Rod Miller
Cleveland attorney and lifelong Republican Rod Miller has formally announced his campaign for Bradley County General Sessions Judge in the May 2 Republican Primary.
He said, "It is an honor to announce my campaign for General Sessions judge. As those who know me can attest, my campaign theme of 'Integrity-Faith-Family,' is not just a slogan - these are my foundational values lived every day. I have been happily married to my wife, Dr. Dana Miller, a high school Latin teacher, for 10 years. We are the proud parents of two daughters, Hannah and Claire. We are blessed to reside in beautiful rural south Bradley County, in the Valley View community, where we are members of Samples Memorial Baptist Church."
A 1994 graduate of the University of Georgia with a bachelor's degree in political science, attorney Miller went on to earn his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Memphis in 1997. Admitted to practice in Tennessee in 1998, and in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in 1999, his solo law practice located in downtown Cleveland has been focused on consumer bankruptcy and family law.
Attorney Miller has been active in the legal profession and in the community. For the past four years he has served on numerous occasions as special judge in General Sessions and Juvenile Courts at the request of Judge C. Van Deacon, Jr. and Judge Billy D. Baliles in Bradley County and Polk County, respectively. Fellow attorneys have elected him to treasurer of the Bradley County Bar Association for five years in a row. For the past six years, he has volunteered his time to serve as Campus Court Referee at Blythe-Bower Elementary School and at Valley View Elementary School.
He "has demonstrated a consistent commitment to the less fortunate in our community by representing indigent individuals and families in pro bono consumer bankruptcy and family law cases."
In January 2006, attorney Miller was the recipient of the Volunteer Attorney of the Year Award from Legal Aid of East Tennessee.
"Along with many others in our community, I share a sense of disappointment and disgust with the rash of public corruption that has beset some of our elected officials recently," attorney Miller stated. "Throughout all areas of my life, both public and personal, I have consistently demonstrated integrity, honesty, and ethics - traits which are essential to serving on the bench and which I will bring to the job every day."
The candidate "believes we should begin to adapt the administration of our court system for the 21st Century. He will work with our court clerks, advocating modernization including posting upcoming dockets on the web, enabling electronic filing fee, fine and cost payments, and eventually electronic filing of lawsuits and pleadings. He believes the costs to move towards these changes will be more than offset by the efficiencies they create (saving the time of clerk's staff and court personnel, etc.). He will also advocate that Social Security numbers in pleadings and court files be omitted or redacted in order to prevent the growing problem of identity theft. Finally, he favors returning to the practice of Bradley County's two General Sessions Judges alternating hearing of the civil, criminal and juvenile court dockets."
He said, "I am proud to have been the only attorney in Bradley County to speak out in favor of posting the Ten Commandments in Bradley County government buildings when the issue was publicly debated in 2001. I believe that we can and should always acknowledge the Christian foundation of the United States of America, for I believe that is truly the strength of our nation."
In keeping with that philosophy, attorney Miller stated that he believes the national motto of the United States, "In God We Trust," should be posted in the General Sessions courtroom.
He announced that Bradley County Women's Republican Club member Hazel Lazy is serving as treasurer of the campaign. The campaign website is www.RodMiller2006.org.
"Please keep me and my family in your prayers as we embark on this effort," attorney Miller concluded, "With humility I ask for your vote in the Republican Primary, May 2, 2006."