Jim Reaves, another former agency employee
who recently died, told the Rangers in 2020 that he was advised by his
supervisor not to take private meetings with Smith, according to the
Ranger’s report.
Concerns about Smith continued after he
became Miller’s chief of staff in January. At least one employee shared
his trepidation directly with Miller. Freddy Vest, a former agriculture
department director for a decade, reported telling Miller in a
one-on-one meeting in May that Smith was wreaking havoc across the
agency.
“It’s in turmoil right now from the
field operation to the floor down to biosecurity,” Vest told Miller,
according to a recording of their conversation that Miller made and
provided to DPS. “They are all scared to death. They don’t know what’s
going on.” Vest declined to comment further to the Tribune.
Shortly after that meeting, Miller
fired Vest, accusing him of trying to pressure him into firing Smith and
reporting him to state police for trying to coerce a public official,
according to a copy of his complaint to DPS obtained through the open
records request. Vest denied the accusation. DPS investigated the claim
but did not file charges and closed the case.
Smith did not respond to a request for
comment. In an interview, Miller said Smith has always had his
fingerprints on the department.
"He's a long-time confidante, friend,
adviser," Miller said. "I never ran anything through publication unless
Todd's eyes were on it. So he's been a part of the deal. He's just never
been paid. So that's why I hired him."
But he dismissed the concerns about
Smith as lies from disgruntled former employees. He said Smith was "the
best hire I've ever made," and praised his work at the agency over the
last eight months. Miller said Smith has positively overhauled multiple
departments, including communications and the agency's Go Texan
advertising campaign supporting Texas-made products.
Miller told the Rangers in 2021 that
agency employees were “jealous” of Smith’s close relationship with
Miller. Miller acknowledged to the Tribune that employees often grew
frustrated because he always asked for Smith's advice when sending
agency communications, but defended Smith's involvement because his
agency employees "were not political animals."
"They didn't understand that this is an
elected office. It's not a bureaucracy," Miller said. "This [agency] is
ended up by an elected official. And you have to consider the political
aspects of it, too. So, yeah, they really resented Todd having that
much power over their work."
During Miller’s interview with DPS
about Smith, a Texas Ranger told Miller that “not one person had
anything good to say about Todd Smith during the course of this
investigation,” and that agency employees interviewed as part of the
investigation were “distancing themselves as not to be around him,” the
report states.
When the Rangers asked whether Miller
allowed Smith to solicit money from people in exchange for a hemp
license, he told the Rangers, “of course not,” according to the
investigation report.
“That would be illegal,” Miller told the Ranger. “I would never do that.”
Miller was never charged or implicated in the bribery case.
Who is Todd Smith?
Miller first hired Smith 25 years ago
as a political consultant during his first race for the Texas House of
Representatives in 2000. Smith has also worked as a lobbyist in Texas
for dozens of clients across the country since 2003, including the
American Cancer Society, multiple home healthcare companies, political
action committees like Texans for Traditional Marriage, and Texas-based
farmers like L&L Farms and Green Gro Farm Texas.
Todd Smith from a March 2021 Facebook post. The caption reads,
"Exciting day meeting with conservative leaders in East Texas!" Sid
Miller, center with hat; Smith is second from right.
Social media
Miller and Smith have also been
business partners, documents filed with the Secretary of State’s office
show. They were both listed as officers at a now-defunct company,
PeerProf LLC, which was incorporated in 2010 and allowed college
students to rate their professors online, and a political phone bank
company called E Communication Advantage, which started in 2008, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
In early 2020, the Texas Rangers
started investigating a series of complaints that Smith and another man,
Keenan Williams, were allegedly soliciting large sums of money from
people interested in investing in the burgeoning hemp industry in Texas,
promising that the payments would get them to the front of the line for
one of the exclusive hemp licenses that Miller’s agriculture department
would issue.
Witnesses told state police that they
gave money to Williams and Smith, who characterized the payments as
consulting fees, political donations, or funding for surveys of Texans’
perception of hemp legalization — surveys that were never conducted,
according to Smith’s arrest affidavit.
In exchange, witnesses said they were
told they would receive a hemp license. In reality, hemp licenses cost
$100 each, and the state could grant an unlimited number of them. Miller
himself applied for a hemp license in 2020 and grew hemp for a few
years.
Smith was accused of soliciting $55,000
in the scheme from individuals, a third-degree felony that carries a
potential sentence of two to 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000. He
pleaded guilty to commercial bribery, a state jail felony with a maximum
sentence of two years in jail, and was given deferred adjudication, a
form of probation.
