(January 21, 2001) Senate President Mike Miller is the ultimate 'big man on campus' in the Annapolis. Recognizing his role as power broker without equal, the legislature has now named its new Senate Office Building after him.

The Miller Building is a monster. But the tour we got reveals a level of planning and careful attention to detail that is a credit to Senator Bobby Neall, who was the ramrod for this undertaking. In this project, leadership got all that it wanted, and that of course is the theme which most befits the building's namesake. Miller gets what he wants.

Legislators and guests gathered on the 9th to dedicate the building. While it comes pre-equipped with skeletons already in the closets, this was a day to reflect on Miller's unprecedented run as President of the Senate, so guests politely avoided touring the Gerry Evans wing or the Trophy Room featuring Larry Young and Bromwell displays.

On the subject of achievements, our community will forever remember Miller for his fundamental role in gun legislation over nearly fifteen years. Mike Miller twice oversaw the demise of our serious attempts to add a "Right to Keep and Bear Arms" guarantee to the state constitution - once as head of the Judicial Proceedings committee, and once early in his career as Senate President. He was at the helm in 1988 to ensure passage of HB 1131 - the famous Saturday Night Special ban. In the early 90's he allowed MSP to indulge in cherry picking, adding select new measures to keep up harassment of lawful gun ownership. As his tenure in Senate leadership grew, so did his chutzpah. He championed the practice of assigning gun bills to other committees in order to by-pass a rightful committee's reasoned opposition to laws he wanted. The first such victory was in 1994: SB 619 went on the books as our "assault pistol" ban, after being voted to the Senate floor by an environmental affairs committee.

Parris Glendening came to town as Governor, bringing promises of gun control. The man he turned to as architect of his nefarious dreams was Mike Miller, who produced for Parris in return for an even greater say in party affairs. After deferring the question for a year's worth of phony-baloney study - 1995's Commission on Gun Violence - up came SB 215 in 1996: The Gun Violence Act. As always, sentiment in Judicial Proceedings was close but Miller and Glendening teamed up to convince the pro-gun sell-out Ed Middlebrooks to burn his Senate career on the alter to big government by flipping his vote to pass the bill out of committee. Middlebrooks was a casualty of gunowner wrath in the next election, but not before Miller (and, to give him his due, House Speaker Casper Taylor) gave us the ban on private transfer of handguns, one-gun-a-month sales, and so much more.

During Glendening's second term, Miller was becoming a wheel in national party affairs. So when Bill Clinton came calling to get state level gun control he couldn't pass in Congress, Mike Miller delivered for his President and party. This was SB 211 last year, the so-called Responsible Gun Safety Act. Given the resources available to us in 1998 elections, we did the right things to build defenses against the anticipated attack. But power is a heady potion, and Miller had been drinking deep for many years. By 2000, he didn't feel the need to even use the rules. He by-passed our defenses and simply shrugged when opponents complained. As he shamelessly explained at the time, it's his Senate so he can do what he wants. Well, he both wanted and got his gun control, and you and I are both now living with the results: skyrocketing prices on handguns, if you can get them at all.

In moving forward each new gun control measure, Miller (we think sincerely) has pointed out what more the left had wanted that did not become law: licensing of gun owners, outright bans on possession of handguns and more. We all know this to be the logic of the mugger, who will do you a favor by compromising and only taking half your money. Reflecting on this, we recall something Miller observed to us years ago: He said his problem is that he compromises too much and that our problem is we compromise too little. This casts some light on how he has viewed the process of legislating gun control over the years. But we also remember another saying we first heard from Mike Miller: The higher a baboon climbs in the tree, the more he shows his ass. He's sure teaching us the meaning of that one.

Maryland once had a proud tradition of running its government via citizen legislators and citizen advocates, who met for 90 days to handle the affairs of state, but then went home to be 'just folks.' Mike Miller is overseeing a transition to government run by professional legislators and paid lobbyists, governing by polls and partisan games to ensure their own job security instead of looking ahead to meet real constituent needs. Even independent of gun issues, we think that's too bad. Maryland will not be better for this change.

The last word on Miller's legacy is not yet written, but to us the first chapters are kind of sad. And taxpayers, watch out. Seeing the homage paid Miller, now Speaker Cas Taylor wants one. (Err … a building.)