The Case Against Dirty Gary Miller

Gary Miller is corrupt. We know that. But why should we be working to unseat him? Why should we invest our resources in a "safe red district" and try to turn it blue next year? Why should we think we have a chance to win in the 42nd Congressional District?

The best way to answer this question is to answer two other questions. Why should we allow such a corrupt individual to stay in office? And what has Gary Miller done for his constituents that has earned him the privilege of earning our votes for reelection? Once we figure out these answers, we can answer those other questions.

You may be surprised by these answers, so follow me down below for more...

(Cross-posted at Calitics and The Liberal OC)

Well, let's start by answering the corruption question. He'll skirt the law and evade paying his taxes in order to enrich himself on the taxpayers' dime. Now how's that for someone who's supposed to be such a better patriot than those "America-hating Defeatocrats"?

Oh, and who is Gary Miller really working for in Congress? Looking at all the earmarks he's put into legislation and where he's directing these federal funds, the answer is quite clear. He's bought and paid for by the Lewis Group, a real estate development company in Upland. Whatever the Lewis Group wants, Gary Miller delivers... Even if it calls for money spent in Victorville, which is nowhere near the district! Now why would Gary Miller direct federal funds to one interchange in Victorville? Oh yes, that's right... The Lewis Group had a new development right off the 15 in Victorville!

And oh my, look how rewarding all this work has been for Dirty Gary Miller! Look how the Lewis Group has paid him back for all his service. How precious. But you know what? Gary Miller may focus on what's best for his bottom line and the Lewis Group's bottom line, but he's not taking care of what's best for the voters of his own district.

So when did Dirty Gary Miller forget why he's supposed to be in Congress? Doesn't he remember that he's supposed to serve the voters who send him to Washington to represent their interests? Now is it in their interest that Gary Miller abuse "eminent domain land sales" in order to avoid paying the taxes that provide for our national security, our transportation infrastructure, our schools, our parks, and so much more? Is it in their interest that Gary Miller ignore the local needs of the district in order to deliver the desires of out-of-district developers?

What about traffic relief on our freeways? What about helping out our schools in a way that doesn't allow the federal government to take over our schools? What about doing something about the coming climate catastrophe that may not only hurt our businesses, but threaten our very lives? What about ending this failed war in Iraq that has claimed so many of our brave soldiers' lives, and all for our troops to be caught in the midst of someone else's civil war? These are issues that the people in the 42nd District care about, yet these are the issues that Gary Miller ignores as he misuses his power to enrich himself and his developer friends.

So what can be done about this? We can tell all our family, friends, and neighbors about how Gary Miller isn't serving us. I'm doing my part on Trash Dirty Gary, a local blog dedicated to exposing Gary Miller's dirty record AND letting local voters know that we have a better option. Oh yes, and I'll also be uncovering Gary Miller's dirt AND talking about this better option over at The Liberal OC.

OK, so what is this better option that voters have in the 42nd? We can replace Gary Miller with someone who actually wants to serve us! There's an election next year, and Dirty Gary thinks he'll get an easy ride, as he's in a "Safe Republican District". But Gary Miller has offended Republicans, Democrats, AND Independents in the district by ignoring our local needs while he enriches himself at taxpayers' expense. And if the Democrats in Washington think that Dirty Gary can't get away with his high crimes against the voters of the 42nd Congressional District, why should we?

And guess what! That's where YOU come in. Yesterday, you found out that a blogger will be challenging Dirty Gary in the 42nd. Tomorrow, you'll meet the campaign manager for this special candidate. And on Wednesday, you'll meet this very candidate. And right now, all I can tell you is that this candidate lives in the district, and this candidate actually cares about what's best for the people in this district.

So until then, I rest my case. Gary Miller is guilty of being a corrupt crook who has failed the voters of the 42nd District. And I think we can all take care of his sentence by doing what we can to help this campaign to restore honor and integrity to our Congressional Office! : )

Missed Us on the Radio? Catch the Podcast, And Tune in Next Week!

