Lt. Governor candidate pays visit to Bainbridge

Published 9:28 am Monday, September 27, 2021

Influential members of the local community gathered at the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday afternoon for a meet & greet hosted by Senator Dean Burke; specifically, they came to meet with Butch Miller, current president pro tempore of the state Senate and a candidate for Lt. Governor in next year’s election.

“I’m uniquely qualified, in that I have served as president pro tempore,” he said. “The president pro tempore undertakes the Lt. Governor’s functions in the absence of the Lt. Governor.”

Aside from owning and managing the Milton Martin Honda dealership, Miller became a state Senator in 2010, and would go on to become chair of the State and Local Government Operations committee in 2011. He has served in various other roles since, including chairman of the Majority Caucus, and became president pro tempore in 2018.

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“I’m running because I think we’re at a crossroads,” Miller said. “I think we’re at a crossroads as a country, as a state, and as a culture. I think that there are folks that would take us off the path that we’re on. We’re on solid ground, and a solid path of success.”

Miller recounted how he met Senator Burke, his entry into the auto business and his negotiations and exploits in politics.

“I do the work I have to do to get the job done,” he said. “I try to be very non-partisan. As the pro tempore, I have to be, that’s my job, to lead the entire Senate, not just the Republicans. But if we let the Left do what they want to do, we’re going to have increased taxes, increased regulation, decreased productivity… The number one item I’ve heard all over the state… is ‘How do we get people back to work?’”

Another issue Miller raised included rural broadband.

“Until we get rural broadband in those small communities, we will never have investments like hospitals, investments like distribution centers, manufacturing, mining, etc. … So everything south of I-20 is going to continue to have less population, and everything north of I-20 is going to have more population,” he said.

Miller also mentioned issues like healthcare, education and transportation.

“I feel very strongly about healthcare, access to healthcare and affordability of healthcare,” he said. “I also feel very strongly about education, access to education, and affordability of education, making sure that we’re training our young people and re-training our middle-aged people for the jobs of today and the jobs of tomorrow.” He continued, “We’ve got to continue to invest in transportation, because if we don’t invest in transportation, Georgia will choke on our own progress… We’ve got to have infrastructure, and that would include roads, bridges, highways, rural broadband, water, sewer, etc.”

“I’m not big on political promises, because usually, politicians don’t keep them, and people don’t listen to them. But, I’ll make you two promises: Number one, I’ll do my best to never disappoint you, and number two, nobody will work harder than I will,” Miller concluded.