Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993 TAG: 9312170241
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Miller may be the candidate with the least baggage in a marquee field that includes fellow Republican Oliver North of Iran-Contra fame and Democrats U.S. Sen. Charles Robb and Gov. Douglas Wilder, but he also is the least well-known.
Acknowledging that he starts far behind North among Republicans, Miller challenged North to a series of 11 debates this winter.
"Some think of Mr. North as a hero," Miller said. "But is this sufficient reason to nominate him for the U.S. Senate?"
North was convicted of lying to Congress about his role in the arms-for-hostages scandal. The convictions were overturned.
"Ollie was not cleared," Miller said. "His convictions were overturned on a technicality."
Mark Merritt, North's deputy campaign manager, labeled the debate challenge "a publicity stunt. It's not our responsibility to jump start his campaign."
Merritt said North has raised $1.1 million for his campaign and "is taking nothing for granted. He is a very, vary hard worker."
Miller also had criticism for Robb and Wilder. "There are reasons for the negatives for all three. A lot of it has to do with personal behavior."
His attack on Robb was more pointed.
"The people of Virginia want a senator who doesn't abuse his position and about whom they won't shudder to pick up the newspaper in the morning and read about," Miller said. Robb has spent much of his term dealing with allegations of womanizing, attendance at drug parties in Virginia Beach and a federal investigation into his office's use of an illegally recorded tape of a Wilder telephone call.
"I pledge to tell you the truth. . . . I will account fully and accurately for my personal finances and for the public monies entrusted to me. I will conduct my private life in a moral and ethical manner. I will never abuse the power and responsibility given to me," Miller said.
Miller, 51, of McLean, is making his first run for elective office. He was senior staff economist for the Council of Economic Advisors under Presidents Nixon and Ford, led the Federal Trade Commission during President Reagan's first term and was budget director in Reagan's second term.
Miller claimed he would not be vulnerable to charges that, as Reagan's budget director, he helped build the largest debt in national history.
He insisted that the three budgets he prepared for Reagan "resulted in the three lowest budget deficits of the past 10 years. Spending, adjusted for inflation, actually went down during my first year."
Miller, who made stops Thursday in Norfolk, Roanoke and Abingdon, is a native of Georgia. Included on his campaign committee are former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese and former Republican National Chairman and Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter.
by CNB