Tonight I got a Delegate Jackson Miller conference call. Delegate Miller and I don’t agree on too much politically but actually, it was pretty neat. How did it work?
Well, let me reconstruct the event. I was sitting there, watching TV, minding my own business. The phone rang and a robo caller said it was a conference call and if you wanted to comment push zero. I did. I hung on the line and could hear all the other callers. It was like being a political voyeur.
Finally someone came on the line and asked for my name and what my question was. I pulled a question out of …my ear…and went back to listening. They never did get to my question and I think I know why. But nevertheless, it was really interesting to hear what people thought were important state issues. Dillon rule, immigration, e-verify, transportation, cigarette taxes and bans in restaurants and the budget seemed to be hot topics.
Delegate Miller did a very good job with those questions. Even though the helper who you actually spoke with took down the nature of the question, he really was taking cold calls. I thought he gave very reasonable, well-thought out answers, even those I didn’t agree with. He was also very personable and professional. It resembled your own personal fireside chat.
I hope he will do many more of these conference calls and that I will be included again. I am not wild about Jackson Miller’s politics but I was impressed with his conference call.
It appears that Del. Miller is getting a little nervous about the upcoming election in Nov. He must have seen the numbers from the last election cycle. 50th district; Obama 57.3% and Warner 66%. Moon, did you get a survey from Miller about a month ago? The overall topic of the survey leads one to think that he may be changing his approach for this year. He will be walking a thin line if he tries to move away from his base issues of the past while still trying to keep the support of his core group of constituants.
If I did get one, it hit the garbage before I saw it. There is a poorly worded survey on the website. See if that is the same thing you got.
I am not sure exactly who Miller’s core group is. There seem to be several.
It bothers me that Jeanette Rischell was skewered and trashed (much like Colgan) and Jackson profitted from it. He might not be at fault though.
You are right. Maybe he is worried. Maybe he realizes that people are also not buying into the slash and trash politics wielded by the Dark Master any longer. He (DM) is going after school employees and school board members now anyway. Maybe he won’t have time for his good buddy Jackson any longer, not with all those school employees to destroy with the poison pen of lies.
I think Jackson Miller will look like a fraud if he tries to remake himself as the kind of politician that can effectively serve an increasingly moderate and diverse community. If he tries to become a consensus builder who reaches out to minorities, independents, and Democrats, how will he explain his “Redefine the Family to Crackdown on Hispanics” agenda and the costly lawsuits that have been bleeding Manassas City taxpayers ever since? He could stop introducing similarly-minded measures in the House of Delegates, and say the “Redefine the Family” fiscal debacle was merely a political stunt to get to higher office. But I don’t think voters go for that kind of politics anymore.
But how will he explain his ties to the local hate blog, and Help Save Manasass? Many of us remember when he helped Greg Letiecq start the hate blog. Many of us remember when the hate blog seemed singularly focused on getting Jackson Miller elected and reelected to the House of Delegates, to the point that it savagely attacked Miller’s Republican primary opponent with the same vitriolic and fact-free propaganda typically reserved for Democrats, minorities, and Police Chiefs.
Just a political alliance and not a philosophical one?
He can make the claim that it was a temporary political alliance. But does that mean the hate blog will remain neutral if Miller has a primary challenger this year? Will the hate blog be as shrill and as hateful in support of Miller’s campaign as it was in 2007? Even if Letiecq agrees to do this, Miller can never fully distance himself from his ignominious past.
Many of us remember that Miller’s primary publicity hogging tactic has been creating racial division to capitalize politically … from the very start. In fact, he used to say it was the reason he got into politics. Does he hope to transform his <em?raison d’etre in order to stay in office as Manassas becomes less susceptible to wedge politics? This is hardly going to cut it with moderates and independents. A man’s “reason for being” does not shift with the political tide. You are who you are. And the time for angry and resentful demagogues has passed him by.
(For those of you who don’t know, The City of Manassas’ “Redefine the Family” disaster, the brain child of Jackson Miller the councilman, was in many ways the first Immigration Resolution. In an inane and myopic attempt to deal with housing overcrowding, it narrowly defined the “family” so that only immediate relatives could live with you in your home. And, it invited the good people of Manassas to “report” people who violated Miller’s definition of “family.” Of course, it turned out that the only people being reported were Hispanic, and they were American citizens, which led to expensive law suits and a repeal of an ordinance that had only one function other than to waste countless taxpayer dollars and divide the community: it carried Jackson Miller to the House of Delegates in 2006. This became the blueprint for the Immigration Resolution, which was perfectly timed for the 2007 elections, and similarly wasted millions of taxpayer dollars in Prince William County. If Jackson Miller hadn’t been successful electorally with his demagoguery the immigration issue, you can bet John Stirrup and Corey Stewart would not have tried it, and PWC would be in much sounder fiscal shape today.)
