Glendoran Makes Another Run For Congress

David Miller, a 47-year-old real estate developer from Glendora, is making another run for Congress, this time in the 32nd district.

The conservative Miller ran for Congress in 2010 as an Independent, but voters went with the entrenched Republican candidate David Dreier.

But with a new district and with speculation of Dreier’s retirement, Miller confirmed he is running for Congress in the upcoming November election.

With the state’s fiscal health in shambles, and what he calls an increasing public mistrust in how government is run, Miller said the motivation to seek his first elected office is as strong as ever.

The 32nd Congressional district, which includes El Monte, Baldwin Park, West Covina, San Dimas, Monrovia, and a southern portion of Glendora, had been called “unfavorable” for Republican candidates because of it’s Democratic-leaning communities.

Currently, Miller’s only other opponent is Democrat Grace Napolitano, D-Norwalk, who moved from her hometown of Sante Fe Springs to run in the district.

Napolitano, 74, has advocated for medicare, social security and education, as well as the creation of new jobs, said her representative Chris Bryant

While Miller is running in this election as a Republican, Miller says he is less interested in defining party lines.

"The system has created this Us Vs. Them mentality, when in reality, Republicans and Democrats are becoming pretty much the same," said Miller. "It seems like  government is there to steal from someone else to take back to their constituents so they can get elected... but their role is to go to Congress and make sure their people don’t get stolen from."

Instead, Miller said he would prefer to establish ideals – ideals he said would return the country back to the original intent of the nation’s Founding Fathers.

That ideal is what Miller is basing his campaign message on, and an ideal he says he will continue to strive for if elected to office.

“If you read an article in Section 8, it talks about various powers of the government and the things they’re allowed to do,” said Miller. “But now the federal government is doing whatever they feel like doing.

“You look at the premise of Obamacare,” said Miller.  “The fact that the federal government thinks they have a role in medicine, it’s completely antithetical to the founders of this country and to what their belief their role was to be.”

Miller, his wife Irene –  who ran unsuccessfully for the Glendora Unified school board in last year’s election –  and two of his children have lived in Glendora since 1999.

Miller, who said he was always politically aware, said he felt compelled to become more politically engaged when his business began to falter two years ago.

“I started asking, ’Where are the leaders?’ I felt like God tapping me on the shoulder and telling me, ‘You’ve got to become one,” said Miller.

Joe Gardner, a West Covina resident and Republican candidate for Glendora’s new 48th Assembly district, is collaborating with Miller on his campaign.

“I’m an average Joe citizen, but I think we’re all fed up with the economic problems of the state,” said Gardner. “I think everyone wants to see our economy improved.”

But the only way the state can turn around its economic woes is if government begins returning to Constitutional ideals, said Miller

“The Constitution is a contract, and that contract is constantly being broken,” said Miller. “At the same time, we're getting deeper in this hole we can't get out of. The window is closing, but I think there is an opportunity to make things happen, for us and our kids.”