News-Record.com

Saturday's No. 2 editorial.

Not yet having served three full terms in Congress, U.S. Rep. Brad Miller already has become a respected national figure. But he also has his pulse on the pocketbook issues affecting North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District. Democrats in that district should again make him their nominee.

The 13th District stretches along the Virginia border and into parts of Raleigh, Burlington and Greensboro. Miller, 54, lives in Raleigh.

Miller’s concern for the common man has led him to take a leadership role in unraveling and finding remedies for the subprime mortgage crisis. He lists as a key accomplishment House passage of an anti-predatory lending bill modeled after a much-praised North Carolina law. He also is working to provide help to homeowners facing foreclosure.

It’s appealing that Miller has held hearings on topics where the government has performed poorly, such as the NASA survey of airline pilots that the agency itself suppressed because of its worrisome findings. It’s also refreshing to see Miller confident enough to buck Democratic leaders, as he did in his vote on the Armenian genocide issue last year.

Miller’s opponent, Derald Hafner, 63, also professes to be a candidate for the people. A former Republican, the Granville County small businessman, organic farmer and first-time candidate wants to take action against America’s mounting debt by greatly limiting federal government and by largely ending federal borrowing. Among other things, he would work to end U.S. military actions in other countries, cut back on social programs and abolish the Federal Reserve. To help U.S. workers, he would repeal the income tax, support tariffs on goods coming into the country and secure borders to keep illegal immigrants out.

Hafner’s ideas may appeal to some voters, but the platform he has chosen is wrong. They are more in keeping with the Constitution Party.

The winner faces Republican Hugh Webster, a former state senator, in the fall.