Manassas is an independent city when it comes to elections.

Given its bi-partisan representation at the local, state and federal levels, Del. Jackson Miller (R-50th) is accurate to claim voters tend to vote more for individual candidates than their political parties.

"My entire private and professional life is focused right there within the district and I think that gives me a leg up," said Del. Jackson Miller (R-50th) during an interview at his Manassas office on April 16.

A full-time Prince William County police officer and Realtor with Christopher Realty, Miller is facing Democrat Jeanette Rishell for the third time since they initially ran against each other for an open seat in a 2006 special election.

Usually, campaigns in the 50th are focused on transportation and illegal immigration. Miller’s success rate is better on the latter than the former as his three transportation bills died in committee but his lone illegal immigration bill, which makes it easier for police to arrest felonious illegal immigrants, passed. He has even become a self-described "player" on the Courts of Justice committee.

This year’s campaign is guaranteed to be different in at least one regard as job losses and foreclosures have dominated the headlines since 2007.

Two bills sponsored by Miller during the last two sessions that were signed into law dealt with removing graffiti, a by-product of home foreclosures that have left empty homes targets for vandals.

His most recent bill allowed localities to charge property owners for cleaning up their unoccupied properties of they don't do it in a timely manner. This applies more toward banks that own foreclosed homes than individual homeowners, something Miller ended up having to clarify.

"You'll have graffiti go on to a building where you cannot even find somebody to contact to clean up because it's owned by a large financial institution," said Miller.

The delegate met initial resistance as his original bill was deemed too vague and died in committee.

"They had very good points, points that resonated with me," said Miller. "Well, what they didn't like is, which is a very solid, strong argument is, 'If I didn't spray-paint it, if I own this property and someone comes and spray-paints it and I clean it up, I can't stop them from doing it again. So the government's going to start putting all these liens on me?' And it's a valid argument."

So he went back, fixed the language of the bill to define "defacement" (graffiti) and abandonment and it passed both chambers before Gov. Tim Kaine (D) signed it into law.

That bill is an example of a law-making procedure largely unique to Virginia in that the commonwealth is generally regarded as the strictest Dillon Rule state, meaning the state government must grant localities the ability to do just about anything before it can get done.

A former Manassas city councilman, Miller said he finds it would be "more headache if we did not have the Dillon Rule.

"The reason is I think the Dillon Rule is one of the biggest benefits towards us being a pro-business state," said Miller, stressing the uniform standards companies have for setting up shop in localities across Virginia.

"...If you have widely varying rules and regulation from county to county, it makes it less desirable and much more expensive for corporations that may want to locate or manufacturers that want to come to Virginia," he said. "It costs a lot more to figure it out."

That directly affected another bill, HB 2525, originally sponsored by Miller signed into law this year. It allows certain wind energy projects to bypass the State Corporation Commission and instead gives the lead to the Department of Environmental Quality.

The bill also gives a tax credit to taxpayers "constructing, purchasing or leasing wind turbines and towers."

"This is one of my best bills this year. It basically makes it easier and more affordable for energy producers to do wind-energy projects in Virginia," said Miller.

He admitted, however, that this was not likely to create jobs in the 50th as wind turbines are more suitable for non-suburban settings. Complaints against the bill centered SCC losing regulatory authority regarding the environment. Bloggers on the Web site

Ricmond Sunlight charged that "This bill is a thinly veiled effort to free wind turbine projects from any meaningful environmental review" and that there could be "substantial wildlife impact" with particular facilities.

The House ended up incorporating Miller’s bill into a larger bill (HB 2175), which was passed without any ‘no’ votes.

"I'm all for this type of energy. I'm all for solar energy. It doesn't mean I'm not for the oil and coal energy and gas energy that we can also produce here as well," said Miller.