I can't hardly keep up with all the recent news of unethical behavior...
Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) is the latest name to surface in Beltway headlines. According to The Hill newspaper, Miller secured a number of earmarks in the 2005 transportation bill that benefitted his business partner, Lewis Operating Corporation. Miller has long-standing business ties to Lewis Operating, and enjoys their money, too - since he joined Congress in 1998, Lewis employees have donated $22,150 to his campaign committee.
Miller also has partnered or been involved with a number of real-estate transactions with the company in the past five years, making $1.1 million to $6 million in profits from deals involving Lewis Operating in some part of the transaction, according to the lawmaker's financial disclosure reports.
The FBI has been investigating several of Miller's land deals, particularly the sale of 165 acres to the city of Monrovia in 2002. Miller made at least $10 million on the deal, but has faced scrutiny for avoiding paying capital gains taxes on the land by telling the IRS that the city had threatened to seize the land through eminent domain, and subsequently reinvesting the profit into land purchased from Lewis Operating.
There's much, much more in the article, including specifics of multi-million dollar earmarks for projects that would directly benefit Lewis Operating's real estate developments.
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