When Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, announced his retirement from Congress last year, his fellow Minnesotans knew that the Marine Corps veteran would leave big shoes to fill. Kline, whose highly decorated service is best remembered for his role as the keeper of the “nuclear football” for President Ronald Reagan, made a name for himself during his seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives as a deeply honorable man and a strong conservative.
As the primary season heated up, Kline decided to let the public know the name of the individual he wanted to replace him: Darlene Miller.
“I believe she has the conservative values and real-world experience we need in Congress, and she’s the candidate that can win in November,” Kline explained.
Miller grew up in New Prague, Minnesota, where she was one of eight children who helped her parents work their family farm. The lessons learned in that rural community shaped her character for life.
“My upbringing instilled in my [siblings] and me a strong work ethic like most Americans have,” Miller told Opportunity Lives. “We never believed something was to be handed to us. We were expected to and had to work for what we wanted and believed.”
Miller left the family farm in 1992 to take a manufacturing job at Honeywell. Like many other Midwesterners, she wondered if there was a brighter professional future for her off the assembly line.
“My supervisor on the production line told me daily that if I didn’t move on and live up to my potential, I would be there for the rest of my career, as the job paid well and the benefits were great,” Miller said. “I took that to heart. It really motivated me to set goals and go after them.”
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., is retiring after 14 years of serving the people of Minnesota’s 2nd congressional district. | Photo: AP
Sensing an urgency to make a career change before settling into an unfulfilling job, Miller left Honeywell in 1992 to become a sales representative for Permac Industries. Miller quickly realized that Permac could be more than a typical metal parts manufacturer under her leadership. She believed it had the potential to grow into something much bigger.
After just nine months in sales, Miller purchased 45 percent of the company. She would go on to purchase the remainder within a year. She had big plans for Permac — and she couldn’t wait to take the helm.
“My goal after purchase was to grow the business and elevate our presence in the machining world, which is exactly what happened,” Miller said. “Along with all the help of great employees, I transformed Permac into a 21st century precision manufacturing company that produces parts that go into everything from motorcycles to missiles.”
Over the past two decades, Miller has been lauded as one of the top business and civic leaders in the Twin Cities and across the United States. Her achievements garnered the attention of former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.), who invited her to participate in two economic development trips on behalf of the state to China and South America.
In 2006, she won the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Person of the Year from her home state. In 2007, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce presented her with its blue ribbon award. She served as the first female president of the Precision Machined Products Association and, in 2016, she was inducted into the Minnesota Women Business Owner Hall of Fame.
The grandmother of four has never held elected office, but she thinks her experience in business and economic development — especially in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) field — makes her uniquely qualified to serve Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District in Washington.
Photo: PMPA
“When you run a business, every day you are faced with the cold hard truth of what is working and what is not. How do you meet the bottom line? You have to make decisions,” Miller said. “Government policies too often are the opposite of being results-focused. They focus on maintaining something that isn’t working. They focus on appearing to care, without making a difference. There are a lot of people hurting out there. Government isn’t helping them and that needs to change. Sometimes, that will be fixing a program. Other times, it will be by getting government out of the way.”
Miller’s says he hopes her business acumen can inspire policy changes that will improve competitiveness.
“The solution, like so many things in life, is about setting priorities, goals and then insisting on results. It’s also more complicated than any single fix,” Miller said. “Some talk about the problems in our schools, but they settle for what’s not working. We need to expand areas like charter schools that will stop teaching down and experiment with teaching and demanding the best from our students.”
Miller’s success in the manufacturing world is an outlier in an industry dominated by men. But Miller believes that with a strong work ethic and dedication, women can achieve anything they desire.
“I never focused on the barriers. I focused on the opportunities and the goals I wanted to achieve — not that it was always easy,” Miller said. “Find your mentors or people who can help you with their guidance and experience. They are… very willing to help you be successful. You only need to ask for their help. The barriers [to success] are real, but in my case, I crossed them because I stayed focused on the results that matter to my business and to me. I always believed we could be successful if we worked hard enough.”
Miller hopes that her hard work and determination will help her achieve her next dream: becoming a congresswoman. She is optimistic they’ll consider her civic contributions and professional accomplishments when selecting their candidate.
“I have always felt I needed to be a part of a solution if I was going to complain,” she said. “I saw firsthand and felt the frustration of lack of encouraging businesses to start and to grow. This prevents opportunities for generations to come.”
Miller says she was fortunate to start a fast track, credentialed training program, Right Skills Now, “with the collaboration of others and without government bureaucracy.”
“This program has expanded to eight states with a 99 percent placement rate and helped people get off of government assistance and into training that would jump start them into a middle class, good-paying career,” she said. “I have proven we can make a difference and be part of a solution. Someone needs to step up and start to fix government. We cannot rely on others — it is our responsibility to make a difference. I felt I had the ability and it was my duty to do so.”
Miller knows that if elected, she must live up to the extraordinary legacy of her predecessor. She considers it a calling.
“John Kline is one of the good ones. He is not a career politician. His real career was in the U.S. Marines. His background and mine are different in that sense,” she said. “However, we both have a determination to get results and a dislike for the petty political games so many in politics seem to value. He and I share conservative values and want to see government living up to those values. We know those values will help people’s lives.”
Ellen Carmichael is a senior writer for Opportunity Lives. Follow her on Twitter @ellencarmichael.
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