“It’s Mine.”
From Lower Slower Delaware by way of the Cape Gazette:
Michael Miller, who ran in last month’s Cape Henlopen School District Board of Education election [and had previously ran three times for Congress, most recently in 2008], was arrested Tuesday, June 2, for an incident that occurred at Shields Elementary School. As part of the condition of his bail, he is prohibited from having any direct or indirect contact with any Cape district personnel or property.
[Miller] went to the school to meet with school administrators about a disciplinary matter involving one of Miller’s children. [Allegedly] Miller became agitated, hostile and argumentative, according to the witnesses there. When the meeting concluded, one of the administrators opened the door for Miller, who continued to be argumentative. [Miller] walked into the hallway with his child’s discipline folder and continued to be loud.
Each of the administrators repeatedly asked Miller to return the folder. Instead, Miller retained the folder and told them he needed it to have when he interviewed some other school employees. The administrators refused to give him access to the employees. […] Later in the day he turned himself in at Troop 7, where police arrested him for theft and disorderly conduct. Bond was set at $1,000 unsecured, pending further court action.
But that is not the real story here. Sure, Mike Miller made an ass of himself and stole school property. But that is only background for what comes next. MJ, in offering Miller the Schmuck of the Week Award, related a story that strikes at the heart of a perennial problem in politics.
[D]uring a meet and greet for all of the candidates [for the school board] that a parent hosted, the only thing Mike talked about was how the Democratic Party was screwing him because everyone was lining up behind John Carney in his run against Mike Castle. “That’s my seat; it’s mine. If they would only back me I could beat Castle. They’re screwing me once again,” (again direct quotes). Mike, the reason the party is lining up behind John is that we actually want to win the seat this year.
His seat? That would be a crime against reason and democracy if Mike Castle said it. But for Mike Miller to say it, it reveals an insane delusion not seen since Rod Blageovich thought he was going to run for President in 2016. The insane delusion is easily dismissed. It is obvious that it is not his seat and we can all laugh at him for saying. But intelligent and rational politicians also become possessive of their “seats.” Witness Arlen Specter and his party switch all to keep his “seat.”
Celia Cohen, ever the practitioner of the Delaware Way, also engages in the possessive:
It is hard to think of anything the Republicans would relish more than taking away a Senate seat that otherwise could belong to the Bidens — or an affiliate — from 29-year-old Joe Biden’s victory in 1972 through 40-year-old Beau Biden’s old age.
Seventy years of Senator Bidens? Seventy-six years? More? Has anybody noticed the way Joe Biden sometimes goes to political events with his grandchildren along?
Belong to the Bidens? That Senate seat is ours. And by ours, I don’t mean Democrats, I mean Delaware citizens. That we continue to elect Joe Biden to it or may elect his son to it does not confer ownership of the seat. It just means we like the Bidens, is all. The same can be said of Mike Castle and Tom Carper and their combined string of 1,000 statewide electoral victories. This is a state that enjoys incumbents. The problem with that is that the incumbents take the wrong message from our enjoyment. We did not sign over the deeds to their seats simply because we elect them continuously.
On the other hand, some on the left and right also take the wrong message from the incumbents taking the wrong message, and they swing to a fervently anti-incumbent or anti-dynasty bias. For example, some liberal bloggers oppose Beau Biden just because he is Biden’s son. And there are others who oppose incumbents just because they have been in office a long time, never mind their performance in office. To me, that is an overreaction just as wrongheaded as politicians thinking a seat belongs to them. For me, it is all about campaigning and performance in office. If the voters like you, elect you and reelect you, I don’t care what your last name is or how long you have been there, just so long as you don’t start thinking that you own the place, because we, the citizenry, do.
Well said.
I didn’t know Miller was trying to run again. He sounds quite delusional. You have to have a bit of an ego to run for office, because you have to talk about how great you are and what a good job you’ll do.
It seems like politics also attracts the people with ego for no good reason as well, like the Protack, O’Donnell and Miller.
Some of us oppose Beau Biden because, as Joe’s son, he has been plugged into the Delaware Way without having earned anything, as best I can tell, in his entire life. Just like a lot of Delaware’s other legacy politicians and public officials, but in a higher office.
Miller was out of his league in the school board campaign….logic would dictate that he should try for the U.S. Senate.
UI – here’s his website, which was up and running during the school board election – http://www.mikemillerforcongress.com/.
I don’t know Miller, but I would do pretty much the same thing: insist on copying the documentation against my child, and insist on further examination and interviews based on what appears in that folder.
Hopefully I would do it in a more low-key way; obviously MIller’s approach wasn’t effective, but to me it sounds like he had the right instinct: to try to cut through the bullshit of the school disciplinary system and find out what really happened.
Come on guys, where is the DL skepticism?
When the meeting concluded, one of the administrators opened the door for Miller, who continued to be argumentative.
Excuse me, but if the parent was still talking and still had significant issues that had not been resolved – the meeting had not been “concluded.”
Translation: School administrators didn’t like the way the meeting was going so they kicked the parent out of the meeting.
Newton said Miller walked into the hallway with his child’s discipline folder and continued to be loud.
Sure – how else to you get them to hear you through a closed door.
Each of the administrators repeatedly asked Miller to return the folder.
Shame on the school for not offering him a copy. Why could he not take copies of the folder? The parent is the only person in the whole mess who represents the interests of the child. So if the school is using their documentation in support of some action that may negatively impact that child, the parent has every right to own, copy, discuss, examine, and critique that documentation.
Instead, Miller retained the folder and told them he needed it to have when he interviewed some other school employees. The administrators refused to give him access to the employees.
WTF? Go to their homes and get the info, Miller. You have the right to confront your accusers and cross-examine their witnesses. Go seize your rights. It is not illegal to have a conversation with someone. And if they won’t talk then the stories they told in those folders should be thrown in the garbage.
Obviously anon is living in a make-believe world. Or it’s Miller himself posting a response for being held out for all to see the buffoon he really is.
“Obviously anon is living in a make-believe world. Or it’s Miller himself …”
With our favorite perennial candidate, anything’s possible, MJ.
Look, two dopes coming here to defend kangaroo courts that use secret evidence.
I forgot that in Sussex when the school sends home a disciplinary letter, you are supposed to just beat your child and send them to bed.
The nerve of that man showing up with questions instead.
MJ – I’m going to go way out on a limb and guess you don’t have any kids, let alone had to defend them against some school administrative bullshit. Obviously you have no idea what goes on. Who is living in a fantasy world now?
Mis, what’s your excuse – just ordinary bending over for conformity’s sake?
No, I am not Miller or a supporter.
Anon – whether I have kids or not is immaterial, but knowing Miller, I call him on HIS bullshit. This isn’t the first time he’s pulled a stunt like this. I cannot say that the administrators were right or wrong, but knowing Miller, I’ll throw my lot with the administrators. And actually, I do know what goes on in Cape schools!
whether I have kids or not is immaterial
Whether you have kids or not is a rhetorical question you are not obliged to answer here. But if you want to tell other people they are living in a fantasy world, it is not immaterial.
I wish Miller would stop running for office. I am not defending Miller the so-called politician – I am defending Miller the parent.
Knowing school officials, I’ll throw my lot with the parents.