Joe Miller ( Alaska politician ) Joseph Wayne " Joe " Miller ( born May 10 , 1967 ) is an American attorney who was the Republican Party nominee and the Tea Party favorite in the 2010 U . S . Senate election in Alaska . He faced Democrat Scott McAdams and incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski , who after losing the primary to Miller , mounted a large and well - funded campaign as a write - in candidate in the general election . Miller then received the second largest number of votes , ( 35 percent ) , in the November 2 general election ; write - ins came in first ( at 41 percent ) . Election officials hand counted the write - ins using a voter intent standard which allowed ballots with misspellings of Lisa Murkowski ' s name to count for Murkowski , which gave her a lead of over 10 , 000 votes . Miller ' s campaign challenged 8 , 000 of the write in ballots , contending that state law required exact spelling , last name before first , no cross - outs and no additional words such as " Republican " . He filed two state court and one federal lawsuit and later one state supreme court appeal , claiming constitutional violations of equal protection , the of the U . S . constitution , and voter fraud as well as violations of the state election statute . The cases were dismissed by the courts because even if Miller had been correct about the law , he would still have lost to Murkowski by at least 2 , 000 votes . Miller conceded defeat on December 31 , and claimed that his battle had been to ensure voter confidence in the election process and transparency . During the election , Miller ran on the Tea Party platform of reduced taxes and government , opposition to abortion , repeal of the health care law passed by the Democrats in 2010 , and restriction of federal earmarks for local projects . Controversies concerned the handcuffing of a journalist during a campaign event by Miller ' s event security , the Miller campaign ' s release of a recording indicating television reporters intent to smear Miller , and the use , by Miller , of three computers owned by the Fairbanks North Star Borough for political purposes unrelated to his run for US Senate . Before running for the Senate , Miller worked as an attorney in private general practice , as a local government attorney , and as a U . S . magistrate judge assisting the Alaska federal district court with its caseload . He is a 1995 graduate of Yale Law School , a combat veteran of the 1991 Gulf War , and a graduate of the U . S . Military Academy at West Point . Originally from Kansas and the father of eight children , he and his wife and family moved to Alaska in the mid 1990s . In May 2013 , he announced that he would seek the Republican Nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Begich in 2014 . Early life and education . Miller was born and raised in Osborne , Kansas , to Sharry and Rex Miller . His father was a minister who owned a Christian book and gift store . He attended elementary school in Salina , Kansas and Salina Central High School , participating in debate , forensics and student congress , and graduating in 1985 . He has said that growing up during the Vietnam War era made him aware of the military , and eventually led to his enrollment at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1985 . While at West Point , he was a member of the Officer ' s Christian Fellowship and the Hunting and Fishing and Survival Games clubs . Career . Miller served three years of active duty in the U . S . Army . He was stationed at Ft . Riley , Kansas then deployed to the Persian Gulf War in 1991 where he served as a leader of a tank platoon that helped drive Saddam Hussein ' s army from Kuwait . His superiors called him " a true warrior leader tested under fire " , and he received a Bronze Star for leadership in combat . He has a service - connected hearing loss . He was honorably discharged in September 1992 , during a time when the U . S . was downsizing its military . He then served in the U . S . Army Reserve for five years . Following his discharge from active duty , Miller attended the Yale Law School where he was a member of the flagship chapter of the Federalist Society . He moved to Alaska in 1995 after earning his law degree , and accepted a position with Condon Partnow & Sharrock , a law firm in Anchorage . During Miller ' s Senate campaign , Alaskan media criticized him for his 1995 sworn application in which he claimed to be indigent and a one year continuous resident of Alaska to obtain a hunting and fishing license for $ 5 ; a $ 295 discount from the non - resident fee . The campaign responded that Miller had been a full - time student the previous year living on student loans , and that he was an Alaska resident when he purchased the license . Miller was appointed a state court magistrate for the remote village of Tok , as well as a superior court master for the Alaska ' s Fourth Judicial District in 1998 . During his U . S . Senate campaign , Miller , who had said federal entitlement programs are unconstitutional , was criticized for having received federal assistance from Medicaid and a federally funded Alaska health care program for low income families at this time of his life . His campaign responded that Miller had not received the aid since 2002 , and Miller said he did not oppose the state program itself , but did oppose its expansion . In 2002 , after moving to Fairbanks , Miller was appointed an acting state District Court judge for several months . From 2002 to 2004 he also served as a part - time U . S . magistrate judge , employing his wife for part of that time as a clerical assistant . In 2010 , while Miller was being scrutinized by the media , allegations were made that he had violated nepotism rules by hiring his wife , and he was criticized because she collected unemployment compensation after being forced to quit the job . Miller responded that the nepotism rules were different at the time she was hired , and the court verified that he initially had