There is still something on his website about cracking down on illegals…something to that effect. I am not sure what crackdown means in this case. Does anyone else want to give it a shot? ‘Crackdown’ is just one of those words that is entirely too vague for me.
WHWN-
You are a talented writer and I enjoy your posts, but your interweaving of all this stuff is tortured at best. And you always talk about “millions” of wasted dollars, yet you never seem to specifically quantify these amounts (i.e. where was it spent, the specific line items etc.). And when you have actually tried to quantify, you talk about monies that are yet to be spent as part of the five year plan.
I have actually agreed with many of your posts about the divisive nature of the illegal immigration debate and has done some damage to our community. But the damage has been from the vitrol–not the actual money “wasted.” As far as the fiscal shape of PW or Manassas, they are much more affected by the global recession than any of the “crackdowns.” Or, do you disagree.
I ignore all robo-calls. I’m truly sorry I didn’t answer this call. I have a neighborhood issue that’s not been mentioned. I’m very concerned about individuals “dumpster-diving” in the community. I do not want anybody looking for freebies to go through my trash. If I feel something is worth taking, I will leave a sign the reads FREE. I don’t think my trash is for someone else to come onto my property and go looking for “treasures”. I feel those going through other’s trash piles are trespassing and it’s a COMPLETE and TOTAL invasion of privacy. It might look harmless enough if some is taking old furniture, etc., and at the same time it gives them an opportunity to steal your identity. Your identity is still at risk even when you shred.
FoodFT, now that the wave of the national recession has washed over the Immigration Resolution sand castle, it is impossible to measure the impacts on our local economy caused by the “divisive nature of the illegal immigration debate.”
But during the window of time between the 2007 election and the Wall Street melt down, I spent some time looking at our retail sales, home sales, homes going into foreclosure, drops in property rates, drops in tax base … as compared to other counties in the region. The numbers were staggering. Economists literally had to redraw the charts to fit PWC’s foreclosure rate on the same graph with the rest of the region. Proponents of the “crackdown” celebrated the boarded up houses and the lack of “brown faces” at the bus stop, but there is an economic cost to forcibly removing a significant portion of the working class population. One of the first places we feel it is in real estate, and because PWC’s tax base is primarily dependent on property taxes, it isn’t difficult to see how the Immigration Resolution was a shotgun blast to both feet, from which we are bleeding to this day.
As for your point about the $14,000,000 over five years, it’s true, I hope, that the Board will vote to nix most of that spending this coming April. But over a million has already been spent on police training for a crackdown that only lasted 2 months before we realized it was unconstitutional … which led to another round of training. And the aforementioned economic carnage, while difficult to measure, is every bit as plain as the boarded up houses and lack of brown faces that Letiecq and Stewart point to as signs of victory.
Can someone breakdown the money the Board approved mid-budget year in FY 2008? I recall that the money was approved a few weeks before the 2007 election and part of it went to creating immigration positions on the police force, and much of it went to training the existing officers on how to make sense of the “Probable Cause” mandate.
WHWN-
I’m confused re: 14 million over 5 years. My understanding of that money is that the majority is for 287g at the Jail, which everyone on this blog has consistently claimed to support. I think it’s about 10 mil for the jail and 4 mil for the police’s criminal alien unit. Which of these do you want the BOCS to cut???
I have to concur with WhyHereWhyNow @9:55. What WHWN reports is pretty much how it was.
As I recall, no direct money was specifically appropriated to train on “probable cause.” The officers spent a lot of time training on it before the Board changed the policy, so that is wasted staff time and money, but it wasn’t a direct appropriation. The money you are talking about was to spent on officers themselves and was spent out of the contingency reserve. That same year, the state cut hb599 (state money to local police forces) funding (as they have done again this year), so the Board had to make up for that cut. Instead of simply cutting or delaying their new program, they filled the cut w/ contingency money to keep the “crackdown” on track.
Food, that money break down changed each time a policy change was enacted by the BOCS, I think. I am not really sure myself what the cost is now. Monetary cost, that is. The cost in political ill-will is immeasurable.
