Miller Will Serve Current Term to 2012

10:33 PM PDT on Thursday, August 20, 2009
By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise

Grand Terrace Councilman Jim Miller, charged with felony conflict of interest for voting to approve city payments to his wife's newspaper, said Thursday he will finish his term but will not seek re-election in 2012.

Miller declined to say in a telephone interview whether he is guilty or innocent. "That's what I am going to be proving" in court, he said. "I won't answer that question. "He would not elaborate on why he has decided not to resign or seek re-election.

Miller is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 30 in San Bernardino County Superior Court on a felony count that carries a prison sentence, if convicted, of 16 months to three years.

He was arrested July 15 on a charge stemming from payments the city made to the Grand Terrace City News from Oct. 26, 2006, through Aug.12, 2008. Prosecutor John Goritz said Miller had voted to approve the council's consent calendar authorizing payments to the weekly newspaper totaling about $18,000 for legal ads.

Miller, 61, returned Wednesday to his real estate services manager job for San Bernardino County. He had been on paid administrative leave since his arrest.County spokesman David Wert said officials "found no reason to keep Miller off the job any longer."

"They did a thorough investigation, and after that thorough investigation they decided they would go ahead and put me back to work," Miller said.

He said county officials found no connection between the county and the allegations in Grand Terrace, but told him "they would still be watching what happens with the criminal case. Then they would be making any future decisions from that.

"Miller said Grand Terrace City News is owned by his wife, Margie. "It's her sole and separate property," he said. In a report filed in support of the charge, a district attorney's investigator quoted Miller as saying that he had been told by CityAttorney John Harper when his wife bought the paper in 2006 that her ownership posed no conflict of interest.

Harper has since contended that his opinion dealt with whether the councilman's wife could make a purchase within the city-wide redevelopment agency boundary, not with Jim Miller voting on paymentsto the paper."That's his side," Miller said Thursday.

He declined to elaborate. Miller also contends that investigators misinterpreted a financial disclosure statement he filed Sept. 7, 2007. Investigators said Millerhad reported an interest in wife's business amounting to less than 10percent of the business's total worth. Jim Miller says he interpreted the form as inquiring whether his interest was 10 percent or less."So, when I put the form in, I put down that I did not own anything. They misinterpreted that," Miller said. He said since no interest is less than 10 percent, "I put it down as such."

Reach Darrell R. Santschi at 951-368-9484 or dsantschi@PE.com

A Reader Suggested that Jim Miller should just resign.

Here is my opinion why he should not. First of all he was elected and the Citizens knew of the City's Business with Grand Terrace City News Paper owned by Margie Miller. In addition, there is a question of was there a crime or a conflict to be resolved in the court of law. Finally I'd rather have Jim Miller as a Council Member on his best behavior than a "Appointed Replacement" selected by the Ferre Garcia Cortes Triad.

If I were a Council Member in Grand Terrace now or in the future, and if Jim Millers case is found to be a conflict of interest other members of the City Council may be subject to similar charges even if it is for a smaller amount of funds or influence. Waiting for a court resolution of the Miller case will define who is qualified or elegable to run for council in the future.