Republican Gary Miller represents everything the Tea Party activists are trying to fight against.
He has put his name on 10 earmarks since 2007 for $15 million. The earmarks went directly to three non-profit entities outside of his congressional district. The three non-profits were all operated out of the same address in the City of Rancho Cucamonga and all run by the same person, Jeffrey Burum. Jeffrey Burum is under investigation by the San Bernardino DA and the California Attorney General for bribery and corruption of government officials. Burum is also one of the top contributors to Republican Gary Miller’s PAC.
Why direct these earmarks to three different organizations outside of his district and to a man who is a top campaign donor and is under a cloud of suspicion for bribing government officials regarding real estate deals?
Republican Gary Miller is in the process of negotiating with the Rancho Cucamonga City Council regarding land that he purchased and has drawn up plans to develop. The residents in the city are protesting the development and he is working with the City to sell the land back to them. The deal has come under heavy scrutiny.
When asked by Fox 11 News about the appearance of impropriety, this was his response:
For Republican Gary Miller, this is déjà vu all over again. In 1989 he purchased land in the City of Monrovia. He went through the zoning process and created plans to develop the land. When the citizens complained about the development he ended up selling the 165 acres back to the city. He then claimed that the City forced the sale under threat of “eminent domain” provisions thus avoiding capital gains tax on the $10 million profit. This case is currently under FBI investigation.
It’s fascinating to hear him say now that the City forced him to sell the land when he himself stood before the city council in 2000 and openly negotiated a sale of the land:
Later, when a City Councilperson suggests that perhaps he could donate the land to the city for tax purposes, his response was classic arrogant politician:
So here we have a Republican Gary Miller who is much wealthier ten years after he entered congress than he was before his “public service”. He stands in public lamenting that he only has one job, one profession. Isn’t the fact that he refers to his role as representative of the 42nd District as a profession part of the problem?.
As I said earlier here at Big Government, Republican Gary Miller is part of the problem that the Tea Party activists have been protesting about all year. He represents exactly what is wrong with career politicians who arrogantly use their power and influence to enrich themselves and their cronies. And then behave condescendingly to the press and public who question their behavior.
If the Tea Party really wants to prove that they are not affiliated with any one party and are really fed up with business as usual in congress, then this Tuesday Republican Gary Miller should be sent into retirement.
And for all of the practical political types who want to stick by a Republican like Gary Miller because it’s one more seat to add to our majority so we can remove Nancy Pelosi, let me just point out one more thing:
Republican Gary Miller voted WITH Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank on a $25 Billion housing bill for Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. He was the only Republican Congressman from California to vote with them.