During the pandemic, only one guy in town was cutting hair: my good friend Tarris Horton. Tarris doesn’t look like me, and he doesn’t vote like me. He regularly inspires me and keeps me looking sharp, and we are both fans of Emperor Haile Selassie.
We talked about Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, and Blue Lives Matter, then landed on our own idea: Poor Lives Matter. We even bought the website.
Tarris AKA DJ Fanny Pack became the first Black person elected to city council in Dayton, Kentucky, a former sundown town. I’m grateful for his friendship and the influence he’s had on my life.
Paul Hallinan Miller Clown Headshot 2026
Poor Lives Matter isn’t a contest over whose life matters more. It’s a call to action for those without money and political connections who deserve to be heard, treated fairly, and given a chance to build something in their communities.
Discouragement is a weapon. The rich have resources. They have lawyers. They have influence. When the rest of us are busy fighting each other, it gets a whole lot easier for the people at the top to keep what they have and take even more.
Content Is King, and I Am Merely the Jester
I’m a professional clown running for mayor of Ludlow, Kentucky. I’ve spent years working to bring artists, jobs, investment, and as much joy as we can muster to town and beyond.
I’m also working on Circus Suites, a documentary and reality edutainment project I’ve been developing for the past four years. Some of the seed funding came from selling a stormwater easement tied to the controversial new Fischer development in town.
The city’s deal with Fischer Homes/Development authorizes up to $120,000,000 in industrial and special obligation revenue bonds. The City says it is under no obligation to repay the bonds and will receive 75% of Cityview Station’s property tax revenue for 30 years.
I sold a critical easement to make the development possible. My company was paid $250,000. I did so on the condition that the City dropped its civil lawsuit over our artist housing project. The city offered a settlement. Section 4(e) says I would enter into a permanent stormwater agreement with Grand Communities/Fischer Homes at the same time the settlement was executed. I signed the proposed settlement, as did ISC and Home Savings Bank. The City’s signature line is blank in the copy I’m sharing. I signed the easement; the settlement was never completed.
On April 21, 2026, Greg wrote to the City Council that I had provided a storm-sewer easement for fair compensation. He also said he was not involved in any lawsuit or settlement and disputed the value of the City’s incentives. The proposed settlement itself names the stormwater agreement. That connection deserves an explanation.
Who got what they needed to build? Who is still waiting for support and follow-up? And what happened to the settlement? I’ll keep playing regardless.
Publicly Available Information for all Public Charities
The Fischer Family Foundation reported more than $228,000,000 in assets on its 2024 tax return.
Where do you get your news?
And Greg Fischer is chair of LINK nky’s managing board.
LINKnky is the same news organization that questioned my residency. Its article discussed our lawsuit but did not mention that the chair of its managing board is connected to the Fischer development named in our proposed settlement. I want voters to know that connection and look at the whole story. I’ve put real conflict in the public domain because I believe people deserve to see how power works—and what happens when a small business or an artist gets snagged in its gears.
A year ago, I lived at 235 Oak Street in our artist-owned house with a former Circus Mojo student who was homeless. We were working toward a place where artists and people who had helped build our community could have their own homes.
The electricity had been on at the property since 2013, when I passed the inspection. I had passed the plumbing rough-in inspection, too, and was working to turn on the water when the City of Ludlow disconnected our power.
Passed electric inspection on Sept. 17, 2013, power was on for a dozen years, shut off Oct 25, 2025, by Ludlow.
Officials raised a zoning issue, claiming I was renting without a license. My position is that we weren’t landlord and tenant: we both own the home we were living in.
That November was cold. I was sleeping in the attic without power, so I went to REI and bought two mountaineering bladders. Climbers can use them to hold urine and place them at the bottom of a sleeping bag for warmth. That’s either how much I love Ludlow or how desperate I am to finish our artist-owned housing development. Maybe it’s both.
I didn’t dream up the idea of building creative communities in Ludlow. The City wanted to sell me the site. Ken Wynn was mayor then and is now seeking a City Council seat. The vote to convert the former church and Duro Paper Bag headquarters into a live-work space for circus artists was unanimous.
What does our community need: converting empty buildings for $1, or a $120,000,000 deal?