Were you able to listen to the premiere of "Red, White, & Burke" yesterday? Did you have a chance to call into the show? Did you get to listen to the person who may be challenging Dirty Gary Miller next year?

Well, you can still listen to the show! Yesterday's show is now in the online archives. Go ahead and listen now, or download the podcast and play it in whatever you use to play mp3 files later.

So would you like a little sneak peek as to what we talked about on the air yesterday? And would you like to know who will be coming on to Ken Burke's radio show soon? Well then, follow me down below for more...

(Cross-posted at Calitics)

So what did we talk about yesterday? Well, we talked about some of things that have been happening here at Trash Dirty Gary. We talked about the infamous Monrovia land deal. We talked about Gary Miller's rather special relationship with the Lewis Group.

Oh yes, and we talked with that special candidate who may be challenging Gary Miller next year. And what did he say? Well, you'll have to listen to the program to find that out! ; )

But wait, it gets better! If you thought the premiere week was good, then you'll just have to keep listening to the show! Next week, none other than Congressional Candidate Steve Young will be appearing on the program! Steve ran in Orange County's 48th District last year, and he'll likely be giving John Campbell another run for his money next year. He'll be talking about our need to bring our troops home from Bush's occupation of Iraq soon, and of our need to care for the troops once they're home.

Oh yes, and I'm sure he'll also be talking about that Victory Politics Institute.

And yes, I'm sure there will be plenty more good guests to come. Keep on listening to the show. Keep on calling, and telling Ken Burke what's on your mind. And I'll keep you in the know on who will be on the show soon. : )

Are Republicans Having Enough of the Scandal?

"When your seat is so safe that you're not concerned about perception, you become too wedded to Washington and you lose touch with your constituency, and you lose touch with your real purpose."

Want to guess who said that? Believe it or not, that was Karen Hanretty, a Republican strategist and former California Republican Party spokeswoman. And she was talking to the AP (via The Guardian [UK]) about the lovely Republican Congresscritters like John Doolittle and Gary Miller who
have been caught up in some naughty behavior lately. So what's happening? Are even Republicans starting to desert these crooked cons?

Follow me down below for more...

(Cross-posted at Calitics)

So what's happening? Are the Republicans finally waking up and smelling the strychnine? Is the culture of corruption finally too much for them?

The ethics cloud is discouraging the party faithful who've already watched the GOP shrink to minority status in California. And they add to the dilemmas of Republican strategists aiming to retake Congress next year following election losses blamed partly on GOP ethics problems.

``There is a sort of feeling among Republican activists who work hard to elect Republicans of, 'What the heck is going on here?''' said Los Angeles GOP analyst Allan Hoffenblum.

So I guess they're finally asking the questions that we've been asking all along. What the heck is going on here?

Why has Gary Miller been mixing his personal real estate business with his duty as a member of Congress to serve his constituents? Why has he put the desires of a developer in Upland over the needs of the people in his own district? And why the heck did he lie about "eminent domain" regarding that Monrovia land deal?

But of course, Gary Miller isn't the only crooked GOPer here. We also have Jerry Lewis. And John Doolittle. And Ken Calvert. Well, you get the picture. Thanks to all the sleazebags in Congress, California Republicans are in crisis mode.

No wonder why they're such a liability. Even Mr. FlashReport has to admit it:

But their problems make them less valuable allies for Republican presidential candidates looking to compete in California's primary, newly advanced to February. And the ethics clouds discourage a GOP base already chafing at moderate Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's constant compromises with Democrats.

``This is presenting a huge distraction from the debate over ideas that really needs to happen in terms of who's going to control Congress,'' said Jon Fleischman, a GOP activist in Orange County. ``It creates a degree of cynicism that is certainly real.''

Well, I wouldn't consider it a distraction, Mr. Fleischman. If anything, it shows the true colors of these so-called "conservatives". They're more interested in conserving and expanding their personal wealth and power than they are in serving the voters in their districts. That actually plays a huge part in the debate of ideas. It just so happens that all of their "ideas" are just business deals that benefit themselves and are a rip-off to the people they're supposed to serve.