Interestingly enough, for all the ill-will, nothing much changed. The Resolution was just all a bunch of hot air. BS and bluster, as the saying goes. No one has yet to show me how enacting the Resolution has changed anything other than the 6 criminal alien officers being added to the force. We already had 287(g) at the jail. I keep dangling the challenge out and no one even gives me a nibbble…probably because the emporer has no clothes.
I have already professed grand fiscal ignorance on this subject. Please provide more information. Where did the contingency money go and what did we get for it? What is involved in the ‘crackdown’ and how is it impacting illegal immigrants and the county?
M-H-
Fair point, but I guess I’m dangling a challenge to you and/or WHWN. Let’s just assume that what I say is correct (that as it stands today, after numerous BOCS changes, the criminal alien unit is about 4 mil and 287 g is about 10 mil). This is the current cost of the “crackdown.” (This does not include the economic damage, damage in political ill will etc.)
If nothing has changed (and you may be correct), what should the BOCS cut? The full 14 mil? The criminal alien unit only? 287 g at the jail?
MH said:
“I have already professed grand fiscal ignorance on this subject. Please provide more information. Where did the contingency money go and what did we get for it? What is involved in the ‘crackdown’ and how is it impacting illegal immigrants and the county?”
My understanding is that the contingency money was used to pay for the first set of new officers of the criminal alien unit. The Board committed to this, then the state cut aid to local police. The Board could have said, oh well, the state cut us so we are cutting the most recent people we added (the criminal alien unit). Instead, they spent the contingeny reserve for that year to do what they had already planned to do prior to the state cut.
What is involved in the “crackdown?” I don’t know. I think it’s a stupid word. My understanding of what is being spent on illegal immigration now has been spelled out in my prior post (14 mil). Whether that is the “crackdown,” who knows.
M-H, The survey I got had one immigration question on it. “Do you think we should continue to crack down on illegal immigrants already here, work to assimilate them, or prevent more from comming?” BTW, there were 16 questions on it about Taxes, Transportation and the State budget. Oh yes, there was one about gun control laws. (Gotta keep your base happy.) Seems like a shift to me.
RE: crackdown. See, there’s an example of the “crackdown.” Jackson Miller’s survey asks about whether “we” should continue cracking down and he’s not even on the Board of Supervisors. So, what is “the crackdown” and who is doing the cracking? The whole suject is cracking me up!
IVAN,
I for one was pleased not to see any of that right to life bull. You are right, Jackson has no role in the PWCBOS, but he does work on the state laws that effect Prince Willy.
Food for thought, You are just all over this and I am hysterical with laughter. This nut has cracked. I have no idea what ‘cracking down’ means either. He probably doesn’t either. Just part of the sound bite.
Ivan, that sounds like the same survey that is online at his website. I thought it was a poor survey.
Thankfully Jackson Miller is not my delegate. Not that I consider Bob Marshall a badge of honor considering some of his infamous remarks.
I never realized the link between Miller’s “Redefine the Family” and the Immigration Resolution. But if you look at it from an election strategy perspective, I can see how one led directly to the other, because people did win elections.
As for the 14 million or 4 million. Well 4 million is still a lot of money in this difficult times. And if it’s true that the 10 million is for the jails, can’t we now cut that since the state government does the same thing by checking immigration status of those who reach the jails?
I’m confused too.
It sounds like Miller’s survey is asking, “Can I win reelection by talking about immigration and snuggling up to Greg Letiecq and Corey Stewart, or should I campaign on more traditional Republican issues?”
I have know Jackson Miller for many years. Those on this site that see him as such a radical dont really know what they are talking about. He is ‘hard core’ on illigal immigration, but has always attempted to get latinos involved in that movement. In fact he has had latinos show up at his events to support his ideas.
The housing resolution in Manassas City was created by the city staff along with the city attny. It was passed with a unanimous vote ( there might have been 1 no vote but my best recolection is that it was unanimous. ) Jackson was the most junior member of that city council.
I wish you radicals (that also includes the bvbl nuts) would take a breath and actually talk to some of these elected officials before you go trashing them on the blogs.
M-H, I think Miller is just trolling the waters to try to find the “flavor of the month” to hang his political hat on. I think he is also counting on his constituants short memory. Will anyone remember the 9500 Liberty video of him at a HSM meeting? I certainly hope that whoever runs against him this fall points this out to everyone. In addition, I find it very difficult to vote for someone when their name appears on a BVBL thread being referred to as “my friend Jackson Miller” by the Dark Master.