On July 2, I asked the Fischer Family Foundation to consider a $2.3 million grant or program-related investment to help pay obligations and investors, develop artist-owned housing, and restore Big Blue. In my proposal, I described two paths: continuing a public political campaign or focusing on resolving the dispute and completing the projects.
On July 16, attorneys representing Greg Fischer and the foundation sent me a cease-and-desist letter. They say Greg and the foundation are not part of my dispute with the City and will not fund or intervene. They also say my funding request, together with what they characterized as threats to escalate my public comments, raised serious legal concerns. That is their allegation.
The letter directs me to stop contacting them about the dispute and to stop referring to Greg, his family, the foundation, or Fischer Homes in future communications, public statements, or efforts to advance my business, litigation, or settlement positions. It warns of possible legal action. Do the Fischers want me to shut up? Yes. I called and emailed their lawyers many times to discuss completing the development, but they never called me back. They don’t scare me.
Yes, I Live in Ludlow
After I filed to run for mayor, LINK nky published an article examining my residency and the different addresses on my paperwork.
I spoke with the reporter twice and emailed him my driver’s license application materials. LINK reported that the evidence it had seen suggested I did, in fact, live in Ludlow.
I do.
I understand why voters might question the different addresses. I was living at Oak Street until my power was cut, and I later changed my voter registration to the Highway Avenue property. Both are in Ludlow. The circumstances surrounding those properties—and my dispute with the City—are part of the story.
The Fire Chief came in January to try to run me out of town. The video I posted has been seen more than 23,000 times on Facebook.
Here’s the recording of the first interview so you can hear it for yourself. A tip: if a reporter wants to record an interview, make sure you get a copy. He wasn’t interested in recording the follow-up interview.
LINKnky also included details about my divorce and voter registration:
“Finally, Miller’s voting records show he changed his registration address in August from a Park Hills property to the Oak Street address. Court records list the Park Hills property owner as Miller’s ex-wife, whom he divorced in October. Miller changed his registration address again on Nov. 17 to the Highway Avenue address.”
Renee and I had hoped to handle our separation privately. The article brought it into the public conversation, so I’ll say this: our personal circumstances do not change the decades we spent working together to build opportunities for artists and young people in Chicago and Ludlow.
A Friendship, an Easement, and a Fight That Continues
Greg Fischer is a friend. We provided Bircus beer for his epic Bengals tailgates. His family regularly attended NWF wrestling at the Ludlow Theatre, and his family foundation helped fund our after-school programming. Our July 2013 report states that $7,500 from the foundation, through Community Art Initiatives Inc., supported that program: 30 students participated and 22 completed it. The young person who later lived with me was part of that project.
Greg also helped fund our brewing equipment, and I repaid him after our first successful crowdfunding campaign.
I’m sharing this because the relationship is complicated. Greg helped us, and I appreciate it. We also disagree—strongly—about what happened with the development, the easement, and the City’s lawsuit. I’m running for mayor to hold all parties accountable for our deals and the people who have a stake in them.
2013 Tate West. Thank you to the Fischer Foundation
Greg and I met many times to discuss his development plans and the lawsuit, City of Ludlow v. Circus, KY Dept. of Tourism, Home Savings Bank et al. I sold the easement to finish our artist housing project. I was skeptical, so I recorded the negotiations with the previous mayor and the police chief/city manager.
The City offered a settlement but never completed it. The City Attorney, Todd McMurty, was removed from the case, and the fight continues. What happened to the agreement? Who was responsible for following through?
I believe our community deserves to understand why—and to ask whether everyone was treated fairly. After the easement was signed, I faced another dispute over my pizza oven and another attempt to shut me down.
The certification label on my CBO-1000 oven specifies 10 inches of clearance above the oven from combustible materials. The Fire Chief claims 10 feet.
A week earlier, the oven was on a trailer, but I got a letter saying trailers are illegal in this zone. To this day, a trailer is parked in the lot next door. Selective enforcement is the rule in Ludlow, Kentucky.
I have spent more than a decade dealing with what I believe is selective enforcement and arbitrary and capricious treatment by City Hall and PDS. I learned those terms from one of the 330 investors in Bircus, an accomplished investor from Ohio. We’ve paid taxes into a system that, too often, has made me feel like I’m paying to be abused.
