I don’t blame Congressman Gary Miller for not wanting to talk to the Los Angeles Times. Would you? Miller did, however, talk with Erica Werner from the Associated Press. Here’s Werner’s story:
Rep. Miller disputes report he used office for personal benefit
By Erica Werner with the Associated Press
GOP Rep. Gary Miller used congressional staff for personal errands and tried to get a federal appointment for a city councilman about to vote on buying Miller’s land, according to a published report Tuesday that Miller angrily denied.
A story in the Los Angeles Times said Miller, a real estate developer from Diamond Bar, asked aides to buy flowers for his wife for Valentine’s Day, find him concert tickets and help his son register for college classes. Miller used campaign money to pay rent for his corporate office, the story said, and asked a staffer to find a way to get a Monrovia city councilman on the federal National Park System Advisory Board.
The councilman, Robert Hammond, now mayor of Monrovia – a San Gabriel Valley town that is not in Miller’s district – ultimately voted to buy 165 acres Miller owned in Monrovia that he had been unable to develop. The $12 million purchase was approved unanimously by the council.
Miller, who did not comment for the Times story, said in an interview Tuesday that he never used congressional aides for personal chores. "That’s not something I do," he said.
All he did to help Hammond was have an aide send him information on the park board, Miller said.
Hammond realized he wasn’t qualified, and that was the end of the matter, the congressman said. Monrovia’s public information officer, Dick Singer, gave the same account after talking with Hammond.
Miller gave a point-by-point rebuttal of the Times story, which is based on accounts from four former staff members who spoke on condition of anonymity, as well as on correspondence from Miller’s office the Times reviewed.
"Creative writing is all I can assert it to be," Miller said. "It’s full of trash. If you want to find a hit piece full of trash, this is a good hit piece full of trash."
The Times defended the story.
"The Los Angeles Times stands behind today’s William Heisel story," spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan said in a statement, citing the reporter’s name. She declined further comment.
Some of the other points raised in the story, and Miller’s response:
-Miller has won re-election by large margins against token opposition in recent years. He uses his corporate office in Diamond Bar as his campaign office, but this year there were no outward signs it was being used for campaign work.
Nonetheless Miller has used about $25,000 a year in campaign funds to pay for use of the building and equipment, which would be self-enrichment if the office space wasn’t used for legitimate campaign purposes, the Times said.
Miller said all his campaign fundraising, calls and paperwork are done out of the office and noted federal law requires campaign uses to be paid for by campaign money. "If I didn’t reimburse myself you’d be calling the FBI on me right now," he said.
-Miller got staff involved in trying to get Rolling Stones tickets in 2002 and sent a fax himself on congressional letterhead to Ticketmaster trying to get "four (4) very good seats" for a Stones concert at Staples Center.
Miller denied knowing anything about the letter, which was signed with a stamp of his name, or about a memo on the tickets written by a staffer. He said he’s friends with the owner of Staples Center and would have called him directly if he wanted to go to a show.