No wonder why even Republicans are starting to have enough of these crooks.

Just When You Thought Gary Miller Couldn't Get Any Dirtier...

(cross-posted from Calitics with author permission)

In 2005, Rep. Gary Miller was the only California Republican on the House panel that shaped the 2005 transportation bill. It would be expected, therefore, that Miller would do everything he could to maximize the amount of money the bill steered to California. But The Hill newspaper is reporting that several of the earmarks he attained benefitted not just his state, but were also quite a boon to his business partner and top campaign donor Lewis Operating Corp.

So how tight are Miller and Lewis Operating exactly? Well, how much time do you have?

The year before the transportation bill passed, Miller borrowed $7.5 million from Lewis Operating to purchase land from it. Lewis Operating Corp. is also one of Miller's top campaign contributors; employees of the company have donated $22,150 to Miller's campaign committee since his election to Congress in 1998.

Miller also has partnered or been involved with a number of real-estate transactions with the company in the past five years, making $1.1 million to $6 million in profits from deals involving Lewis Operating in some part of the transaction, according to the lawmaker's financial disclosure reports.

In addition, you'll recall the infamous 2002 Monrovia deal that has piqued the FBI's interest. Well guess who else was involved.

[Miller] has faced scrutiny for avoiding paying capital gains taxes on the land by telling the IRS that the city had threatened to seize the land through eminent domain, and subsequently reinvesting the profit into land purchased from Lewis Operating.

Now check out the ridiculously long list of ways in which Lewis Operating benefitted from the 2005 transportation bill.

• Miller helped secure several earmarks for the town of Fontana, where he has recently bought land owned by Lewis Operating and sold it to the city's redevelopment agency. Fontana also is home to one of Lewis Operating's largest planned communities, Sierra Lakes, encompassing 700 acres that includes 1,850 homes surrounding an 18-hole golf course, clubhouse, a 62-acre shopping center and a 20-acre park.

• Sierra Lakes is just over a mile away from the former Rialto Municipal Airport, which Miller helped close through a provision in the same transportation bill, the first time an airport was closed by an act of Congress. Before the provision closed the airport, the city of Rialto - where the airport is located - already had granted Lewis Operating an exclusive agreement to develop the airport land into Renaissance, a community consisting of 2,500 homes, parks and 80 acres of retail space on the former airport property and adjacent land.

• $6.8 million for Pine Avenue extension from Route 71 to Euclid Ave. in the city of Chino. The extension is less than a mile from the Preserve, a Lewis Operating planned community, and less than two miles from Parkside, another Lewis Operating planned community.

• $1.2 million to establish an Interstate 15 interchange at Nisqualli and Mojave River Crossing in Victorville, Calif. The interchange is about a half a mile from Parkview, a Lewis Operating planned community.

• $400,000 to widen and realign U.S. 395 in the city of Hesperia. Lewis Operating lists The Promontory as one of its planned communities on its website. A city official said the company has not submitted a formal application for the project.

What does Lewis Operating have to say for itself?

In a written statement, Randall Lewis, the executive vice president for Lewis Operating Corp., defended the company's relationship with Miller and other government officials: "For three generations, Lewis Group has been committed to acting according to the highest and strictest ethical standards."

Yeah right. If that were true, you wouldn't be joined at the hip with Dirty Gary, would ya now?

And as for Miller...

A spokesmen for Miller did not return a call seeking comment.

Gee, shocker.

Miller is feeling the heat and this Hill article just further solidifies the momentum developing against him. As Andrew wrote at Trash Dirty Gary, there was a good amount of buzz about this race down in San Diego. As more reports of Milller's corruption are brought to light, the more the DCCC is likely to invest in an emerging people-powered candidate to turn this particular red district of CA blue.

No, seriously...it gets worse.

I know that doesn't seem possible--I really do. But it is. From The Hill:

Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) helped secure several earmarks in the 2005 transportation bill that would benefit projects of his business partner, Lewis Operating, according to House sources and an analysis of the bill’s earmarks and San Bernardino County, Calif., land records.