Right Ivan, but on the video there is a lot of room for Jackson Miller to distance himself from Letiecq and HSM. Really all Jackson Miller is shown saying is I need you to find some non-white members for HSM. A lot of politicians went to HSM for votes, not just Miller. I mean, Jay O’Brien is not considered an extremist, and he was there. Miller seemed like a mild child compared to Corey Stewart.
tbl, you have a point. We need to hear from Jackson Miller himself before we write him off as a HSM crazy.
It’s a simple question he has to answer. Is he a still a radical extremist on immigration or has he changed? How does he account for his past deeds? He needs to stand up and address the middle-of-the-road members of his constituency who are weirded out by his associations to Letiecq and HSM.
tbl,
First off, Welcome. Second, let me make sure I understand what you are saying. Are you suggesting that we are radical for suggesting that Miller is?
Whatever has been said he by anonymous posters pales in comparison to what Jackson Miller’s good friend Greg Letiecq said about his opponent in the last election. Did you suggest that Letiecq was a radical back then? Probably not. I bet Miller was your candidate and you wanted him to win so badly that you just kept your mouth shut. Now, Letiecq’s not the only show in town and you’re crying about blogs saying bad things about people. Well you’re getting a dose of your own medicine. So shut up and take it like a man.
I have spoken to Jackson Miller about immigration on numerous occasions. He was consistent every time I heard him speak in public or in a private conversation. He has never waivered in his opposition to ‘illegal aliens’. Yet he has also told me that he supports the U.S. Govt. issuing many more work visas for immigrants. This is something the HSM crowd is very much against.
He was the first pol in the area to really start bringing up the immigrant issue. Right or wrong, I think he developed his views from the problems he was seeing first hand as a police officer.
His speeches were never as ‘fiery’ or ‘radical’ as all the pol’s who followed him on the issue such as Stirrup & Stuart.
I felt I was rather complimentary and fair to Delegate Miller. I thought his conference call was informative and fun. I hung up feeling like I knew a little more about the man. Now, does that mean I agree with everything I think he stands for politically? No way. However, I can disagree with people without considering them my arch enemy.
Delegate Miller looks rather mild mannered and sane compared to some of our legislators. On the other hand, he is very conservative. I also do not feel that I am a radical or even a liberal. I am fairly middle of the road on most issues.
I am rather pleased with the results of this thread. People are giving their impressions of Delegate Miller and some of the ideas that have been part of his political aura, for lack of a better word.
He has associated himself with HSM in the past. It will be interesting to see if he will distance himself since HSM has been tarnished by the N word. (ssshhhh…n-a-t-i-v-i-s-t) HSM took a different direction than its original members anticipated. A real turning point for many people was the vicious, uncalled for attack on Chief Deane early last spring. Since Delegate Miller is an employee of Chief Deane, it will be interesting to see how this one plays out.
Thank God it’s Michael Steele! Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is now the leader of the GOP. I was afraid that Steele and Blackwell, former Ohio governor, would split the pro-diversity vote (both are African American) and we’d end up with another culture war idiot leading the party. Notice Blackwell was the only other minority in the room when Steele gave his victory speech? That needs to change.
I have known Miller for some time as well, and I can tell you he has an anger management problem. He needs to make a clean break from Leteicq and Stewart if he wants to reintroduce himself to his constituents as a centrist.
I am leery of politicians to do political make-overs.
Mr. Miller needs to also distance him from the extremists in the reproductive rights political corner. Last year he voted for a bill that defined life as beginning at fertilization. THAT is extreme. If that bill ever had life blown into it, it would make the morning after pill (yes, Bob Marshall’s Love Canals) and most oral contraceptions illegal …perhaps even murder. Now THAT is extreme.
I feel certain that one of our readers will repost that video where Marshall makes a total fool of himself.
Please, no, not the love canals! M-H, you are cruel! I tried to forget, but you keep reminding me, by Delegate is weird and perverted AND anti-choice. Darn it.
Ooops. I meant to say MY Delegate, meaning Delegate Bob Marshall.
M-H said: “(ssshhhh…n-a-t-i-v-i-s-t)”
Is that “sssshhhh” a Friday the 13th sound? I think Del. Miller is like Dr. Frankenstein and HSM is Frankenstein’s monster. Del. Miller created the monster and then it went out of control. Unlike Corey Stewart, he could see the political problem of HSM becoming known as a nativist group and, judging from my limited information, he tried to steer them away from it. At least publicly he did.
