Excerpt of Joel D. Miller’s Re-Election Kickoff Speech at the Linn County Democratic Central Committee’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, 26 March 2008, at the Best Western Long Branch Hotel & Convention Center
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Good evening! My name is Joel Miller and I am the Linn County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections! Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak!
Tonight, I want comment on several things … my health, loyal opposition, paying my dues, my opponent, my accomplishments, my short-term goals and long term plans.
Before I begin, I would like to introduce my wife, Sylvia.
First, my health. Many of you know I had open heart surgery on December 13th. In January, I had a checkup with my heart surgeon. He told me my heart valve is not leaking and to come back and see him in one year. Now I know some of you are thinking the job stressed me out – and I certainly cannot rule out anything as a cause at this point – but if stress was a cause, then it was likely my daughter’s wedding on September 1st that was the cause. But the fact is, the doctors don’t know what caused my valve to fail – it just failed. The good news – it’s probably working better now than it ever did and I thought it worked pretty well before.
Thank you for your cards and phone calls; prayers and thoughts! I appreciate it!
Second, I want to talk about the concept of loyal opposition. Simply put, loyal opposition means you are expected to push back on your boss or your peers when you think they are wrong and at the end of the day, you still have a relationship with each other. I have subscribed to this concept for at least the last 20 years. I believe it leads to lasting friendships and productive teams. I practiced loyal opposition when I was chair of this Central Committee. I practice and encourage loyal opposition now as Auditor. But it can’t be practiced alone.
I was elected to do a job and I have literally put my “heart” in to it … and my fellow electeds would say the same. I am an autonomous elected official, the same as the county attorney, sheriff, treasurer, and recorder. We are not subservient to the Supervisors – that’s why we are independently elected to office and not appointed.
Loyal opposition. Think about it the next time you read about a disagreement between elected officials.
Third, I want to discuss paying my dues. I think it was in 1999 that I was elected – probably by default – to become Financial Secretary for the Central Committee. And in early 2000, I was elected to become Chair – a position I served in until mid-November 2004. I worked 20-40 hours a week – every week – as chair. I received no compensation. My reward was an “atta boy” once or twice a month. My perks –I got into most political events without paying and once in a while – I got to meet or greet – and maybe introduce some VIP – very important politician. On June 16, 2001 – less than 18 months after becoming Chair – I received the Iowa Democratic Party’s Bob Creech Award for Outstanding County Chair. It’s awarded to one and only one county chair each year. For the next 3+ years, I worked hard to build this team – the Central Committee – into the best in the State. If you believe in the concept of paying dues, I think I paid my dues to the Democratic Party and to the Central Committee well before I ever thought about running for Auditor or any other partisan office. And I’m still paying my dues.
Fourth, I want to give you some facts on my opponent. I could not recall my opponent attending a Democratic event or contributing to the Democratic Party in the time I was Chair … so I decided to initiate a public records request for his voter records as maintained by I-Voters, our statewide voting system – it cost me 75 cents.
According to I-Voters, my opponent voted in the 1984 and 1988 Republican Party primaries – which means he was registered as a member of the Republican Party. His only affiliation with the Democratic Party in the last 20 years appears to have occurred on January 3, 2008 – Iowa Caucus Night – when he decided to join the Democratic Party. If my opponent decided to run for County Chair tonight, would you elect him? Has he paid his dues?
Fifth, my accomplishments in the past 13 months.
· 4 county-wide elections
· Voter registration changes now entered directly into I-Voters while the customer is still at the counter to ensure accuracy of informa
· Staffed 8 voter outreach efforts in 2007 – took the office to the people
· Entire elections staff SEAT (Iowa State Election Administrators Training) certified
· Improved GIS (Geographic Information Systems) web site performance with better network connectivity and new server
· Blog – Views of the Linn County Auditor on www.gazettelonline.com
· Redesigned/reorganized Auditor’s portion of www.linncounty.org
· Archived and removed plat books from counter and integrated their content into PV Web database
· Supported temporary county (supervisor) redistricting commission with GIS/mapping services
· Redesigned daycare database for the Sheriff’s Office
· Mapped chemical site maps for Emergency Management Agency
· Produced maps to support Linn County Attorney’s court cases
· Combined the Accounts Payable and Payroll functions into one area, called Accounting.
· Reduced number of customers required to come to the counter by providing more data on web site 7×24
· Changed the preferred method of record storage from paper to electronic. New information is stored directly to an electronic format, old info is either being shredded or scanned into electronic format. This reduces our physical storage requirements, allows quicker retrieval of information, and quicker turn around time for getting information to employees and the public.
· Implemented Positive Pay for all County checks. Positive Pay is when our bank no longer returns our cleared checks to us. We send a file to the bank with the vendor name, date, amount, etc. We now view them online and the bank shreds the actual check. The check is verified at the bank. Previously they weren’t good until verified on the County financial system. We receive a file each night of cleared checks.
· Rearranged the Payroll area to optimize space and efficiency and improve privacy
Sixth, my short term goals. My short term goals are to make the Auditor’s walkup counter more customer friendly and efficient, to change out the voting machines after the June primary election, and to train the precinct election officials on the new equipment and changes to election laws for the November general election. We will have an audit trail for the November election and beyond!
And finally, my long term goals. Long term, I plan to lobby the 2009 Board of Supervisors to broadcast their meetings via the internet. I further plan to lobby the Board to take action to address the future space needs of the County.
Thank you for allowing me to speak. I talked about my health, loyal opposition, paying my dues, my opponent, my accomplishments, my short-term goals, and my long term goals.
I think I am the best qualified candidate to become the party’s nominee for County Auditor & Commissioner of Elections. I would appreciate your vote and your support in the upcoming primary. I will remain available after the meeting if you have any questions.
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Filed under: Speeches
