John Miller proved short-sightedness of term limits law
By Roy Ockert Jr.
June 21, 2014
Although slight in stature, John E. Miller was a giant in the Arkansas Legislature during most of the 40 years he served there. Miller died Wednesday night at his home in Melbourne at age 85.
Miller was first elected to the state House of Representatives in 1959 and served 20 terms before he retired at the end of 1998. His district primarily included Izard County and portions of Independence and Sharp counties — at least during the years when I was editor of the Batesville Guard, which covered all three.
My favorite recollection of Miller, though, came from an earlier time — when I was a student newspaper editor at Arkansas State College in Jonesboro, and A-State was seeking university status.
Miller, who graduated from A-State himself in 1949, was one of the leading supporters of the university status legislation when it came up for the second time in 1967. It was a big deal to A-State supporters, staff, alumni and students because at the time Arkansas had only one university — the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville — whose leaders opposed the effort both times.
But A-State got support from an unexpected source in 1967. While the legislation was in process, the U of A student newspaper, The Traveler, endorsed university status for A-State and chided UA officials for opposing it.
The late Bill Ebbert Jr., a Jonesboro native who was then editor of the UA yearbook, arranged to have a bundle of the newspapers flown to Little Rock on the same plane that carried UA President David Mullins, who was to speak against the legislation. At least that’s what Bill, whom I had met at Boys State several years earlier, told me, and I had no reason to doubt him.
A-State officials managed to get the newspapers distributed to legislators at a critical time — just as the House was taking up the bill.
Dr. Eugene Smith, then the top aide of ASC President Dr. Carl R. Reng, later told me the inside story, which I used in a 2004 column after Ebbert’s death:
“John Miller, an A-State graduate, was at the podium to speak in behalf of our bill about the time we arrived and our people began distributing copies of the Traveler on the floor. We made our way up to the gallery, and instantly you could see everyone’s eyes turning to the key item in that newspaper.”
Miller got his copy while still at the podium, and a photo taken of him reading from it became one for the archives of ASU history.
The bill easily passed in the House, where similar legislation had been stymied in 1959, and went on to Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller, who signed it, as he had promised.
That was just one of many achievements on Miller’s legislative record. As a longtime member of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, he became known as the foremost expert on state government financing, served as House chairman of the Joint Budget Committee and speaker of the House.
When Arkansas began debating the push for legislative and administrative term limits in 1992, advocates always pointed to a few legislators who had abused their offices. Term limits would get rid of people like that, they argued.
However, for every legislator who abuses his office, four or five others serve with honor and distinction. Granted, few of them are as good as John Miller was.
In an obituary feature published by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gov. Mike Beebe credited Miller with serving as his legislative mentor after he became a senator in the early 1980s.
“John Miller was one of the men who taught me how Arkansas’ budget worked when I arrived in the Senate,” Beebe said. “He was a force to be reckoned with, a man who commanded respect throughout state government. But most importantly, even with all the power and influence that his 40 years in the House afforded him, John always remained a consummate gentleman and a good friend.”
The disgrace of term limits is that we run people like John Miller out of office now before they mentor the next great governor.
And those who argue that term limits keep bad people out of office should take another look at the big political stories of 2013 and 2014.
I got to know one of Miller’s older brothers before I met the lawmaker. Lowell Miller was an avid and active civic club leader. When he walked into my office, I knew I was about to buy something. Luckily, I like fruitcake. Lowell was also a strong supporter of his “little brother,” even though he didn’t live in his district.
I got to know John better in 1994, when he actually drew an opponent for his re-election campaign — a Republican from Melbourne, John Hutchins. I was hosting a weekly public affairs cable TV program for what was then Arkansas College, and we decided to cover the election thoroughly — both before and after election day.
One of our programs was a debate between Miller and Hutchins, during which the former speaker easily prevailed. He also won the election by more than 2-1.
Miller went back to work in the Legislature and continued to serve his district and the state well until he wasn’t allowed to run any more.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.