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Sid Miller is a Piece of Shit

RPM

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RPM

RPM 26,358

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Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller in late 2016 appointed to the state’s Rural Health Task Force a former physician and Miller campaign donor who had his medical license revoked or suspended in three states.

In Iowa, Rick Ray Redalen’s medical license was first suspended when he was convicted of perjury in a case involving his marriage to his 15-year-old former stepdaughter. The license was later revoked for good for failure to report a malpractice suit, medical board records show.

Redalen, who calls himself “the Maverick Doctor,” said he was introduced to Miller several years ago by Todd M. Smith, a lobbyist who has reported making hundreds of thousands of dollars from Redalen’s company and is Miller’s longtime political strategist.

Redalen, who donated heavily to Miller’s campaign months before his appointment, said he has used the unpaid task force position to advocate for expanded access to telemedicine — a service offered by one of his companies. Redalen said he never expected any favors in exchange for his contributions to Miller.

Craig McDonald, director of the left-leaning ethics watchdog Texans for Public Justice, said the arrangement “looks like a pay-to-play situation.”

“The good doctor — through Todd Smith, a lobbyist and a Sid Miller confidant — has given a lot of money to get a position on this advisory board to promote his own private company’s agenda,” McDonald said. “The whole tele-doc industry is mostly for-profit, and it has an economic piece in changing the policy on the extent to which we allow telemedicine to come into Texas.”

Buck Wood, a lawyer who helped write many of Texas’ ethics laws, said the situation “sure stinks to high heaven.”

Quest Global Benefits has paid Smith between $200,000 and $250,000 every year since 2015, according to lobbying activity reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.

Redalen donated $5,000 to Miller’s campaign in January 2016 and $12,000 in July 2016. Miller appointed Redalen to the task force in December of that year.

Redalen even joined Miller on the commissioner’s March 2017 trip to Israel, which made international headlines after Miller signed a declaration of cooperation with Israeli settlements in the West Bank that are not legally recognized by the United States or the United Nations.

As a doctor, Redalen worked in emergency rooms and as a primary care doctor and has had his license suspended or revoked in Minnesota, Iowa and Louisiana.

The disciplinary action against Redalen by Minnesota’s medical board was due to “psychiatric and drug problems,” according to a 1995 Des Moines Register article.

Redalen’s legal troubles in Iowa stemmed from his relationship with his stepdaughter, whom he married in Tarrant County while on a trip to Texas in September 1988. He had been married to her mother, who committed suicide in 1987. In 1986, Redalen pleaded guilty to assault after authorities said he struck his wife with a rifle butt and pointed a gun at sheriff’s deputies, according to the Register article.

Redalen did not answer detailed questions about his past, but he said that his problems in Iowa were invented by enemies who were jealous because he was the “most popular doctor in town.”

After a 1989 court proceeding, Redalen told reporters, “Right now we seem to have a very enjoyable relationship that fulfills a large part of our lives since” the mother’s suicide.

Redalen was arrested after returning to Iowa following the Texas trip and was eventually convicted of perjury for lying about his knowledge of the girl’s whereabouts, medical board records and news articles say. Although the case was not related to his medical career, the Iowa medical board suspended his license for two years because he had pleaded guilty to a felony.

In 1995, after Redalen had moved to Louisiana, the medical board in that state revoked his license after accusations that he abused drugs and alcohol.

https://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/sid-miller-put-doctor-with-revoked-licenses-rural-health-panel/HrhVMVDYxSXl8A7GZo2a7M/

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Chooky

Chooky 13,319

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If you wrote a fictional novel about some of the diseased miscreants in Texas politics you'd be laughed out of existence for going too far over the top with your depraved and calamitous antagonists.  The fact that people like this merely exist is baffling.  The fact that they get elected is indescribable.  It's an unrealistic reality.  

Fucking married his 15-year-old stepdaughter whose mother committed suicide after having rifles pointed at her -- and she was beaten with the rifle.  What in the holy fuck? 