Here it is. Darn, you know I could not resist posting the luv canals and frat boys.
Here you go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6k4RrKNk7s
Alanna, and Bring it on,
Yes, I think you are radicals. ( guess Im being a little hypocritical now by calling people names.) If you read my earlier post you will also see that I call the bvbl crowd -nuts. They are radical also. All of the name calling (from both sides) simply gets old.
I have never liked anything about Letiecq or his style and yes (Bring it on) I have been critical of Letiecq for the past two years.
As for Jackson’s conference call, I think this was a great idea. I wish I had gotten the call. But for Ivan to say this is because jackson is getting nervous might be a little off mark. Jackson has been very active with communications to his constituants. His first year in Richmond he sent my daughter a letter for making the honor roll at Metz. I dont recall exactly what it said, but It had a quote about the value of education from Martin Luther King in it.
Imagine that, a radical racist sending a young impressionable white girl a letter with an inspiring quote from MLK. Dont forget Ivan, this was his first year in Richmond. Well before anyone ever heard of Barak Obama. (who by the way I also voted for)
Yes, Moonhowler’s opening comments on this thread were complimentary of Miller. Jackson Miller is not my delegate so I don’t follow that race too closely. But I definitely recall some radical statments by Mr. Letiecq over his opponent including calling her many horrific names. It was dispicable behavior.
And, I would invite Mr. Jackson Miller to participate in the discussion and answer any questions or concerns that his constituents may have.
Hi Alanna, I would agree with you 100% about Mr. Letiecq’s behavior when it comes to how Miller’s opponent was treated. However, it’s kind of like the pot calling the kettle black isn’t it? Is this sites treatment of some of our other public officials any less despicable?
I remember comparisons to Jane Fonda and the name Moon-bat. I recall Mr. L making fun of Unitarians and strongly implying that they were not an authentic religion. I recall the attacks on Unity in the Community because Ms. Rischell was involved with that organization.
I had to keep reminding myself that Delegate Miller did not say those things about Ms. Rischell, at least to my knowledge. It was like there were 2 people. The decent fellow many folks from around here knew: the one who served on the City Council, the one who was a much-respected cop, the kind of guy who would send that honor roll letter to a deserving student……and then the one Mr. L painted.
I just do not think the Delegate Miller is the type of person who would associate himself with that kind of trashy character assassination. From what I have read, he comes from a religious family who would not make fun of someone else’s religion.
Also, off topic but I just thought that I would mention it… I can no longer view this site at work, it has been labeled a “racist website”. Funny thing is I can view the other site with no problem. I have no clue how they determine which sites to block but I thought that it was funny this one got the “racist” tag and the other one didn’t.
The people who have been criticized here the most severely have been those already in office for their policy making. I do not see the parallel.
tbl,
First off, in case you’re unfamiliar with this blog or blogs in general. It’s an open discussion. If you have a problem with an anonymous poster like Ivan then address your disagreement with them. I’m not endorsing or condemning anybody but neither am I censoring anyone’s comments. You should be able to distinguish between an administrator(Moon-howler) and the people that post comments.
Again, the comments made by the administrator(Moon-howler) were far from radical unless you consider quotes such as –
to be completely outrageous.
Having said that, you are judged by the company you keep and his relationship with Letiecq is problematic. But it sounds like we agree on that. That’s really all I have to say on Jackson Miller.
Hello, either that is a mistake, or your boss used an ironic word choice to label his or her censorship. Can you check into it and let us know?
tbl, which Jackson Miller office are you writing from? Richmond or Manassas?
hello,
Don’t post to my blogsite during work hours. In fact, don’t even view my blog during working hours. You are being paid to do a job. Do it. Nothing irritates me more than to see people spending hours on my blog when they’re supposed to be working. Besides, you’re really stealing from your employer when you do that. And that ‘s probably the reason that they have blocked the site from you.
Hi ShellyB, I can ask a buddie in IT on Monday and will let you know. The other day I was on my lunch break and was just surfing, when I tried to pull up this site it said “this site has been blocked due to racist material”. I then tried to bring up the other site and had no problems at all.
Alanna, maybe I should have clarified that I was on my lunch break… Sorry Mom, I won’t do it again… 🙁
DNC Chair: Tim Kaine of Virginia.
RNC Chair: Michael Steele of Maryland.
Is that a coincidence? It seems like national politics are spilling out of Washington and scooping up Virginia and Maryland.