what amounts to an uncontested race, Burnett is likely to take her progressive views back to the Statehouse for a third term in January. She recalled her first impressions of the “partisan politics and bickering” on the House floor.

“I was not prepared to be rejected simply because I’m a Democrat,” she said. “That’s a shame, because that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.

“We’re supposed to be making good public policy,” Burnett said. “That’s the role of government, to remove obstacles for people who want to succeed.”

(District 61, which Burnett represents in the legislature, covers most of Ames north of Lincoln Way.)