Anyone but Steve Miller — The Kansas City Mayoral Race
This Tuesday, April 2nd, is the primary for the Kansas City mayoral election. There are many candidates in the race, and people are still figuring out which one to support.
While I may not have a frontrunner in mind (truthfully I know a lot of the candidates, and I feel that they are more than qualified to be Mayor), I will not be supporting Steve Miller.
Miller is the mysterious former transportation commissioner who came out of nowhere to place himself on the ballot. He’s an attorney, Rockhurst graduate, and one of the only candidates to never serve in an elected office.
Although the municipal election is considered to be non-partisan, it is easy to figure out where the candidates fall on the political spectrum. With Steve Miller, this isn’t the case because he seems to be playing both of the political parties by avoiding questions that would show us if he supports the Democratic or Republican party platforms.
In February, Steve Miller earned the endorsement of high-profile Democratic Senator and former Vice Presidential nominee, Tim Kaine (D-VA). Senator Kaine and Miller are longtime friends and high school classmates.
One month later in March, David Hudnall at The Pitch reported on Steve Miller’s ties to the Republican Party.
“There [has]… been some unconfirmed whispering about … Jeff Roe’s Axiom Strategies running Miller’s campaign. I made some calls on this over the last few weeks, but the best I could get was off-the-record comments from people reluctant to ruffle the feathers of the notoriously depraved political consulting firm.
Earlier this week, though, some mail arrived on my desk… [A]n entity called AxMedia is purchasing ad buys on behalf of the Miller campaign. AxMedia lists the same Briarcliff Parkway address as Axiom Strategies, and AxMedia turns up in a recent Missouri Ethics Commission complaint along with other Roe-directed entities. The firm did about $38 million in ad buys for Republicans during the 2018 election cycle alone.”
You can read the entire article here: https://mailchi.mp/17c4a0153e05/february22019-220433?e=422fce6ce8
From what I can tell, no one in Kansas City politics knew of Miller until he decided to run. However, he has raised over $557,000 mostly from wealthy donors, family, and organizations/businesses.
If you are interested in seeing the entire campaign finance report yourself, you can find it here on the Missouri Ethics Commission website: https://mec.mo.gov/MEC/Campaign_Finance/CF11_CommInfo.aspx
As a Republican, Steve Miller served on the transportation commission which always has an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.
Miller has the endorsement of Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, but he also seems to have the approval of Kevin Corlew, the former Republican State Representative defeated by Lauren Arthur in the State Senate special election last June.
When it comes to controversial topics such as abortion, Steve Miller refuses to answer these questions. Miller’s reasoning behind not answering is that the Mayor has no authority over it. Kansas Citians deserve to know if he will support health insurance for city workers that pay for abortion and contraceptives. Regardless of his stance on this issue, it is an important and fair question to be asked.
Out of the eight candidates that attended the Heartland Alliance for Progress Mayoral Forum, Miller was the only candidate that had a problem with answering a question regarding abortion.
You can read more about it here:
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only question Steve Miller avoids. For months he hasn’t answered whether or not he supports the Pre-K sales tax in Kansas City — and many people have noticed.
Candidates that are not willing to answer questions that potential constituents have are not fit to serve in an elected office. We don’t want the generic talking points; we want actual plans.
In a cringy Facebook video, Steve Miller gives absolutely no ideas on how we move Kansas City, Missouri forward.
Actually, I think Steve Miller wants to move us backward considering he has decided to use the phrase “Make our Neighborhoods Safe Again.”
Sound familiar?
If the reported connection to Jeff Roe and Axiom Strategies is true, Steve Miller’s mailers are not surprising. Jeff Roe, the former campaign manager for Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
After tagging Miller in several Twitter posts and posting on his campaign Facebook page, he hasn’t answered any of my questions either. In an odd move, every few days Steve Miller likes one of my old tweets (although he doesn’t follow me) to seemingly tell me he’s watching. Creepy, right?
Please vote this Tuesday, April 2nd, in the mayoral primary for anyone but Steve Miller. Also, in the general election, that the top two candidates will advance to on June 18th.
My name is Rachel Gonzalez. I am a college student, writer, political activist, and who knows what’s next?
I love Kansas City, and I have faith in my community that you’ll do the right thing.
