Miller mulls resignation in wake of fraud charges

Charges of altering checks to the federal government face the state House member

State Rep. Paul Miller said Thursday that he has not decided whether he will resign his seat in the General Assembly after his arrest on felony charges of attempting to defraud the U.S. Department of Education.

Miller said during a brief phone interview that he is in consultation with his attorney but that on the advice of counsel, he could not comment.

In a short written statement, Miller reiterated that he would not speak about the charges but acknowledged that "there may be questions about the case."

Miller would have to step down if he were convicted of a felony, said legislative staff attorney Walker Reagan, because that would cost him his right to vote in North Carolina. Only residents with voting rights can run for legislative office, Reagan said. It is unlikely to come to that because Miller did not seek re-election this year, citing personal and family reasons.

Reagan also said that the charges do not call the legislative ethics laws into play because they do not involve state money or property, or pertain to Miller's legislative duties.

Floyd McKissick, chairman of the Durham County Democratic Party, said Thursday that he intends to have a "heart-to-heart" talk with Miller about whether Miller should serve voters while facing criminal charges in U.S. District Court.

"They are extremely serious charges," McKissick said. "[Miller] is innocent until proven guilty. ... He should be allowed the privilege to continue to serve. [But] I think that for those who are in these high-profile positions, they really need to think about the good of the Democratic Party and their constituents."

A special agent for the federal Office of the Inspector General arrested Miller on Wednesday on charges that he presented the Department of Education with doctored checks to make it appear that he had paid off more than $20,000 in student loan debt.

According to the criminal complaint, Miller altered copies of five checks originally submitted for $100 each in 1992 to make it appear that he had made payments totaling $20,500. The complaint alleges that the alterations occurred after the education department had threatened to garnish Miller's wages for lack of payment of loans taken out while Miller was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1980s.

Miller has worked as a computer consultant and lists himself as a businessman on the legislative Web site. In running for office, he has said he earned a bachelor's from MIT in 1982. He is serving his third term in House District 29, which serves part of Durham County.

It is Miller's choice whether he resigns or continues to serve until his term expires at the end of the year, McKissick said.

But McKissick said if Miller resigned, the likely person to replace him would be Larry D. Hall, a lawyer who won the Democratic primary runoff for Miller's seat. No Republican candidate sought the seat.

"The thing that one would think about is, since he has announced months ago that he wasn't running for re-election and we do have an heir apparent, would it not be an appropriate time to allow for an orderly transition?" McKissick said.

(Staff writer Dane Kane contributed to this report.)