The congressman from the 42nd District is Gary Miller, a Republican first elected in 1998. He was born in Arkansas but grew up in Whittier. In his early 20s, he became a home builder and later developed planned communities. He is among the wealthiest members of the House. He began his public service in 1988, when he was appointed to the Diamond Bar Municipal Advisory Council. A year later, after Diamond Bar was incorporated, Miller was elected to the City Council and served as mayor. In 1995, he was elected to the California Assembly in a special election. After chairing the Assembly’s Budget Committee, he decided in 1997 to run for the U.S. House against scandal-tarred incumbent Republican Jay Kim, who had pleaded guilty to accepting and concealing $230,000 in illegal campaign contributions. Miller emphasized standard Republican themes—lower taxes, tougher penalties for crime, improved local education—and financed his campaign largely with his own money. He won the all-party primary with 48% to 26% for Kim. Democrats did not pose a serious challenge in November. Read More

The congressman from the 42nd District is Gary Miller, a Republican first elected in 1998. He was born in Arkansas but grew up in Whittier. In his early 20s, he became a home builder and later developed planned communities. He is among the wealthiest members of the House. He began his public service in 1988, when he was appointed to the Diamond Bar Municipal Advisory Council. A year later, after Diamond Bar was incorporated, Miller was elected to the City Council and served as mayor. In 1995, he was elected to the California Assembly in a special election. After chairing the Assembly’s Budget Committee, he decided in 1997 to run for the U.S. House against scandal-tarred incumbent Republican Jay Kim, who had pleaded guilty to accepting and concealing $230,000 in illegal campaign contributions. Miller emphasized standard Republican themes—lower taxes, tougher penalties for crime, improved local education—and financed his campaign largely with his own money. He won the all-party primary with 48% to 26% for Kim. Democrats did not pose a serious challenge in November.

Since then, Miller has come under scrutiny for questionable ethics himself. Several of his land deals have been investigated by the media and the Justice Department. One involved Miller’s sale of 165 acres to the city of Monrovia, Calif. According to several published reports, he made $10 million on the deal, then avoided paying capital gains taxes by claiming the land had been threatened by an eminent domain action by Monrovia. In another case, he got a $1.28 million earmark in an appropriations bill to improve streets in front of development property he co-owned in the town of Diamond Bar. Miller has maintained that he did nothing wrong and that he was the victim of a smear campaign by Democrats. He was named in 2009 in a leak of information about members under investigation by the House ethics committee.

Miller has a conservative voting record in the House, and became one of the Tea Party Caucus’ early members in July 2010. He drew national attention for his bill calling for an end to birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil. Miller has advanced some original proposals: He sponsored a bill giving Internet service providers a cause of action against spammers, with $500 per message in penalties. A Civil War buff, Miller sponsored a bill to preserve Civil War battlefields after discovering that nearly 20% of the major battle sites have been lost.

On the Financial Services Committee, he was active on legislation to address the mortgage crisis and sought to increase the maximum mortgage-loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in high-cost areas such as California. In 2009, he got a bill through the House to allow banks and mortgage services to temporarily enter into leases on foreclosed properties, a move intended to give families a chance to stay in their homes.

Democrats talked about trying to unseat Miller in 2008 in light of his ethics troubles. But they failed to put up much of a fight. Miller won easily, 60%-40%, over Montebello lawyer and school-board member Ed Chau in a low-budget contest.

Two years later, however, anti-incumbency sentiment led Miller to draw three GOP primary challengers: Whittier business owner Phil Liberatore, Chino investment services executive Lee McGroarty and Diamond Bar salesman David Su. They criticized him for his support of the massive government rescue of the financial industry. And they seized on an article in Harper’s that said several biographical entries portrayed him as serving in the Army during Vietnam, though Miller was in the service for just seven weeks before being discharged. But Miller poured money into the race, lending his campaign $475,000, and said he had not inaccurately described his military service, which he said was ended by health problems. He held on to win with 49%, with Liberatore drawing 37%, McGroarty 11%, and Su 3%.

Miller suffered two personal tragedies in 2007. His 33-year-old daughter died for reasons that were not made public, and the children of one of his sons were abducted by their mother after a bitter custody dispute.