Tag Archives: Jim Hightower

political news, State news

What’s with this agriculture commissioner?

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There must be something about serving as Texas commissioner of agriculture that brings out the weirdness in some of those who hold the office.

Sid Miller is the guy in the office at the moment. He’s a Republican who seems to look for ways to make himself look silly. He makes goofy pronouncements, goes off on state-paid junkets and then spends public money on matters that should be financed out of his own pocket.

In a strange way he reminds me of another agriculture commissioner. Do you remember Jim Hightower? He served a single term as head of the agriculture department in the late 1980s. Rick Perry got elected to the office in 1990 and he was succeeded by Susan Combs, who then was succeeded by Todd Staples. Those three individuals managed to serve with a degree of decorum and dignity.

Hightower, though, was a jokester. The Democrat was quick with the quip and managed to say things just to get a laugh out of those who heard him say them.

Miller, though, is presenting some unusual problems.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/04/22/sid-millers-tenure/

As the Texas Tribune reports, Miller is making a spectacle of himself:

“Miller’s conduct in office has ranged from the cartoonish — revamping inspection stickers for the state’s more than 170,000 fuel pumps to more prominently feature his name — to the potentially criminal — allegedly bankrolling two out-of-state trips with public funds to receive what’s known as a ‘Jesus Shot’ and to compete in a rodeo.”

Miller won the office partly by campaigning as a fiscal conservative. So what does he do? He boosts the pay of top staff jobs.

He seems to look for ways to make headlines, to get his name out there. Remember how he lifted the state ban on deep fryers and soda machines? Why does an elected agriculture do something like that?

I much prefer that these folks simply do their job quietly. There’s no need to create spectacles.

The agriculture commissioner has a big job. The state has a gigantic farm and ranch community — and much of it exists out here on the High Plains.

Can’t this guy just promote the value of Texas’s myriad agricultural produces without being such a buffoon?

 

State news

Nuke the Muslims? Stick to ag policy, Mr. Miller

sid miller

Sid Miller wouldn’t like this comparison; then again, neither would the man with whom I am making the comparison.

But the current Texas agriculture commissioner is making as many waves with his occasionally goofy behavior as former Ag Commissioner Jim Hightower.

Miller’s Facebook page recently featured a social media statement that said the United States has been at peace with Japan since Aug. 9, 1945 — when we dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki; then the post said “It’s time we made peace with the Muslim world.”

Hmmm. Does that mean he supports the idea of dropping nuclear bombs on Muslim nations? To be fair, Miller or his staff did not post the item, nor did Miller personally share it. But they aren’t going to apologize for its appearance on his department’s Facebook page. As the Texas Tribune reported: “The commissioner has no plans to figure out which of his staffers shared the posting, or to apologize, (Miller spokesman Todd) Smith said.”

The social media post has drawn the expected criticism. Indeed, this kind of message borders on the unbelievable.

Nuke the Muslim world? Does this guy really mean to obliterate all of it?

Good grief! We’re engaged in a death struggle with Muslim extremists, religious perverts — who do not represent the majority of those who worship one of the world’s great religions.

Miller is on a trade mission in China. I’ve got an idea: Why don’t you stick to promoting Texas agricultural products overseas, commissioner?

Outrageous social media posts have this way of diverting the commissioner from the message he was elected to deliver.

 

 

State news

Miller bringing some sizzle to Texas ag department

Sid Miller is becoming rapidly the most talked-about Texas agriculture commissioner since, oh, perhaps Jim Hightower.

That’s really saying something.

Hightower used to make reporters laugh out loud with his jokes and quips when he led the TDA in the late 1980s. Miller is making some waves of his own now, but many observers aren’t laughing.

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/01/sid-miiller-backed-then-nixed-ag-agency-remodel/

Miller is having to explain why he gripes about deep budget cuts while at one time supporting expensive renovations to his department’s offices in Austin. He requested the flashy improvements shortly after being elected in November, then pulled back on the request. According to the Texas Tribune: “According to agency spokesman Bryan Black, Miller halted the renovations after realizing the extent of the department’s financial woes. ‘After learning of the serious budget challenges facing the Texas Department of Agriculture, Commissioner Miller put a stop to renovations at the agency,’ Black said in an emailed statement. ‘Commissioner Miller is committed to being fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars.’”

