Special Report: Va. Senate Hopeful Miller's Day of Reckoning

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Harris Miller has never been one to back away from a challenge. When he was a congressional aide, he pushed for energy independence, and transportation and immigration reform, and led the overhaul of a government personnel system. When he was president of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), he led support for the passage of the Telecommunications Act, assured statutory protections for IT companies, and drove government procurement reform. And now, as candidate for Senate, he's declaring Washington fundamentally broken.

Voters head to the polls on Tuesday to choose the democratic contender for the Virginia Senate seat. From the looks of things, Miller faces an uphill battle. Most polls point to his opponent, James Webb, as the frontrunner, and even if he came out victorious, incumbent Virginia Sen. George Allen is favored to win the seat come November. In a survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports in April, voters chose Allen over Miller 51 percent to 34 percent.

Such findings could be the result of Miller's tenacity; some argue he has as many adversaries as he does supporters. But one thing is relatively certain -- he brings with him a pragmatic view of the IT community, government and how the two should ideally work together.

"The people in government think of technology as a separate sector unto itself, instead of thinking of it as one part of all other priorities," Miller says. "Government needs to realize how the Internet and IT as a whole can make health care more affordable and efficient, expand how people get educated and improve the services delivered to citizens. Government needs to stop thinking of the IT industry the same as the many other groups that approach Washington: hands out, asking for support."

Man On a Mission

Harris Miller says the government needs to learn how to better put IT to work.

"During [his time as president], ITAA consistently demonstrated its willingness and ability to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle," says Bob Laurence, Sybase vice president and interim president of ITAA. "Personally, I have enjoyed my friendship with Harris, and I will always wish him well with whatever he pursues."

While at ITAA, Miller certainly kept busy. He lobbied before Congress for flexible guidelines or best practices in information security rather than rigid standards, promoted industry as a leader in tackling Internet security, supported laws that prohibit states from imposing taxes on Internet access and electronic commerce, pushed hard for the creation of an assistant secretary for cybersecurity, and drove outsourcing as a more effective strategy for conducing a variety of IT operations.

Of course, he's received the most flack for the latter, with many pointing to Miller as an advocate for offshoring and subsequently the loss of U.S. jobs. But Miller asserts the contrary.

"'Outsourcing' is not necessarily 'offshoring,'" he said during a Senate hearing in 2004. "Rather, offshore development and maintenance is a subset of outsourcing. Outsourcing reduces cost, which in turn reduces prices. Reduced prices mean that more customers can enjoy the benefits of IT, including small and midsize companies that might not otherwise afford the capital investment."

NEXT: Despite a wealth of opinions, Miller's one constant message.