Agriculture commissioner is reprising role as rodeo clown
Sid Miller appeared genuinely surprised when during floor debate over his 2011 bill requiring a sonogram before an abortion, Rep. Carol Alvarado brandished the foot-long probe a doctor would have to insert inside the patient to meet the law’s requirements.
“This is not the jellyon-the-belly that most of you might think,” Alvarado, who today represents Houston in the state Senate, explained. “This is government intrusion at its best. We’ve reached a (new) high, a climax in government intrusion.”
I was on the House floor that day, and thenstate Rep. Miller pulled himself together and stuck to his script. His bill eventually became law, marking a significant milestone on the road to banning abortion. He also guaranteed anti-abortion groups would support his 2014 campaign for agriculture commissioner.
Carrying a conservative culture-war bill has become a prerequisite for Republicans seeking statewide or federal office, even for the mostly administrative role of agriculture commissioner. The sonogram bill was Miller’s ticket to a wellpaying, full-time, state job affecting millions of businesses and consumers daily.
This year, Miller is seeking re-election to lead the state agency that oversees farmers and ranchers and regulates the scales used to weigh our food and the pumps that deliver our fuel.
Eight years in, Miller remains an avid culture warrior to absurd excesses. But he’s bumbled so
many of his duties you’d think the former rodeo clown was performing an old schtick.
The latest, greatest scandal of many involves his top political consultant, Todd Smith, whose wife Miller hired for a highly paid role at the commission.
Texas Rangers and the Travis County district attorney obtained an indictment in January alleging Smith solicited bribes in return for obtaining licenses to grow hemp from the Texas Department of Agriculture.
The Rangers’ affidavit alleges Smith asked for $150,000 to guarantee a license, including
$25,000 for a survey that Smith claimed was required as part of the application. Smith also said some of the money would go toward unnamed political campaigns, the affidavit said.
A Texas license to grow hemp costs $100, and no survey is required.
Miller initially defended Smith, who started working with him during his days in the Texas House. In an interview after the announcement of the investigation but before the indictment, Miller denied any wrongdoing to my colleague Edward McKinley: “All they need is a headline: Sid Miller’s political consultant under investigation for selling hemp licenses.”
The day after the indictment, Miller cut ties with Smith, who is awaiting trial. But that wasn’t the first time the Rangers looked into Miller’s business.
Investigators opened two separate investigations into whether Miller spent state money to travel for personal business. Neither case resulted in charges.
He did face intense criticism from fellow Republicans during the primary.
“We’re finding out that Sid Miller’s campaign team has been meeting in the back alleys behind the Texas Department of Agriculture, taking bribes in and swindles from poor farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs that are trying to get their business started,” conservative state Rep. James White said in a radio interview.
White and a slew of farmers have complained about Miller raising fees unnecessarily to finance his pet projects. The
State Auditor determined in one case that Miller was collecting $27.3 million for programs that only cost $20.8 million to operate.
The Texas Restaurant Association decried Miller for sending inspectors to fine barbecue restaurants and frozen yogurt shops for not certifying their scales with his agency. Miller ignored Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton who explained that a 2017 law meant the inspections were not required.
Miller still claims his harassment of small businesses as a significant accomplishment.
Miller fashions himself a maverick, which was on display in July when he broke with Republican orthodoxy and said Texas should expand marijuana production and greater medical use.
“In a free society, government should only make something illegal for a powerful reason or set of facts,” Miller said.
His re-election campaign, though, rests on former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, despicable social media posts, and his anti-abortion bona fides. His record as commissioner takes a backseat to ultraMAGA dogma.
Texas probably shouldn’t elect politicians to run agencies like the Agriculture Commission. But if we do it, vote on someone’s record, not their partisanship.
Chris Tomlinson, named 2021 columnist of the year by the Texas Managing Editors, writes commentary about money, politics and life in Texas. Sign up for his “Tomlinson’s Take” newsletter at HoustonChronicle.com/TomlinsonNewsletter. twitter.com/cltomlinson chris.tomlinson@chron.com