Joe Miller, who lost a three-way Senate race in Alaska last year, is back in the news.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zieak/4997548740/">Flickr</a>/<a href="http://www.zieak.com/"> Ryan McFarland</a>
Remember Joe Miller? He’s the bearded Alaskan lawyer and tea party favorite who surprised the country by beating incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the GOP primary last year, despite having once been suspended from a government job for ethics violations and having his private bodyguards handcuff a reporter who was trying to ask Miller questions at a public event during the campaign. Miller ultimately lost the election to Murkowski, who ran a write-in campaign to defeat him in the general election. But like so many one-hit wonders in conservative politics, Miller is seizing on his 15 minutes of fame and has resurfaced recently after signing on with a speakers’ bureau to start giving paid speeches. Rather than returning to his law practice, he’ll be joining B-listers like Joe the Plumber and Arizona’s “Sheriff Joe” Arpaio on the tea party lecture circuit in such glamorous locales as Flint Hills, Kansas and northern Idaho.
But that’s just the beginning of Miller’s new career in politics. He has also been named the new chairman of the Sparks, Nevada-based Western Representation PAC, the political action committee that recently sponsored an aggressive advertising campaign supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). The PAC also supported Miller’s campaign in Alaska and spent more than $130,000 in independent expenditures backing failed Nevada Senate candidate and tea party darling Sharron Angle.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Western Representation PAC,” Miller said Wednesday. “Despite being formed fairly recently, the PAC was able to gain strong support and make an important impact during the 2010 election cycle. We plan to build on that great start and bring the voice of ‘We the People’ to bear even more as we move towards 2012.”