clearance from his superiors to employ her . Miller ' s former supervising judge on the federal court later criticized Miller for quitting the federal magistrate job without notice in 2004 , saying it left Fairbanks without a judicial officer for many months , and gave him a " negative opinion " of Miller . Miller spent seven years as a part - time assistant attorney for the Fairbanks North Star Borough ( 2002 – 2009 ) , while maintaining a private law practice from which he earned the bulk of his income . One of his major cases as borough assistant attorney involved successfully defending the borough ' s levy of a tax increase on the companies that own the Trans - Alaska Pipeline . In 2008 he misused the borough ' s computers for political purposes , ( to pad a poll as part of his campaign for Republican Party state chair ) . He was disciplined for his actions and for lying about them when first confronted by his superiors ; facts that became public knowledge during the last ten days of the 2010 Senate campaign . His supervisor said that Miller was under stress at the time . He resigned from the assistant attorney post in September 2009 over disputes involving a possible conflict of interest in a case and his request for time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act . As of early December 2010 , the borough was considering pursuing charges against Miller for deleting more than 15 , 000 e - mails in the days following his resignation . Miller ' s attorney responded that it was routine to delete non - essential e - mails and that the borough ' s inquiries were an attempt to threaten a candidate and illegally interfere with an election . The Alaska Republican Party chair , Randy Ruedrich , said the borough was engaging in " cheap drama " . In 2008 , Miller received a Master ' s Degree in Resource and Applied Economics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks . He currently lives in Fairbanks , where he owns a law practice . However , public address sources do not list an office location ; his professional address listed with the Alaska State Bar Association is a post office box that resolves to a small post office substation near the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus . 2004 and 2008 political activities . In 2004 , Miller ran for a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives , winning the Republican primary . He ran as a moderate Republican in the general election , but lost to Democratic incumbent David Guttenberg . In 2008 , while he was serving as Interior regional chairman of the Alaska Republican Party , he unsuccessfully tried to oust Randy Ruedrich as the state Republican Party chairman . The " Alaska Dispatch " described Miller ' s effort as part of a power struggle between " the old guard versus the new Palin - led faction " , and reported that Miller arrived at the state Republican Party convention accompanied by a security detail of four bodyguards . Miller resigned his regional chairmanship and temporarily quit the GOP the day after the 2008 convention . 2010 Senate campaign . Republican primary election . Miller announced his candidacy in April 2010 saying that the U . S . republic needed to be defended from a " head - long plunge into socialism and more government control " . His chief opponent for the Republican nomination was incumbent U . S . Senator Murkowski . He quickly picked up endorsements from current and former Alaska politicians including State Senators Fred Dyson and John Coghill , and State Representatives Tammie Wilson . Former Lieutenant Governor Jack Coghill and Loren Leman , Wes Keller also endorsed him . Former Governor Sarah Palin endorsed Miller ' s candidacy in early June 2010 . The Tea Party Express began funding TV , radio , and direct mail ads on Miller ' s behalf shortly after , spending $ 600 , 000 on what the " Los Angeles Times " called a " blitz " of " attack ads " against Murkowski . Miller said he spent approximately $ 100 , 000 of his own funds on the primary campaign . " The New York Times " described Murkowski as an establishment candidate , and called Miller a " Tea Party upstart " , and the race was viewed as a test of the power of the Tea party movement . Miller won the August 24 primary by garnering 1 , 668 more votes than Murkowski , according to the initial count . Murkowski did not concede until one week later , when after more than 15 , 000 absentee and other uncounted ballots were tallied , she still remained 1 , 630 votes behind Miller . General election . Miller faced two candidates in the general election , Democrat Scott McAdams , and Lisa Murkowski , who announced a write - in campaign on September 17 . After securing the Republican Party nomination , he received backing from the state Republican Party , Senator Jim DeMint , and the National Republican Senatorial Committee . Various groups from outside Alaska endorsed Miller and contributed large sums of money to his general election campaign , including the Tea Party Express , the Safari Club International , and the National Right to Life Committee . Alaska ' s only representative in the House , Republican Don Young , declined to endorse either Murkowski or Miller . Former governor Palin appeared at a campaign rally with Miller for the first time in late October 2010 . During his general election campaign , Miller said he supported sharp reductions in federal spending and stronger states ' rights . He told the Washington D . C . newspaper " The Hill " that the nation ' s problems were caused by activist judges who had permitted government growth and allowed dependency and " the entitlement state to grab hold " . The Democratic National Committee and other Democrats began painting him as a far right candidate . Confident of his election , Miller told the media that he wanted to serve on the Senate Judiciary and Armed Services committees . Following a mid - October leak of information about his work record as a borough attorney , Miller held a news conference telling reporters that he was