AP/ September 21, 2010, 10:37 PM

Tea Party-Backed Joe Miller Received Subsidies

Alaska Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller received federal farm subsidies for land that the fiscal conservative owned in Kansas in the 1990s.

Miller won the GOP primary with more than $550,000 in support from the Tea Party Express and campaigned in opposition to out-of-control spending by incumbents in Congress, including GOP primary opponent Lisa Murkowski.

The acknowledgment by the Miller campaign that he accepted farm subsidies follows a story by the Alaska Dispatch, which discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request that Miller received more than $7,000 in subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1991-1997.

A blog last week reported Miller, an attorney, received subsidies for land in Alaska, a story the campaign called manufactured.

Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said Tuesday that Miller is not against all federal spending, and some crops on his Kansas land were eligible for aid.

Desoto said none of this has to do with Miller's belief - more than a decade later - that the nation must find ways to address its deficit.

Steve Wackowski, a spokesman for Murkowski, who is mounting a write-in campaign, said Miller should have spoken up and acknowledged the subsidies earlier. Wackowski said it speaks to Miller's character that he did not.
© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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tonyatq says:
Oh, by the way he wants to faze out medicare too.
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earlysaid says:
Personally I would like to see no subsidies to the rich who do not need them and more subsidies for the middle class farmers who do need them. We are a country that has so many backwards policies. Many of the republican politicians are getting farm subsidies and are badmouthing any spending but of course not theirs. They are just hypocrites in any situation that comes up.
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earlysaid says:
Personally I would like to see no subsidies to the rich who do not need them and more subsidies for the middle class farmers who do need them. We are a country that has so many backwards policies. Many of the republican politicians are getting farm subsidies and are badmouthing any spending but of course not theirs. They are just hypocrites in any situation that comes up.
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wilder5121 says:
The only logical conclusion...Miller's a SOCIALIST.
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earlysaid replies:
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We can make a stink about him receiving farm subsidies because he is being vocal against subsidies of any kind. The media is not liberal. The media is owned by corporations who do sometime just report what they find out by freedom of information and good investigative work. Good ole conservative media just gives you the information you want to believe and that is just what you get. I read the good news and the bad news and I believe it if it is reported by honest media, but I don't believe it if it comes from conservative media owned by republican billionaires who work at pushing a republican agenda. So that is more the truth than republicans always saying it is liberal media if they don't like what they read or hear. Just those republican blinders for Fox News only.
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Countrywmn says:
$7000 in USDA subsidies over 6-7 years and someone is making a stink about this. What is the big deal? I get subsidies and it is no one's business but mine. I have to declare it on my taxes. This amounts to about $1000 a year, try operating a farm on THAT. The news media is totally stupid these days, nothing but lies, things blown out of proportion just for sensationalism. It is this that got the Democrats and Obama elected. The liberal media has learned nothing.
Stop bad-mouthing the Tea Party supported candidates, maybe just maybe we might go back to be the USA again.
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wilder5121 replies:
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It's clear to everybody. You're a socialist leeching off our taxpayer dollars. So stop your whining. It's pathetic.

Nine out of the top ten welfare states in America are Red States. You people can't make a living on your own without receiving your government checks and federal subsidies, paid for by the rest of us.

Worst thing the Democrats ever did was fight to give all these underperforming Red States electricity back in the 1930's. Seems all they use it for is watching the Fox "News" Propaganda Channel, whining over the Internet Tubes about the evil government, and cooking up their meth.
tonyatq replies:
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Typical Teabagger complain about government spending but want to keep their medicaid and other government assistance. Alaska has been a welfare state for many years. It recieves more government money than any other state in the for of Earmarks.
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Countrywmn says:
$7000 in USDA subsidies over 6-7 years and someone is making a stink about this. What is the big deal? I get subsidies and it is no one's business but mine. I have to declare it on my taxes. This amounts to about $1000 a year, try operating a farm on THAT. The news media is totally stupid these days, nothing but lies, things blown out of proportion just for sensationalism. It is this that got the Democrats and Obama elected. The liberal media has learned nothing.
Stop bad-mouthing the Tea Party supported candidates, maybe just maybe we might go back to be the USA again.
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akrobert30 says:
Miller has taken to the national media his push to get rid of Federal spending. At 43 he has taken his share. Graduated from West Point, but served only 3 years. He has excepted education subsidized by the goverment. His salary has been subsidized from the Federal,State, and Borough. It seems what is good for him is not good for me. He is a Tea Party/Palin guy. The Federal Farm subsidized for land would not be a big deal...if he would have not lied about it last week.
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retm-w replies:
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So he went to West Point and served three years which I believe is the requirement. How many others do the same thing. There are thousands of veterans that used the GI bill, including myself. It's a benefit of having served your country. Of course you probably never served so you wouldn't understand.
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kansas1946 says:
Alaska Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller received federal farm subsidies for land that the fiscal conservative owned in Kansas in the 1990s.

***********************************

Of course he did. We all know how to spell Republican. H-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e.
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esq777 says:
Another hypocritical Tea Freak, faking rage against the government, while gorging themselves at the governemnt trough. These guys are so transparent and phony it's incredible that they are fooling so many people.
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