Consultant for Miller is arrested in hemp scheme

A political consultant for Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was arrested Thursday in Travis County on allegations that he collected cash and campaign donations in exchange for access to state licenses for growing hemp, which is used to make CBD oil.

Todd Malcolm Smith, 59, was charged with third-degree felony theft for his alleged role in a scheme in which he’s said to have raked in $55,000 while his associates convinced potential growers that the payments were needed to receive a license, according to the arrest warrant affidavit first reported by the Texas Standard and obtained by Hearst Newspapers. He was released Friday on $10,000 bail.

Smith could not be reached for comment Friday, and his attorney was not named in court filings. The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement Friday that the Texas Rangers’ Public Integrity Unit, as well as Travis County District Attorney’s Office, is investigating the matter.

The evidence against Smith includes text messages in which he discusses picking up payments from his associate, the affidavit says.

Smith, in soliciting the funds, claimed there would be only 15 licenses approved statewide, the affidavit says. An FAQ on the Texas Department of Agriculture website, however, says there is no

limit to the number of licenses available.

In January, Miller said the agency had granted more than 1,150 licenses.

Miller told the Dallas Morning News that he did not know anything about the scheme before learning about it Friday and had not spoken to Smith.

An associate of Smith’s told investigators that Smith had said that getting a hemp license would cost $25,000 for a survey and $125,000 for the “funding of campaigns.” The affidavit did not say which political campaigns.

Texas established its industrial hemp program after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill in 2019, a year after Congress legalized the production of the plant, which is similar to marijuana but contains a much lower amount of the psychoactive ingredient THC. The state began accepting applications in March 2020. The oneyear licenses start at $300, plus other fees.

This isn’t the first time Smith has been accused of using his access to Miller for personal or political gain. A San Antonio businessman claimed in 2018 that Smith offered him an advisory board post at the Texas Department of Agriculture if he contributed to Miller’s campaign, then later asked him for a $29,000 personal loan, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

In 2016, the Texas Tribune reported that Miller gave an assistant commissioner position he created to his wife, Kellie Housewright-Smith, with a $180,000 salary, one of the highest in the department. Right around that the time, the couple had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

The associate of Smith’s told investigators that “his impression was they were getting the license” and that he had told others involved to “be discreet since they were getting the license because of Todd Smith, and there would be people who wanted a license that would not get one.”

Arrest records say the associate also shared a recording with investigators in which Smith said to him on a phone call: “You do realize this is not supposed to happen.”