drawing a line in the sand and would not answer any more questions about his past . Journalist handcuffed . Miller received national press attention after campaign security guards handcuffed and made a 30 minute private arrest of a journalist following a town hall campaign event in an Anchorage public school on October 17 , 2010 . Bill Fulton , the owner of the unlicensed security firm said the journalist , Tony Hopfinger , was trespassing at a private event and had assaulted a Miller supporter by shoving him . Fulton was subsequently named as the federal informant who supplied weapons to a radical accused of plotting the deaths of officials in Fairbanks . The " Anchorage Daily News " described the event as public , and a school district spokesperson noted that the hallway where the arrest took place was a public area . Hopfinger said he had been trying to ask Miller whether he had been disciplined while working as a local government lawyer , when he was suddenly surrounded by guards and supporters , and bumped or shoved against one of them . No charges were filed against anyone in relation to the incident . Miller responded that Hopfinger ' s actions were " beyond the pale " because he had followed Miller into the men ' s room . Hopfinger said that he asked no questions until after the townhall event when both men were back in the hallway . After the incident , Miller granted interviews and discussed certain issues regarding his past employment with national news outlets , though he had previously refused to discuss the same issues with the Alaskan media . The information about Miller ' s discipline and suspension that Hopfinger was attempting to ask Miller about was released by the borough on October 26 , in response to a lawsuit filed by several Alaska news organizations . Allegations of media bias . In late October 2010 , Sarah Palin announced on Fox News Channel that the Anchorage CBS - TV affiliate , KTVA , had been conspiring to make up stories about Miller and that the campaign had proof . It seemed that KTVA personnel had failed to hang up a phone after leaving a message for Miller ' s campaign spokesman and that their later comments were recorded on the spokesman ' s voicemail . During the conversation , they laughingly considered twittering about chaos at a Miller rally , and falsely reporting that sex offenders were there . The station ' s general manager initially took no action , saying the remarks were taken out of context , but he later fired two producers involved , and canceled two newscasts to hold a staff meeting discussing ethics in journalism . Election result . On November 3 , the winner remained undetermined ; write - in ballots comprised 41 % of the vote , Miller had 34 % , and McAdams had 24 % . McAdams later conceded , but the result required a hand - count of the write - in ballots to see what names were written on them . Miller ' s campaign manager announced that several teams , including attorneys , would be going to Alaska to watch the ballot count . Miller gained about 2 , 100 votes in the count of absentee ballots that was done on November 9 in Juneau , and trailed the write - in votes by 11 , 333 at the end of the day . The hand count of the write - in ballots began on November 10 . After two days , the Alaska Division of Elections had examined about 48 percent of the ballots and had tallied about 98 percent of them as votes for Murkowski , despite objections from Miller ' s team of observers to spelling errors , legibility , and additional words such as " Republican " . When the last of the more than 100 , 000 write - in votes were counted on November 17 , the Associated Press and the Republican Party of Alaska called the race for Murkowski . At that point , Murkowski ' s lead was more than 2 , 000 votes larger than the number of ballots challenged by Miller . On November 18 , Murkowski declared victory , but Miller did not concede the race . Miller hoped to win the Senate seat by means of a federal lawsuit that he filed on November 9 , 2010 . He alleged that Alaska election officials were violating the of the U . S . Constitution and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because they were using a voter intent standard to determine which ballots to count for Murkowski . He argued that the State statute regarding write - in votes should be strictly applied and asked the federal court to throw out all the ballots that misspelled the name " Murkowski " , or that did not write in Murkowski ' s name exactly as it appeared on the list of write - in candidates . He cited an Alaska election statutes that states : " " The rules set out in this section are mandatory and there are no exceptions to them . A ballot may not be counted unless marked in compliance with these rules . " " Election officials said that state case law allowed them to use discretion in counting ballots with misspellings or other variations . The first judge assigned to the case recused himself because he said he had a negative opinion of Miller dating to 2004 when he was Miller ' s judicial supervisor . Miller filed a preliminary injunction as part of the suit , asking that the federal judge immediately order the State to stop counting the ballots , due to irreparable harm that would happen if the counting continued , but the request was denied . The votes challenged by Miller ' s team were put in separate boxes , leaving it to the lawsuit to decide whether they would be counted for Murkowski . On November 11 , the Miller campaign alleged it had received reports of voter intimidation and fraud and that it would be filing a lawsuit in Alaska state court asking for voters rolls for certain precincts to determine whether the precincts had counted more ballots than there were registered voters . Miller told Fox News Channel on November 18 that his campaign may request a recount , investigate the voting machines , and look into whether the absentee ballots for the military were mailed in a timely fashion . The federal judge held the suit could be decided by