Can Miller Baker Translate Courtroom Experience to State Politics?

Republican lawyer Miller Baker of Clifton is making his first run at public office this year, hoping to unseat incumbent Democrat George Barker as the state Senator from the 39^th District ().

But his first hurdle is a primary contest against fellow Republican Scott Martin, a GMU professor, on Aug. 23. The race between the victor of the upcoming primary and Barker could be a tight one. Barker won his seat by 151 votes in 2007, tipping the state Senate to a Democratic majority.

So why has Baker, in private practice the past 18 years at McDermott Will & Emery, a Washington, D.C. law firm, decided to run for office? “Look around you, we live in very serious times, we’re in serious trouble and frankly, I’m a serious man,” he said in a recent telephone interview with Patch.

It’s his standard answer, he readily admits, but he does have some specifics on his to-do list if elected:

• Get rid of Virginia’s income tax and make the state more business-friendly and “more like Texas.” “I want to accelerate the process the Governor has started,” he said.
• Rein in university tuition rates and root out what he thinks is exorbitant spending on administrative positions at the state’s public universities.
• Prioritize transportation projects (And he’d like to get rid of the traffic lights on the Fairfax County Parkway.)
• Keep vocational options in high school available for students interested in jump-starting a career without college.

The biggest issue though, he says, is the economy. “If we don’t get this economy fixed, nothing else is going to matter,” he said. “I want to make Virginia a magnet for business, make the Virginia economy less like Maryland and more like Texas. Our prosperity in Virginia is artificial, because it’s too dependent on federal spending. “

Some say Texas can afford to get by without an income tax because of its prosperous oil and gas industry and the various taxes paid to the state by the industry.

Baker grew up in the oil industry, as the son of a petroleum engineer, mainly in Louisiana. He studied at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and was admitted, at age 19, to Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, graduating in 1982, when he was 22 years old.

After signing up for the Naval Reserve and clerking for two federal judges, Baker came to Washington, D.C. in 1986 to work at the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department, working for Attorney General Ed Meese in the Reagan Administration. Baker was about to head back to Louisiana but met wife Margaret and stayed.

Fast-forward 25 years—the same Ed Meese was the guest of honor at a fundraiser for Baker last week. Not that Baker was doing too badly in that department. As of June 30, Baker had $112,311 cash on hand, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Baker and his wife Margaret are raising five children, ages 7 to 19, and make their home in Clifton. “As a Dad, at the end of the day, what we do, what we adults do now, in government, is going to determine what this country looks like in the future,” Baker said. “I have skin in this game. I care very much about what this country is going to look like 25 years from now.”

For a list of Miller Baker's endorsements, go here: http://millerbaker.org/endorsements