The Pettiness of Mike Miller

Is Mike Miller so powerless that in addition to being reduced to carrying water for the governor, he now has to play cheap games with members of his chamber, who dare to think differently.

No wonder Sen. President Mike Miller couldn't reach Sen. Jim Brochin to
give him the bad news. The night before the General Assembly session began, Brochin stuffed his ears with plugs and switched his cell phone off. Not that Brochin could have heard the ringtone anyway, what with all the racket at the Hannah Montana concert.

The 43-year-old Towson Democrat spent Tuesday night in a sea of shrieking tweens, among them, Brochin's 9-year-old daughter, Katherine...

How could Brochin possibly come back to Earth, much less the dreary business of legislating, after that better-than-The-Boss experience? All he had to do was play his messages late that night upon returning home. The Senate president had left one about Brochin's new seat assignment in the Senate chamber.

The gist, according to Brochin: This is Mike. Just wanted to let you know you're going to be sitting one row back, next to E.J. Pipkin.

The second-term senator's new seat is in the last row, where freshmen usually sit. (Under Senate Rule 115 (b), members are seated in order of seniority.)

Payback for vocally opposing the governor's tax package in last year's special session?

"Let's just say this: independent thought is not encouraged," Brochin said.

Miller did not return a call seeking comment...

You would think that after a judge just called him and Mike Busch on the "reprehensible nature" of their behavior, and their "egregious lack of judgment," Miller would show a little humility.

Then again, that is assuming the man has any at all.