{news} Congressional candidate Steve Miller in the Greenwich Post

[David Bedell]

http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/article_4939.shtml
Mar 2, 2006

Running for Congress: Third party candidate adds shade of green

By Ken Borsuk, Staff Reporter

While most of the attention in the race for the state’s Fourth Congressional 
District is focused on the rematch of incumbent Republican Christopher Shays 
versus Democratic challenger Diane Farrell, another alternative has emerged 
as a challenger for a spot on the ballot.

Bridgeport resident Stephen Miller is gathering signatures to run on the 
Green Party line in a bid to unseat Rep. Shays, whom Mr. Miller says is tied 
in with the culture of corruption in Washington, D.C.

While the Green Party is not considered a major threat to the Republicans or 
Democrats yet, it is perhaps the best known of all viable third parties in 
politics today. Mr. Miller said people who dismiss “the Greens” just because 
they’re not one of the two major parties are hurting themselves because the 
party is a “common sense” alternative.

“If people are really honest with themselves and see how both parties are 
completely controlling the government now and are dishonest, they will see 
that voting for the Green Party is in their own self-interest,” Mr. Miller 
said.

One of the main stances Mr. Miller is taking is for broad campaign finance 
reform. He called campaign contributions from major corporations and 
brokerage houses forms of bribery and said the corporations were “buying 
influence” in Washington. Saying reform was “critical” Mr. Miller said he 
supported the Green Party platform advocating for public financing of 
elections.

“This is an issue that I think is so simple,” Mr. Miller said. “When 
politicians are taking bribes obviously they’re beholden to the briber. 
People don’t bribe officials for the public’s benefit. The rules the 
Republicans and Democrats have set up for themselves are ridiculous. They 
have these intricate complexities that they have to be on the right 
telephone in the right building and these little rituals have nothing to do 
with the essential issue, which is, ‘Was the money given for a favor?’ and 
‘Was the money taken to give a favor in return?’ I really think any average 
person would know if you’re going to accept gratuities, no matter how small, 
the person giving you a free lunch or money is going to expect some 
preference.”

Mr. Miller singled out President George W. Bush’s failed attempt last year 
to privatize Social Security as an example. He said the top five 
contributors to President Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign were Morgan 
Stanley, Merrill Lynch, PriceWaterhouse, UBS Americas and Goldman Sachs, 
firms that all stood to gain with commissions if Social Security money had 
been invested in the stock market.

“They want to try and make the bar so high it’s an absurdity,” Mr. Miller 
said. “Is this money being contributed or is it bribes? That’s what the 
essence is. I just think this is simple for people to consider. If the 
givers were just giving money and were off any list of contractor or any 
type of reciprocal tax break or any type of reciprocal trade deal that would 
be different. But they’re not. If you’re not going to have veracity in 
government then you’re really counterproductive.”

In order to raise funds for his campaign without going after corporate 
donations, Mr. Miller said he will be looking to emulate the kind of 
grass-roots fund raising that turned Howard Dean into a serious contender 
for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. He said he would be 
looking for small contributions from a wide variety of people.

Mr. Miller added he would also be looking to improve his name recognition to 
make advertising less of a pressing need. A former Navy submariner, Mr. 
Miller spent 13 years as a licensed broker and bills himself as a 
professional expert on commodities futures, options, stocks and bonds.

“I think I will be so controversial my name recognition will be no problem 
whatsoever,” Mr. Miller said. “If I could do this without a nickel, I would 
be happy to do it.”

While campaign finance reform is Mr. Miller’s primary focus, his campaign 
will also touch on the war in Iraq, which Rep. Shays continues to support, 
and protecting U.S. troops.

“This is an absolutely no-win war that was started by a pack of lies which 
both parties approved,” Mr. Miller said. “The Green Party is completely 
against that. To leave these military people in the middle of this chaos 
where there’s absolutely no army to fight and no bases to conquer is just 
idiotic on its face. To think there’s any potential to win is just plain 
stupid. Bush is a liar and Shays is in lockstep with Bush. I don’t really 
think Chris Shays is an imbecile, but maybe he thinks the rest of us are 
imbeciles.”

Mr. Miller pledged to discuss the country’s energy policy and advocate for 
more advances in hydrogen and solar power as an alternative to oil. He also 
said there had to be a change in the country’s foreign policy.

“We’re provoking people,” Mr. Miller said. “The United States sticks its 
nose into countries. It’s not our business who gets elected in Venezuela or 
who gets elected in Palestine. If we’re really going to promote democracy it 
should be their vote that counts and that’s that. Over the past decades 
we’ve supported dictators like Saddam Hussein and Augusto Pinochet in Chile. 
We support these people who abuse people and people remember that abuse. We 
wind up in these crazy debacles. We’re provoking enormous amounts of ill 
will and consequently we have this terrorism. Our foreign policy needs to be 
changed radically to get to the bottom of terrorism. We’re not going to be 
able to kill all the terrorists. It’s like catching all the drug dealers. 
There’s no end to it.”

He said Republicans and Democrats are always looking for “boogiemen” to be 
afraid of and the paranoia drives policies like the war in Iraq.

“I think the people in the Fourth District in this state are quite well 
educated and successful people can see through that,” he said.

Mr. Miller’s candidacy does have a potential hindrance because he has been 
convicted of extortion. Mr. Miller said his trial and conviction came after 
he was the victim of a Wall Street fraud and he tried to set a trap for 
those who had defrauded him. He added he is not afraid to discuss his 
conviction, which he claims was the result of jury rigging by a federal 
judge.

“The conviction isn’t worth a nickel in the light of day,” Mr. Miller said. 
“I want this to be out there. This is part of what I’m trying to get across 
to people. We’re really going down a slippery slope here. I was convinced, 
and I’m sure most average people are convinced, that the checks and balances 
in the Constitution and the federal laws of appellate procedure would be 
adhered to by, if not all the federal judges in the appellate on the second 
circuit and the Supreme Court, by the vast majority. It turned out the 20 
judges who had something to do with the variety of motions and complaints in 
this case were in lockstep with outright judicial and criminal misconduct.”

Mr. Miller’s experiences are detailed in his book Just Cause, Just Facts.

Mr. Miller needs 2,909 valid signatures of registered voters in the district 
to qualify for the ballot, which would represent the 1% of the last 
congressional vote mandated under law. As a precaution Mr. Miller said he 
would end up getting 50% more signatures than necessary and didn’t predict 
it would be too difficult to get this accomplished by the August deadline.

Though he knows he has a serious challenge ahead of him, this is not just 
about making a statement. This is a serious candidacy that he feels he can 
win.

“I don’t think this is far-fetched because Jesse Ventura proved that it can 
be done,” Mr. Miller said referring to the former professional wrestler who 
pulled a major political upset in 1998 by being elected governor of 
Minnesota as a third party candidate. “Sure a third party has almost no 
chance and somebody with a criminal conviction certainly has a long row to 
hoe, but I have nothing to hide and I want people to know about these 
issues.”

Mr. Miller said he would be happy at any time to debate Rep. Shays and Ms. 
Farrell on the issues and said people who want to learn more about where he 
stands should visit his Web site http://www.greensteve.politicalgateway.com 
, which has recently been set up for fund raising.

kborsuk@ acorn-online.com

© Copyright 2006 by Hersam Acorn newspapers