James Melvin Miles (born October 10, 1941) is an American politician and attorney, who served as

Secretary of State of South Carolina The secretary of state of South Carolina is an elected position that is responsible to maintain clear records of statewide corporations, supply to the public with customer service, and administrate the Solicitation of Charitable Funds Act. Since ...

from 1991 to 2003, and subsequently as

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina The lieutenant governor of South Carolina is the second-in-command to the governor of South Carolina. Beyond overseeing the Office on Aging and the responsibility to act or serve as governor in the event of the office's vacancy, the duties of th ...

Andre Bauer. Born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, Miles received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in 1964 and J.D. from the

University of North Carolina School of Law The University of North Carolina School of Law is the law school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Established in 1845, Carolina Law is among the oldest law schools in the United States and is the oldest law school in North Carol ...

in 1969. Miles was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1969 and

South Carolina Bar The South Carolina Bar (SC Bar) is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of South Carolina. Organization The South Carolina Bar began in 1884 as the South Carolina Bar Association, a professional organization of approximat ...

in 1971. He was an attorney in private practice in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

and was elected to the Greenville City Council in 1989. In 1990, Miles was elected as the first Republican Secretary of State in South Carolina since

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. Miles attempted to abolish the Secretary of State office and vowed to investigate

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

in South Carolina. In 1994, South Carolina passed a law cracking down on charity fraud. In July 2020, Miles was appointed as Acting CEO of Open Technology Fund in the U.S. Agency for Global Media, despite having no technological expertise or experience in internet freedom issues.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Jim (politician) 1941 births Living people Duke University alumni Politicians from Norfolk, Virginia Politicians from Greenville, South Carolina South Carolina lawyers South Carolina Republicans University of North Carolina School of Law alumni Secretaries of State of South Carolina South Carolina city council members Trump administration personnel