As Don Miller sees it, state government caused his old neighborhood in Liverpool to lose much of its togetherness.
“That is because families are spending so much time working to pay taxes and comply with the next mandate that the state would hand down to families and employers that they didn’t have time for each other anymore,” Miller said.
Miller’s solution was to run for state assembly. Now Miller, R-Clay, is seeking re-election for the newly drawn 127th State Assembly District. His opponent is Democrat Al Stirpe of North Syracuse, whom Miller defeated in 2010 by 972 votes.
In 2012, under redistricting, the 127th State Assembly District replaced the 121st State Assembly District. The new district includes Clay, Cicero, Manlius, Pompey, Fabius and Tully.
The 127th State Assembly District has 90,624 registered voters. Of those, 29 percent are Democrat, 35 percent are Republican and 5 percent are in the Independence Party, according to the New York State Board of Elections website. This gives Miller an advantage over Stirpe.
Election Day is Nov. 6.
In his re-election campaign, Miller is casting himself as an independent-minded tax-cutter who also wants to limit state spending. Supporters describe him as a practical problem-solver with a good background in business.
Miller cites New York’s taxes and spending as among the country’s highest and blames much of the state’s problems on that. “If you tax too much, you need to stop taxing. If you spend too much, you need to stop spending. If you borrow too much, you need to stop borrowing,” Miller said.
Miller was raised in Liverpool, where he attended Liverpool High School. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the State University of New York Buffalo and two masters’ degrees from Lee University in teaching and education administration.
Today, Miller lives with his wife and two children in the same neighborhood he grew up in: Forest Hills. His wife, who was born in the People’s Republic of China, became a naturalized citizen and voted for the first time in 2010.
Miller’s political career began in the 1980s when he volunteered for Ronald Reagan. He was a staff member for Housing Secretary Jack Kemp in the George H. W. Bush administration. In 1991, he founded his own political consulting firm, the Empire Group, in Troy, N.Y., to work with Republican candidates nationwide. He also was a quality manager at Jadak Technologies, a high-tech engineering firm in North Syracuse. And he taught English to Chinese university students studying business operation and U.S. government.
In the state assembly, Miller sits on the Aging; Banks; Cities; Consumer Affairs and Protection; Corporations, Authorities and Commissions; and Labor committees.
Jim Corl, supervisor of the Town of Cicero and one of Miller’s strong supporters, came to know Miler when Miller sought his support for his 2010 assembly campaign. Corl praises Miller’s problem-solving skills. For example, he said, if Miller heard about traffic congestion in his district, he would notify state officials.
“He’s very good with at least acting as a conduit between the local municipality and the state government,” Corl said.
Corl also describes Miller as enthusiastic, hard-working and practical. “I think he just enjoys what he does and he wants to do his best for the community,” Corl said, “and I think that’s what drives him on a day-to-day basis.”
As Miller campaigns for re-election, he stresses his votes against tax increases. For example, he voted against Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s popular 2-percent property-tax cap. Miller gives two reasons: a 2-percent tax cap was equal to a 2-percent tax increase every year and the legislation did not give relief from state requirements on local governments, he said.
For re-election, Miller’s platform focuses on three points: reducing tax burdens for families and employers, limiting government spending and reducing the state’s deficit.
Unfunded requirements on local governments and property taxes are two mechanisms that contribute to the state’s “out of control” spending, Miller said. Controlling spending would reduce the debt, he said. To address those issues, Miller sponsored measures to cap both property taxes and state spending at current levels – what he calls “0-percent” caps on tax increases and spending.
In describing his goals of shrinking government taxing and spending, Miller referred to the imagery of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which popularized the phrases 99 percent for less wealthy Americans compared to the 1 percent of the affluent.
“There’s a lot of talk about the 99 percent and the 1 percent,” Miller said. “What people don’t realize is that New York state government is the 1 percent.”
(Laurence Léveillé is a senior studying newspaper journalism.)
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