January 23rd, 2021 by WCBC Radio
Maryland officials remembered the nation’s longest-serving state Senate president on Friday as a powerful leader who influenced policy for nearly half a century, a towering figure in state politics who could be gruff as well as kind. With Thomas V. Mike Miller's body lying in repose in the rotunda of the Maryland State House, senators from both parties and Republican Gov. Larry Hogan spoke with reverence and awe at Miller's nearly 50-year career in the Maryland General Assembly, 33 of them as Senate president.
“He always knew exactly where we were on the road to change," said former Sen. Robert Neall. "Like a skilled railroad engineer, he had his hand on the throttle of change and moved us fast enough to overcome obstacles, yet slow enough so as not to derail the train.”
Miller died last week from complications from prostate cancer at the age of 78. He was remembered Friday as a master tactician of Maryland politics with boundless energy who could be someone's worst enemy while also having a soft side for people of both parties who served in the institution he cherished.
Hogan recalled when Miller worked on a political campaign in the early 1960s with his father and said the late Senate leader occasionally babysat the then-5-year-old future governor.
Hogan said Miller's legacy still resonates throughout the state.
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