Tea Party-backed Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller (R) thinks federal unemployment insurance is constitutionally questionable. But it turns out his wife benefited from it in the early part of the decade — after she left a job working for him.
According to a resume that she submitted to the state of Alaska in 2009, Miller’s wife, Kathleen, worked for him briefly in 2002. In a statement yesterday, the Miller campaign acknowledged that she received unemployment benefits after she left.
“After leaving my office Kathleen did receive unemployment benefits for a short period of time,” Miller acknowledged. Unemployment benefits are typically only given to workers who are fired without cause or laid off.
In July, Miller told ABC “The unemployment compensation benefits have gotten — first of all, it’s not constitutionally authorized. I think that’s the first thing that’s gotta be looked at, so I do not favor their extension.”
Watch:
Miller has strongly-held views about the limited role of the government and government spending, but has breached those principles several times over the course of his life. He’s received federal agriculture subsidies for land he owned in the midwest, and relied on technicalities to obtain a low-income hunting and fishing license from the state of Alaska.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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