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hayden_horn

hayden_horn 11,365

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1 hour ago, DanRydell said:

Someone who campaigned for Ag Commisioner by touting his evangelical bonafides is a piece of shit? This is my shocked face.

this always cracked me up.

"as ag commissioner, my christian value and my opposition to those LIBERAL OBAMA policies (none of which really affect the role i am seeking, of course) will help me represent texas values"

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ERhine

ERhine 1,908

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17k? I am reading that right? Our politicians are some cheap fucking whores. About the cost of a corolla. 


This is what everyone keeps overlooking. It took 17K to get appointed to a commission that oversaw his company. $17K in donations to affect policy to make god knows how much. Hell of an investment.
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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89,812

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@RPM you will appreciate this.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/07/sid-miller-todd-smith/

Top political aide to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller arrested in alleged scheme to take money in exchange for hemp licenses

Todd M. Smith was arrested Thursday and released from Travis County Jail on Friday, according to the Travis County Sheriff's Office

Quote

The top political consultant to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was arrested Thursday on allegations that he participated in a scheme to solicit money and campaign contributions for state hemp licenses issued by Miller’s Texas Department of Agriculture.

The consultant, Todd Smith, ultimately took $55,000 as part of the scheme, an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by The Texas Tribune says. Smith and others involved in the scheme are alleged in the warrant to have solicited a total of $150,000 to guarantee a license, including a $25,000 upfront cost for a survey that they said was required to get a license in Texas. Some of the money would also go toward funding unnamed political campaigns, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit alleges that Smith committed third-degree felony theft.

 

Edited by atomheartbevo
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Gatorubet

Gatorubet 30,321

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They are what people outside of Texas, think Texans are.

Nah. They are what we think the majority of Texans are. See your politicians reflecting the will of the electorate. See lots of states, including the idiot Louisiana delegation. That’s on us.

The noted stupidity and ass-hattedness of your politicians is because everything’s bigger in Texas.

Even the lumps on newly elected official’s foreheads.
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UpperWestside

UpperWestside 6,190

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14 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:


Nah. They are what we think the majority of Texans are. See your politicians reflecting the will of the electorate. See lots of states, including the idiot Louisiana delegation. That’s on us.

The noted stupidity and ass-hattedness of your politicians is because everything’s bigger in Texas.

Even the lumps on newly elected official’s foreheads.

My brother sends me texts from our hometown about the local government largesse and the general corrupt nature of how things operate there. A local guy there has a blog that chronicles businesses flat out stealing tax dollars, because, reasons. Sid Miller absolutely is as good a representative of what people think people from Texas are like as you are going to find. 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,459

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3 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

Nah. They are what we think the majority of Texans are. See your politicians reflecting the will of the electorate. See lots of states, including the idiot Louisiana delegation. That’s on us.

Something like 80% of this state wants gun control and I would bet a similar majority wants ERCOT fixed, but our politicians went all in on constitutional carry and haven't done shit about the grid.  

Edited by Beau Vine
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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89,812

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https://www.kxan.com/news/local/travis-county/texas-agriculture-commissioner-consultant-accused-of-stealing-55k-from-people-wanting-hemp-licenses/

Quote

 A consultant for Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is accused of stealing $55,000 from people who thought the consultant would help them get hemp licenses, according to an arrest affidavit.

Todd Malcom Smith, 59, faces a theft charge and bonded out of jail as of Friday. On Sunday, Austin attorneys Sam Bassett and Perry Minton released a statement on behalf of their client. 

“Todd never violated any laws and did not steal anything from anyone,” said the statement in part.

Quote

In June 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill allowing Texas farmers to grow industrial hemp under a program regulated by the Texas Department of Agriculture. The department worked to create rules for the program, had them approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and opened its online licensing and permit application in March 2020. 