reference to State law , and directed Miller to file in State court , which he did on November 22 , stopping the certification of election results and possibly delaying the seating of a second Senator for Alaska at the beginning of the new term in January . Miller ' s Alaska state court lawsuit essentially repeated his federal suit allegations , but added new charges of voter fraud , claiming that precinct election officials had allowed voting without proper identification , and claiming that identical handwriting was suspiciously found on multiple ballots , which was also a violation of the requirement that a voter must personally pen a write - in ballot . Miller offered a new argument at a December 8 hearing ; that hundreds of convicted sex offenders and possibly other felons were allowed to vote in the November election . On December 10 , the Alaska Superior Court ruled against all of Miller ' s claims , finding the hand count of the write - in ballots valid . The court said that the State statute does not require perfect spelling , and said that if the State legislature intended exact spelling it , would have said so . The emphasis , the court said , should be on making sure voters are not disenfranchised The judge also wrote , " To allow for write - in votes with less than a perfect spelling of a candidate ’ s name , as long as voter intent is clear . . . [ is ] a commonsense interpretation , which the court believes would be evident to most Alaskans ” . The judge also rejected Miller ' s demands for a hand count of all the ballots cast in the election , not just those with write - in votes , because state law did not provide for it . He dismissed Miller ' s claims of possible vote fraud as based on speculation , “ Miller ’ s affidavits do not provide any facts of wrongful conduct at polling stations and not even circumstantial evidence of wrongdoing , ” he said . The Miller campaign responded to the ruling by stating that votes that did not meet the standard established by the state legislature were not valid , and that that equal protection and fundamental fairness required a hand count of all the votes and an investigation of fraud allegations . The judge allowed a brief stay so that Miller could appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court . On Wednesday , December 22 , 2010 the Alaska Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision and denied Millers suit . The high court , in its ruling , called voter intent " paramount , " and said " any misspelling , abbreviation , or other minor variation in the form of the candidate ' s name on a write - in ballot does not invalidate a ballot so long as the intention of the voter can be ascertained . " and " The State characterizes the standard urged by Miller as the ' perfection standard , ' and we agree that such a standard would tend to disenfranchise many Alaskans on the basis of ' technical errors " . On December 28 , U . S . District Judge Ralph Beistline dismissed Miller ' s claim and allowed certification of the election of Senator Lisa Murkowski to go forward without delay . On December 30 , 2010 , Alaska state officials certified the election of Lisa Murkowski as the winner of the Senatorial election , making her the first U . S . Senate candidate to win election via write - in since Strom Thurmond in 1954 . Miller conceded the race on December 31 . In June 2011 , a judge found that Miller ' s lawsuit was aimed at winning the election and not in the interest of upholding the state constitution as Miller had claimed . He was ordered to compensate the State of Alaska approximately $ 18 , 000 for legal fees incurred by the State . Political positions . Miller supports an amendment to the U . S . Constitution that would require a balanced federal budget and another amendment to the Constitution to give the President a line - item veto of specific spending items approved by Congress . Miller also supports a suspension of all new entitlement programs and a suspension of all earmarks . He would allow federal funding of specific earmark projects once the federal budget is balanced , but only if Congress votes yes by a two - thirds majority for every such project after public hearings are held . He supports a requirement that each bill enacted by Congress specify the provision in the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does . He would also limit the scope of each bill and its amendments to only one issue . He opposes federal aid programs such as federal farm subsidies , the federal minimum wage , and unemployment benefits . He would eliminate the U . S . Department of Education . Miller supports a repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , which would return the election of U . S . Senators to the state legislatures . He would reduce American foreign aid . He would vote to repeal the 2010 health care legislation . He opposes cuts to Medicare or Social Security benefits for current retirees . He supports privatizing ( or " personalizing " ) Social Security and Medicare for younger workers . and would remove the federal government as the social security provider , and give the states option of providing their own social security type programs . He has said that scientific evidence for global warming is " dubious at best " . Miller opposes abortion , including in cases of rape and incest , and would allow it only when the mother ' s life is in danger . He describes himself as pro - life . He supports the death penalty . Miller stated at a town hall meeting that he believed East Germany was an example of a nation taking effective measures to control the flow of people across a border . Miller is opposed to Alaska Native Regional Corporations . Personal life . Miller is married and the father of six children and the step father of two . His second wife , Kathleen , claimed to be a teacher when she was appointed in 2009 by Sarah Palin to the Alaska Judicial Council , a committee that nominates new state judges , though her teaching certificate expired in 1996 .