We all know that Harris Miller spent most of his adult life as a lobbyist. And we all the reputation of lobbyists these days, in the "culture of corruption"/Jack Abramoff era. But did you know how bad Miller's lobbying activities were? Check this out, from The New Republic of October 19, 1987.
Former congressional aides are prepared for the influence-peddling business by Congress's utilitarian approach to its work, and by its immersion in interest-group politics. Following the lawyer's model, Hill people believe that every side in a debate, every niggling interest, no matter how grubby its motives, deserves an advocate. And they see their job as doing everything they can to promote the interests of whoever pays the bills, be it a member of Congress or a corporation. "I believe in interest groups and the right of interest groups to be represented, and if I can represent them on the Hill, well, I will do it,' says Harris Miller, a former aide to Kentucky Democrat Romano Mazzoli's House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration who now has his own lobbying firm.
Miller's first big client was the National Council of Agricultural Employers, a group of large growers who use migrant and illegal alien workers. He helped them "streamline' certain provisions of the Simpson-Mazzoli immigration reform bill. When James Madison set out the doctrine of a government that mediated among conflicting interests, he did not intend that the interests and the mediators be the same group of people. Or that the interests would be represented based on their ability to pay.
Ouch.
By the way, the ITAA hired Miller because he was an immigration lobby specialist. That's what they needed to get H1-B visa legislation moving. Before that Miller had no connection with IT, only immigration. That's what the three previous lobby firms he worked for specialized in and that's what he did for Carter and Mazzoli. Kind of makes you wonder what Miller's opinion is on the current immigration debate.
Now, here's a link to an article called, "Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage," written by Dr. Norman Matloff of the University of California at Davis. Check this out:
Question: Since the industry says that the H-1Bs are so important to them, has it lobbied Congress to expedite the greencard process?Very few employers have done this. On the contrary, the ITAA's Harris Miller, in an interview with the press, said to the H-1Bs in essence, "If you don't like it, go home."
[Miller said] "They don't have to use the H-1B program. They can stay in their own country or they can go to another country. They are trying to turn this into an entitlement program."
This is an amazing statement for Miller to make. He has repeatedly claimed that the H-1Bs are vital to the U.S. economy, so why would he invite them to leave the U.S.? His emotional outburst illustrates the fact that ISN's lobbying exposes the real reason why Miller's clients want H-1Bs; indentured servitude.
Amazing, huh?
Finally, read this if you can believe it +óGé¼GÇ£ Harris Miller lobbying against forcing VOIP carriers to provide their customers with 911 service!
VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) carriers that connect to the U.S. public telephone network will be required this year to provide their customers with enhanced 911 emergency calling service, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled Thursday.Commissioners called E911 an essential service for all telephone carriers to provide, whether the carriers use the traditional public switched telephone network or IP networks. With E911, callers dialing 911 are connected to their local emergency dispatch center, and dispatchers see the address of the callers on their computers.
[...]
Although some VOIP carriers cheered the ruling, not everyone was happy with it. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), a technology trade group, accused the FCC of overstepping its authority in setting a deadline for VOIP carriers to offer E911. Laws giving the FCC its authority don't allow it to require social obligations of technology companies, and customer demand is sufficient to drive adoption of E911 among VOIP carriers, said Harris Miller, ITAA president.
"However well intentioned, today's FCC ruling seems to test the outer limits of the FCC's jurisdiction," Miller said in an e-mail statement. "Congress never intended the FCC to be the 'Federal Technology Commission,' with broad authority over technology applications and services."
So, let's get this straight. Harris Miller lobbied for big agribusiness to make it easier for them to exploit illegal immigrants. Harris Miller believes in a form of "indentured servitude" for H1-B workers. And Harris Miller opposes making all telephone carriers provide life-saving emergency 911 service.
The bottom line is that Harris Miller doesn't care about human beings, unless they're one of his rich, lobbyist cronies of course. It's just obvious, based on his own record and his own words. And this calls himself a "Democrat?"
[UPDATE: It is important to note that Harris Miller has bragged that he WAS the ITAA. This means that actions taken by ITAA really have to be looked at inseparably from Harris Miller, unless Miller was not telling the truth or exaggerating on this subject.]
DOWN WITH HARRIS! VIVA WEBB!
You know, it's fair to point out Miller's statements, associations, and lack of clarity on issues, but this kind of statement "Miller doesn't care about human beings unless they're one of his lobbyist cronies of course" is simply unnecessary, callous, and counter-productive.
These are the kind of damning statements that need to stop from both sides, in my opinion.
In Denver, we had a bad cut that took out a ton of traffic, including isolating over 10,000 people from E911 services. 6 people died while we tried to restore the service (took us 3 hours). 6 people in 3 hours.
Btw, if you don't have a phone account to your resident or business, and you plug in a phone to the jack, you will still get dial tone and be able to call 911.
Read about Kevin Flanagan
Other links:
http://www.displacedtechies.com
They have half a sidebar entitled "Harris Miller Alert!"
Another good source is http://www.zazona.com
Once these facts become more clear to the citizens of Virginia, Miller's credibility will be destroyed.
I speak with union rank and file rather regularly. I talk to working class people struggling to pay their bills after losing middle class jobs.
Say the word "outsourcing" around them and watch the fireworks.
In light of these facts, I have to ask people if Harris Miller is the sort of candidate that best represents the Democratic Party?
Yes, Harris has "old friends" in the Party. We know that.
We've also seen how people have this habit of endorsing Harris and then launching into attacks on Jim Webb. Very interesting and not a little bit embarassing, even kind of shameful.
After we've all had a chuckle over the humorous "Where's George Allen?" ads, think about the ads that might be made about Harris Miller: "Where did Harris send my job?" or "Where in India is my job, Harris?". You catch the drift, I'm sure.
Harris Miller's activities at the ITAA pro-outsourcing lobby inspires the sort of passionate hatred that cannot be smoothed over. His long record at the ITAA is very, very public. And people are starting to dig. They aren't going to stop.
Don't believe me? Do a google search on Miller's name and "outsourcing" or "H-1b".
Go have a look at http://www.itpaa.org or any number of other sites. Millers actions aren't in any way "secret".
The millions of people who were affected by Miller's actions haven't all just shut up and gone to work at Wal-Mart.
"Don't hire from the outside. You don't know what you're getting," says Don Beyer, talking about hiring for key jobs in his family-owned business and, as it happens, Harris Miller. That this statement would be used in talking about Harris Miller, who has spent years promoting replacing US IT workers with H-1B's, would be hilarious if the results of Miller's efforts weren't so damn tragic.
Well, Don, most of us didn't inherit family businesses where we can pick whom we hire. Nope, most of us have to work for others for a living. Harris Miller and ITAA have destroyed numerous tech professionals' careers - both new graduates who can't find jobs and long-time IT workers with loads of experience and a history of learning new technology, new programming languages, and new systems.