An affidavit said witnesses from two different businesses came forward saying they paid Smith during the time the rules were being developed, under the impression it would go toward a survey of Texans about hemp. At least one person said they were told the survey was required to get a license.

Quote

Multiple people said they never saw the survey, according to the affidavit. In both business cases, witnesses said they reached out to get their money back.

In one case, someone interested in getting involved in the hemp industry said he had been told by a man working with Smith that there would only be a limited number of licenses and that he could pay “cash, with some of the money going toward campaign contributions, in order to receive a ‘guaranteed’ hemp license.” 

There is no limit to the number of licenses available, according to a FAQ on the Texas Industrial Hemp Program website.

 

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StassneyHorn

StassneyHorn 6,642

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James White is attempting to primary Sid Miller and has shown this week he will be going with the anti-corruption attack. Twice this week with Scott Braddock (on Mark Davis show in Dallas) and Chad Hasty in the Panhandle he has accused Sid of taking bribes for hemp licenses. Making that charge on Chad Hasty show where that area has seen a big push among farmers in and around Amarillo and Lubbock to switch to something more profitable like hemp could be a good punch. Might be looking into it too much cause I know a few guys in Amarillo that are attempting those conversations with farmers for a couple years now. The Ronny Jackson/ Winehart primary
runoff got a lot of people engaged and have stuck around.

I think it’s notable cause you’re going to see a huge anti-corruption race in the AG race as well. Who knows what Huffines will lob against Abbott. But there’s potential to have 3 statewide races where Republicans are accusing each other of being corrupt.

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45,747

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30 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

James White is attempting to primary Sid Miller and has shown this week he will be going with the anti-corruption attack. Twice this week with Scott Braddock (on Mark Davis show in Dallas) and Chad Hasty in the Panhandle he has accused Sid of taking bribes for hemp licenses. Making that charge on Chad Hasty show where that area has seen a big push among farmers in and around Amarillo and Lubbock to switch to something more profitable like hemp could be a good punch. Might be looking into it too much cause I know a few guys in Amarillo that are attempting those conversations with farmers for a couple years now. The Ronny Jackson/ Winehart primary
runoff got a lot of people engaged and have stuck around.

I think it’s notable cause you’re going to see a huge anti-corruption race in the AG race as well. Who knows what Huffines will lob against Abbott. But there’s potential to have 3 statewide races where Republicans are accusing each other of being corrupt.

Is this "anti-corruption" tactic like "drain the swamp"?

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HornOnTheBayou

HornOnTheBayou 8,948

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Public school teacher here and this is the first time I'm learning that John Oliver is my priest. Does that mean I can just show my classes Last Week Tonight? That would make Monday morning lesson planning soooo much easier.

Edited by HornOnTheBayou
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pacman

pacman 7,371

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small ut tyler poll of less than 700

 

 

 

 

Miller Education Center in Stephenville, Christian school pre-k through 8th. Debra Miller is also president of the school. Not the first time he has used his position to promote the interests of his wife's school.

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2 minutes ago, pacman said:

small ut tyler poll of less than 700

 

 

 

 

Miller Education Center in Stephenville, Christian school pre-k through 8th. Debra Miller is also president of the school. Not the first time he has used his position to promote the interests of his wife's school.

Oh man, if you went in there with a hidden camera, I'd bet you'd hear some very interesting things.

Edited by FirstTimeCaller
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Horn Under a Bad Sign

Horn Under a Bad Sign 20,502

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50 minutes ago, pacman said:

small ut tyler poll of less than 700

 

 

 

 

Miller Education Center in Stephenville, Christian school pre-k through 8th. Debra Miller is also president of the school. Not the first time he has used his position to promote the interests of his wife's school.



Those same polls also show that a majority of Texans favor stricter access to guns, legalizing marijuana, and express strong support for abortion rights. In fact, six out of 10 texans say that abortion should be "available in all or most cases,"  and 11 percent say that they favor a total ban on it. 

Edited by Horn Under a Bad Sign
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