Certification on Bircus’ Pizza Oven
In 2018, the Kentucky Attorney General found that Ludlow partially violated the Open Records Act in responding to a request my attorney made on my behalf during my dispute over the use of my properties. That was years before the proposed settlement, and it is one more reason I believe the public must keep asking questions.
Educate NKY and the Wider World
My campaign aims to hold power accountable and end abuse by people with badges.
The Fischer family foundation funded Educate NKY. I learned this by researching the foundation’s publicly available Form 990, which lists a $2,300,000 grant to the initiative. I believe in the mission of supporting public schools. I also believe the public should ask hard questions when powerful people and major developments receive government support while smaller projects struggle to be heard—and when those same people influence the media company shaping the narrative.
Page 12 of the Fischer Family Foundation’s publicly available tax return:
Who Gets Heard?
I am financially broke, but I am artistically, spiritually, and patriotically strong. I keep my hair cut, and I have a big mouth that I have used to promote Ludlow, Kentucky, and circus around the world.
The Circus Goes On
LINK brought up CircEsteem, the Chicago circus organization I founded after September 11, 2001, to build self-esteem through circus arts. The article said:
Miller has, in truth, spent many days in court…
Miller was involved in another, this time federal, lawsuit in the late 2000s between him and Chicago-based circus training company CircEsteem, which Miller actually helped found. As reported by Chicago news outlet the Reader, “the list of allegations includes trademark infringement, cyberpiracy, breach of duty and misappropriation of trade secrets.” Legal documents for this suit were not immediately available.
When a clown disrupts authority, the rich use the courts to get what they want. I’m grateful that my students and coaches from CircEsteem remain friends and partners. I’m proud of the community we built and of the organization’s resilience.
The CircEsteem board developed a licensing arrangement that would pay us $28,000 a year for ten years for creating this important program. When CircEsteem was broke, we donated that $280,000 by rescinding the agreement to help keep the organization solvent.
It’s comical: the board developed an exit compensation plan for my work creating CircEsteem, then used intellectual property claims to sue me, fire me, and try to embarrass me.
There are many ways to pay tuition. I’ll keep learning. We settled the CircEsteem lawsuit and, a month later, purchased the Ludlow Theatre and brought Circus Mojo to Ludlow in 2009.
I have also raised serious concerns about how the CircEsteem Board handled an allegation involving a former employee. Those concerns deserve care, facts, and respect for the person involved. Powerful people use NDAs to try to hide wrongdoing, but eventually stories like those of Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall come out.
It’s hard when the rich and powerful are in control. I will keep working to change the system and hold them accountable.
My campaign is informed by my struggle to work with and against the super-rich to deliver positive outcomes. #PoorLivesMatter
In 2015, the Ludlow Theatre closed the same day the City, the funeral home, and the circus bid for the Huntington Bank. I was hosting Fabian, an artist from France, and we made a video together during that difficult time.
Through every setback, the work has continued: bringing people together, developing artists, restoring buildings, and finding ways to strengthen the community.
Keep Asking Questions
I have used the Look at Ludlow Facebook page since 2012 to promote every business and project in the city. I have not spent my time complaining about City Hall and Planning and Development. If you have had issues with these two powerful groups, I hope you’ll email me here so we can hold them accountable for how they spend our fees and tax dollars.
I created the Vote Ludlow page with help from a Danish filmmaker because I wanted to encourage people to participate in local politics. We made campaign videos for candidates who wanted them, and the candidates approved their own messages.
Has it changed everything yet? No. But I haven’t given up.
This week, as you follow the election, ask who owns the outlets you read. Where are you getting your news? Ask who benefits from development decisions and the 30-year tax arrangement. Ask what happened to the proposed settlement, who got the support they needed, and who is still waiting. Ask whether the same rules are being applied fairly.
I chose not to respond to or even click on the December 2025 LINK nky article questioning my legitimacy as a candidate. Two months later, I reached out and wrote an op-ed for the NKY Tribune to share my ideas and inspiration from the Estonian Singing Revolution.
Ask whose voice gets heard when one side has money and connections, and the other is trying to make payroll, find housing, or keep the lights on.
I’m running for mayor because I believe Ludlow can do better. I want a world where artists, small businesses, working families, and ordinary taxpayers have a place at the table.
Poor lives matter. And so do the voices of the people who live them.
Please VOTE, this and every election! Miller for Mayor 2026!