Although Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller hasn’t made any official announcement about plans to seek a ninth term in 2014, he recently previewed what could become central themes of a re-election campaign. Storm Lake Times editor Art Cullen made a splash in the Iowa newspaper world last month with editorials calling for Miller to retire. Cullen cited the attorney general’s position on open records controversies and his alleged efforts to thwart the work of Iowa’s ombudsman. Newspapers including the Des Moines Register and the Des Moines-based weekly Cityview republished Cullen’s case for Miller to step aside and clear the path for “an attorney general for the people.” Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu cited several other troubling examples of how Miller has lost his way in recent years.

To defend his work and “set the record straight,” Miller wrote guest editorials for various publications. You can read his specific rebuttals to Cullen here. I was more interested in the list of achievements he cited as proof that “in the last few years,” the Attorney General’s office has “done more than ever to serve Iowans.” It sounds like the kernel of a stump speech or television commercial to me. I’ve posted those excerpts after the jump.

Please share any relevant thoughts in this thread. I haven’t heard yet about a Republican challenger to Miller, but I would not be surprised to see his 2010 opponent Brenna Findley take another shot next year. She is currently Governor Terry Branstad’s legal counsel and just completed a six-week stint as the governor’s interim chief of staff.

Excerpt from Attorney General Tom Miller’s guest editorial in the October 16 edition of Cityview:

I have never been more excited about serving as attorney general. In the last few years, I believe that we have done more than ever to serve Iowans. We successfully sued Vertrue Inc., which sold buying club memberships, for violating consumer fraud laws and recovered nearly $40 million for Iowans, many of whom are elderly. We entered into a mortgage servicing settlement with the major banks, resulting in payment of more than $40 million to Iowa homeowners and the funding of Iowa Mortgage Help Hotline, which has helped thousands of Iowans with mortgage foreclosure issues. We just won an arbitration case against tobacco companies that, had we lost, could have cost the state up to $44 million. We have a new elderly fraud unit to increase prosecutions of financial exploitation of seniors. We have worked with the legislature to strengthen laws against child pornography and enticement of minors for sexual exploitation. We have revamped the way we provide victim assistance services to help more victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

I wake up and come to work every day excited about what we are doing, realizing there is much more work to do and figuring out how we can do even more. We are investigating abuses by for-profit colleges, we are looking at shoddy debt collection practices and we are looking at ways to strengthen human trafficking laws. The list goes on and on.

It is a great honor to be Attorney General of Iowa, and I will continue to be guided by serving all Iowans, respecting the rule of law and doing the right thing.