CA-39: Roycerdammerung cancelled! Miller last seen heading east

By
Greg Diamond
– January 12, 2012Posted in: "The OC", Fresh Juice

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Gary Miller on the train to Cucamonga

Gary Miller hops onto the train to Cucamonga and points east!

Orange County won’t have Gary Miller to kick around in Congress anymore.  Neither, for that matter, will his home of Diamond Bar.  Neither, most importantly from his perspective, will Congressman Ed Royce, with whom he was locked in a death match in the new CA-39.  (Honors for the scoop apparently go to Martin Wisckol and his Total Buzzers at the Register.)

Miller is hopping on the train past Anaheim and Azuza all the way to Cu-ca-mong-a — that fulfills my Jack Benny Show joke quota for the first quarter of 2012 — and points east, all the way to San Berdoo.

The retirement of Jerry Lewis — and let’s all of us of a certain age scream out one last “Pretty layyy-deeee” in his honor — rather than running in CA-31 (or CA-08, for that matter) has immediately shaken up Southland politics, and Rep. Miller’s abrupt departure from OC is the first casualty.  For people in my half of the new Congressional district, this probably means no more mailers from him (and Royce may not even have to bother with them, barring strong competition), something about which I am somewhat sad — and just now I got over it.

Miller will be pulling his train into a nominally Democratic district.  According to the redoubtable (but rarely doubtable) Around the Capital website, Miller’s main competition in the Cuca-to-Berdoo district on the Democratic side will likely be long-time anti-Dreier opponent Russ Warner and Redlands Councilmember Pete Aguilar, though a Baca may also be in the mix.  On the Republican side, this was a district where Dreier himself was rumored to be likely to land, and State Senator (and outgoing Minority Leader) Bob Dutton has also been mentioned, but Miller has beaten both of them to the punch.

This has the makings of a fine race.  As a big developer, Miller is no stranger to the area — although it will take more research to see what parts of the district, if any, he has personally despoiled.  On the negative side, if you’re Gary Miller — and if you are, fix my street’s potholes before you go — the district has a 4-point Democratic advantage in registration.  Obama won it by 15; Brown won it by 7.  Then again, Miller is going to have a pot of money that will be dwarfed only by … that of Ed Royce!  Plus, he’ll be a carpetbagger, and we all know that carpetbaggers never win, except for when the do, which is not uncommonly.  (See entry for “McClintock, Tom.”)

OC will miss having Gary Miller, whose current reign stretches from La Habra through the canyons to Mission Viejo and environs, to kick around.  He was not as bad as some.  (Although: Warner, Aguilar — call me!)

About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)