In the years leading up to the bill’s passage, Miller’s financial ties to the company, one of the largest privately held real-estate development companies in the country, have grown. The year before the transportation bill passed, Miller borrowed $7.5 million from Lewis Operating to purchase land from it. Lewis Operating Corp. is also one of Miller’s top campaign contributors; employees of the company have donated $22,150 to Miller’s campaign committee since his election to Congress in 1998.

It just gets worse and worse. To make a long story short, Miller specifically earmarked federal money for highway expansion projects in areas of the Inland Empire that, it turns out, will end up serving planned development projects of Lewis Operating--the company in which he reinvested his millions of dollars worth of profit from the land sale in Monrovia which he falsely claimed was due to eminent domain so he could avoid paying capital gains taxes on it.

The corruption in CA-42 knows no limits.

Guess Who's Building Influence With Dirty Gary Miller Now!

What is it about Gary Miller doing all these troublesome land deals? The San Bernardino Sun has now unearthed yet another troublesome deal involving land, money, and sweet favors:

The Lewis Group of Companies has built thousands of homes and dozens of shopping centers, office buildings and industrial parks from the San Gabriel Valley to the High Desert.

But the Upland-based company has helped shape more than the region's physical landscape: It's emerged as both a major philanthropic force and a significant political player as well.

Over the years, Lewis has given millions to charitable causes and - in the past six years alone - nearly $2.3 million to political campaigns.

In recent months, it's the politics that have made headlines, focusing on the company's long and close relationship with Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, who also represents Diamond Bar, Chino and Chino Hills.

Oh, great! Here we go again! Developers are buying off Gary Miller, so what else is new? Well, get a load of this!

Of all the company's political connections, its relationship with Miller - who declined to be interviewed for this story - has come under particular scrutiny over the past year.

The relationship dates back more than 30 years, to when Miller was a young developer. In recent years, he and Lewis have connected on a number of business deals:

The company entered into a business partnership with Miller in July 2004, with the congressman investing between $1 million and $5 million in a Lewis-owned, 70-acre housing and retail development in Diamond Bar that had just been approved by the City Council.

That same year, Lewis officials sold Miller several parcels in Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga, allowing him to shield millions in profits from an earlier land sale from potential capital-gains taxes. The company loaned him $7.5 million for the sale.

Meanwhile, the company's top executives have donated $22,150 to the congressman's campaigns since 1999. (In that time, Miller has received a total of more than $2.3 million in contributions from individuals and political committees.)

Wow! It looks like Lewis did Gary Miller quite a few huge favors. So why did they do these favors for Miller? Why would Lewis loan Gary Miller money to buy Lewis land, all so that Miller could avoid paying capital-gains taxes?

Oh, wait! I see the reason now. Gary Miller soon returned the favor.

In August 2005, Miller secured $1.2 million in federal funding for improvements to Grand Avenue, a major artery through Diamond Bar that passes in front of the development he co-owned with Lewis. Miller sold his stake in the development in October 2005.

In the same legislation, he secured $6.8 million to help extend Pine Avenue to Highway 71 in Chino. City leaders touted the project as an important transportation link to The Preserve, a major Lewis master-planned community.

Miller also pushed for a provision to close Rialto Municipal Airport, which cleared the way for the Lewis Group to purchase the site. It has plans with a business partner, Hillwood Development Corp., to develop Rialto Renaissance, a planned community of housing, shopping and recreation.

Doesn't this just get sickening? I mean, the more I get to know Miller, the more I see why he's been named as one of the twenty most corrupt members of Congress. He's not in Congress to serve us the voters and us the taxpayers. He's there to engage in a type of legislative racketeering operation, and he's only there to line his own pockets at our expense.

Now yes, a member of Congress is supposed to work to bring home funds for one's own district. Yes, a member of Congress is supposed to fight for the best interest of one's constituents. However, neither of these is what Gary Miller is doing. No, he's only (mis)using his position of power to enrich himself on the taxpayer's dime. He's selling his votes to the highest bidder. And this helps no one in the district save for a certain Gary Miller.