Last month, the Tribune reported
that former allies of Miller’s told state police officers that Miller
feared a possible investigation into his hemp farm by the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, and asked his friend to dispose of marijuana
cigarettes and gummies for him in case DEA agents showed up at his
house. Miller has denied the claims.
Miller told the Texas Rangers in 2021
that he paid Smith $2,000 per month for consulting, plus Smith received a
10% commission for any money he raised for Miller’s political
campaigns.
Miller confirmed to the Tribune that this was his practice.
"If he went out on his own, then raised $10,000, I got him a check for $1,000, glad to do it," Miller said.
Hiring paperwork shows that Smith is
still working as Miller’s political consultant while also acting as
chief of staff. State law says that’s legal as long as employees do not
conduct any campaign work on state time or with state equipment.
When Smith was hired, Deputy
Agriculture Commissioner Terry Keel wrote on Smith’s hiring documents
that he did not believe Smith’s work as a political consultant would
influence his decision-making as the commissioner’s chief of staff or
create a conflict of interest for the agency.
Miller said Smith "does not cross any lines," and said he only works on his political campaign on nights and weekends.
Smith’s son and ex-wife hired at agriculture department
Smith is the third member of his family
to draw a salary from the agriculture department since Miller was first
elected commissioner in 2014.
In May 2019, the agency hired Smith’s
son, Jacob Smith, employees told Texas Rangers as they investigated
Smith’s relationship to the agency.
Ken Weidenfeller, a former regional
director at the Department of Agriculture, told the Rangers in 2020 that
he was directed by Vest and Roberts to hire Jacob Smith as a field
inspector in the agency’s San Antonio office. Weidenfeller said he was
never told why, “but assumed it was linked to Todd Smith,” the Ranger’s
report states.
Weidenfeller told the Ranger that he
“did not think Jacob Smith was qualified” for the job. Weidenfeller did
not respond to requests for comment.
Vest denied to the Rangers that he directed Weidenfeller to hire Jacob Smith, saying he only “encouraged” him to do so.
Miller and Todd Smith confirmed in
their respective interviews with the Rangers that Jacob Smith was hired
to work for the agency. Miller told investigators he never instructed
anyone at the agency to hire Jacob Smith and would never hire someone
unqualified for a position. But the report said Miller also told them
that he may have told staff to find a job for Jacob Smith at the agency,
and that “someone interpreted his comments as direction to hire Jacob
Smith.”
Miller told investigators that the
agency is always short-staffed and he would help anyone trying to find a
job, not just Todd Smith’s son. Miller told the Tribune that Jacob
wanted to work at the agency, and Miller told him he needed to apply
like anyone else. He said he believed he was qualified for the position.
Smith told the Ranger that he told
Miller and Roberts that his son was applying for a job, according to the
Ranger’s report, but the Ranger wrote that Smith was noncommittal on
whether he helped Jacob Smith get a job at the agency. Todd Smith said
his son resigned from the agency after supervisors attempted to reassign
him. Vest told the Rangers that Jacob Smith was let go after six
months.
The Tribune could not identify contact
information for Jacob Smith, but issued a request for comment through
his father. Jacob Smith did not respond to that request.
Todd Smith’s former wife, Kellie
Housewright-Smith, also worked at the Department of Agriculture for a
few months when Miller was first elected to the position in 2014. She
started as part of Miller’s transition team and then as an assistant
commissioner in early 2015 with a $180,000 salary.
At the time, Smith told the Austin American-Statesman that his wife was hired because of her experience as a health care consultant to former members of Congress. She was put on probation
for chronic absenteeism and quit just a few months after being hired
because she said she wanted to spend more time with her son, who had
medical needs, Smith told the Tribune at the time.
Roberts, the former assistant
commissioner, told a Ranger during the investigation that Miller told
him he needed to hire Smith’s wife because “he owed Todd Smith a bunch
of money on consulting fees,” according to the Ranger’s report.
Miller denied Roberts' allegation. He
defended his decision to hire Smith’s wife as an assistant commissioner,
saying he felt she was qualified for the position.
"It's a pretty common practice to help,
hire people that have helped you and are loyal to you," Miller said.
"It's not just me, it's common for elected officials to appoint former
colleagues, campaign workers or political advisors, you know, positioned
in the administration."
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/8a1f2d26fcce348c6262e9eae0e66b59/Todd%20Smith%20FB%2001.jpg)
