American Techno-Politics

Former Lobbyist and Senate Candidate Harris Miller Supports Democratic Lobbyist Controls

Irony is king in the Virginia U.S. Senate race pitting Democrat and former lobbyist Harris Miller against incumbent George Allen. Miller is attacking Republicans for delivering weak reform proposals to corruption usually involving lobbyists --Miller's full time job just a few weeks ago as President for the ITAA; a powerful tech lobby group. The Irony is that Democrats have started attacking George Allen for links to another lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, which is expected to have a political toll this election for some Republicans.

Although any gifts or donations from lobbyists to our elected representatives is an outrage and should be stopped, I have no reason to believe that George Allen was acting any differently than other politicians. I fail to see the logic in replacing a person on the recieving end of lobbyists with the actual lobbyist who was once trying to influence our government in a way unfair to the average American without the money to gain such access to politicians.

The bottom line is that we need lobbyists to start leaving Washington, and certainly not running for U.S. Senate. I am going to stop short of endorsing a candidate in the Virginia race because I believe that is up to Virginia voters, but I think that they should know what they are buying into when it comes to Harris Miller.

The proposals of both parties stop short of meaningful change; politicians like Trent Lott are already on TV complaining about the possibility that they may be eating at McDonalds. I hope they do start eating there because maybe they run into regular people, and start seeing and talking about regular people's issues first hand. Regular people can't afford to wine and dine our politicians at 5 star restraunts, and they certainly can't afford $2000 campaign donations.

Any real change would involve an outright ban of donations from corporations, registered lobbyists, and be limited to $100. That would make for interesting politics where the 30 second attack ads are now unaffordable and politicians are forced to discuss the issues.

Speaking of discussing the issues, Harris Miller continues to dodge questions and refuses to make a statement on his positions while a lobbyist for the ITAA. Specifically, the issues of offshoring and guest worker visas. Should Miller announce that he was not espousing his views, rather the views of corporations he represented, and then share his actual views I might change my oppinion of him. Right now he is simply a former lobbyist and president of the ITAA to me.

posted by R. Lawson @ 8:47 PM