The Tribune reports further: “Among the requested items for Miller’s own office were 6-inch ‘hand scraped flooring,’ crown molding, indirect lighting, wooden blinds and custom ceiling tile. Items that don’t mention specific locations at the department’s Austin headquarters include a request for ‘office redesign/remodel, install shower’ and another order to remove carpet and replace it with tiles that resembled the ‘thin set terrazzo w/state or agency seal’ in the elevator lobby of the eighth floor of the Stephen F. Austin building.”

No one should expect our state officials to vow to work in squalid conditions … but holy mackerel!

Meanwhile, Commissioner Miller said deep budget cuts in previous legislative sessions have made it hard for the TDA to perform some of its core services, such as ensuring grocery store scanners work properly. Yet the commissioner wanted initially to gussy up his offices?

Let’s take a deep breath at the Texas Department of Agriculture.

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Kinky for ag commissioner?

37494-kinky_friedman-763418Mention the name “Kinky” in polite company anywhere in Texas and your audience likely will know precisely of whom you speak.

It would be Kinky Friedman, the humorist, singer, author, part-time farmer, gadfly — and a Democratic Party candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner.

In an earlier post on this blog, I dismissed Friedman as a serious agriculture commissioner candidate, citing what I believe to be his lack of actual farm-and-ranch experience. But as Ross Ramsey of the Texas Tribune points out in the link attached here, Kinky might have a shot a breaking the Republicans’ choke-hold on every statewide office in Texas.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/03/13/analysis-kink-democrats-chain/

How does he do that? He can parlay his overwhelming name identification, for starters.

Kinky is in a runoff to occur May 27 with Jim Hogan to be his party’s nominee. Republicans have a runoff too, featuring Sid Miller and Tommy Merritt. Of the two GOP candidates, the only one who’s solicited my vote this year has been Merritt, who’s been touting his belief in the Second Amendment and in the “sanctity of life.” Someone will have to explain to me how that matters with regard to the office he is seeking.

I digress. Back to Kinky.

He ran for governor eight years ago. He came to the newspaper where I worked as editorial page editor and had a sit-down interview with the editorial board. To be honest, he had us in stitches.

I enjoyed the meeting tremendously, particularly when I asked him what he considered to be a dumb question (I wish I could remember it) and he body-slammed me with a put-down. Hey, I’ve been slammed by the best — and Kinky Friedman might qualify as being among the best put-down artists in the business.

How should we rate Kinky’s chances this year? The odds are long, Ramsey writes. “The odds are against Friedman, but they were also against Rick Perry in 1990, when he won the same job against Jim Hightower,” according to Ramsey.

With most — if not all — of the attention focusing on gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis, Democrats might have a sleeper candidate in a guy who wants to be taken seriously while campaigning like someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously.

I’m hoping he wins the Democratic runoff. This campaign season is going to need some levity. If Texans can retain their sense of humor, that might be Kinky Friedman’s ticket to public office.

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Why vote for Merritt?

Tommy Merritt is facing a runoff for the Republican Party nomination for Texas agriculture commissioner; he’s facing Sid Miller on May 27.

Here’s the question: What has Merritt done to earn the job?

I am asking because in recent days I’ve gotten some campaign fliers at my house promoting Merritt’s candidacy to replace Todd Staples, who lost his bid to become the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor. The fliers, I hasten to add, have said nothing about what Merritt would do to promote Texas agriculture.

Instead, they talk about his commitment to the Second Amendment (the one that guarantees gun ownership), his belief that life begins at conception, his lengthy marriage, his “strong conservative values,” and some other stuff that has nothing to do with agriculture policy.

So, back to the question: Why does this guy deserve to be agriculture commissioner?

He’s not alone in promoting values and principles that have little or nothing to do with the nuts-and-bolts policy issues relating to his office.

Do you remember Jim Hightower, the goofy Democrat who held the office until losing in 1990 to Republican Rick Perry? He touted farmers’ markets as his answer to bolstering agriculture. I can’t remember what Perry bragged about. Republican Susan Combs argued for value-added product sales of commodities.

Now, we have Merritt — a former legislator — vowing to protect unborn children and fighting for Texans to keep their guns.

I haven’t gotten anything from Sid Miller in my mailbox. Maybe something will arrive in time for the runoff. If it does, it hope it says something — anything — about agriculture.