by Daniel Cox

A Breath of Fresh Air
For Rep. Brad Miller, politics is not about making a name; it’s about making a difference

In a city where politicians seldom speak without talking points and hesitate to don a tie without a second opinion, Rep. Brad Miller promises to stand out. After all, the former state senator from Raleigh, N.C., has built a reputation on his refusal to become a “typical politician.”

Flash back to election night, when Miller and his campaign staff were watching the returns come in at a polling place in Northern Wake County. By 10 p.m., staffers were confident enough that victory was at hand that Miller, on the biggest night of his political life…decided to turn in early. The following day, Doug Bell of the local NBC affiliate asked the Congressman-elect how he felt after winning the election. “I feel fine,” Miller responded.

Miller’s low-key style surfaced again a few weeks later, when he joined North Carolina Governor Michael Easley, Senator John Edwards, and Senator-elect Elizabeth Dole on a conference call to respond to a massive snowstorm that paralyzed the state and left millions without power. More than a month had passed since he won his House seat with 55 percent of the vote, but Miller was not prepared to start throwing his new title around. As the conference call began, one of Edwards’ staffers announced him: “Senator Edwards will be joining the call shortly.” Dole introduced herself as “Senator-elect Dole” when she joined the call. When it was Miller’s turn, he picked up the phone and said: “Brad Miller.” The Governor’s staffer leading the call asked Miller who he was, and the entire North Carolina press corps exploded in laughter. A couple of reporters were kind enough to save the Congressman-elect from having to present his credentials.

But he didn’t really mind. For Miller, politics has never been about making a name for himself. “Being involved in politics always struck me as a way to have a say in what our society is like and what our future is like,” he says. “I don’t want to sound like I have a martyr complex, but I admire the political leaders who have taken very difficult stands based on their own beliefs. Almost all of the political leaders in the South during the ’50s and ’60s who did not support segregation lost their seats in Congress as a result.”

A career spent acting on his convictions helped secure his triumph in last November’s race for North Carolina’s newly drawn 13th district. Before breezing to victory in the general election, Miller had to first overcome some fierce competition in the Democratic primary, where he faced five opponents, some of whom were among the state’s political elite.

Before his election to federal office, Miller spent six years in the state senate tending to the needs of North Carolina’s elderly and underserved constituents. When asked what year he introduced crucial legislation to expand protection for domestic violence victims, Miller tries to remember but can’t quite come up with it. (It was 1997.) “The reason Brad doesn’t remember every piece of legislation is because he’s always on the right side of the issue,” says Stella Adams, executive director of North Carolina’s Fair Housing Council. Adds Anne Winner of the North Carolina Coalition on Domestic Violence: “Miller was not only a strong advocate for victims of domestic violence, he was considered the ‘go-to’ legislator on a number of issues involving people who are particularly vulnerable in our society.”

In 1999, he helped pass one of the country’s first major predatory lending laws, which remains one of the most far-reaching enacted nationally. Equal justice also was one of the issues championed by Miller, who opposed efforts to cut legal aid in the state. “Clearly,” he says, “there are huge differences in the economic and political power of poor folks and rich folks, but the one place they have stood as equals has been the court—standing before a judge and jury.”

For Miller, such talk is not political rhetoric but the philosophy of an advocate who spent 10 years in private practice, where he developed a genuine appreciation for the profession. “It is through the law that people assert their rights,” he says. “Everyone should have a key to the courthouse.” 
The son of a post-office manager and a school bookkeeper, Miller attended public school in Fayetteville, N.C., where he excelled in his studies. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and finally his juris doctor from Columbia University School of Law. 

So while Miller may be understated as a politician, his credentials are as unique as his outlook. Like his hero, Robert F. Kennedy, Miller believes that a good leader is “able to evoke idealism” and “use the ability to bring this out in others.”