Tag Archives: Todd Smith

Sid Miller’s political consultant indicted

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Well, this is interesting. Todd Smith, a top political consultant to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, was indicted Tuesday on felony charges of theft and commercial bribery related to taking money in exchange for state hemp licenses that are doled out … Continue reading →

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HempLicenseGate

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The headline on this Trib story is “Top political aide to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller arrested in alleged scheme to take money in exchange for hemp licenses”, and I have no idea how to make it any pithier than … Continue reading →

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The state’s voter ID failure is much bigger than you think

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

You really have to read this. The confusion started in the first hour of the first day of early voting in San Antonio last October. Signs in polling places about the state’s controversial voter ID law contained outdated rules. Poll … Continue reading →

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Another point of order delays Eissler’s school bill

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

HB400, the bill by Rep. Rob Eissler that among other things raises the 22:1 student:teacher limit in grades K-4, came up for debate last night after the “sanctuary cities” bill got sidetracked by a point of order. Here was the … Continue reading →

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Will the Lege change the rules about corporate campaign contributions?

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I think the answer to that question is probably “No”, but given the Citizens United ruling and the effect it had in the 2010 election, one cannot rule it out. Immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, the Texas Ethics … Continue reading →

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Deferred adjudication for DWI

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

There are thousands of drunk driving cases on district court dockets around the state. To try and help get them cleared out, a bill has been filed to allow first time offenders to get deferred adjudication. First-time offenders could be … Continue reading →

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Texas Voices update

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Grits gives a report. I was pleased to get to spend a little time with Mary Sue Molnar and the folks at Texas Voices (a group made up of families of registered sex offenders) at their statewide conference here in … Continue reading →

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Smith bashes Perry for vetoing HB3148

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Rep. Todd Smith takes Governor Perry to task for vetoing HB3148, which would have exempted some teenagers who had engaged in consensual sex with a minor less than four years younger than themselves from having to register as sex offenders. … Continue reading →

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Friends and foes

Posted on June 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Observer poo-poos the idea of “Best Of” and “Top Ten” lists, then gives us its stab at a Best and Worst tabulation by naming six of “The People’s Friends” and five “Foes”. Where Texas Monthly focuses more on … Continue reading →

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Campaign finance bill passes the House

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve had plenty of harsh things to say about House Elections Committee Chair Todd Smith this session, but he’s always been one of the good guys on campaign finance reform. Texas could start regulating how political parties use corporate and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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High school registrars

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We know that the Republicans like voter ID. We shouldn’t be too surprised that they don’t much like voter registration. [The House] barely passed a bill Monday night that would allow high school principals to appoint four deputy registrars to … Continue reading →

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Voter ID passes out of House committee

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The session that’s been all about voter ID is finally headed into its final act as SB362 gets approval from the House Elections Committee on a 5-4 vote. It wasn’t actually a straight-party vote – Rep. Joe Heflin, who had … Continue reading →

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Updates on some criminal justice bills

Posted on May 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As Grits notes, this is the time of the session in which bills die because there’s no longer the time for them to make it through the process. Fortunately, as he writes in that post, many of the bills related … Continue reading →

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Smith caves in to the Browns

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

No surprise, really. Rep. Todd Smith, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Elections, confirmed today he’s intending to have the committee vote Monday on a voter ID plan. The twist: Smith is backing off his attempts to rewrite … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The voter ID “compromise” bill

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. The voter identification bill likely to reach the House floor would allow Texans to cast ballots if they can show two forms of non-photo ID, despite pressure from many Republican members to require picture identification for all … Continue reading →

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The Speaker speaks, and a Voter ID update

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So how is Speaker Joe Straus doing? Three months into his first term leading the 150-member chamber, Republican Speaker Joe Straus is emerging as a bipartisan compromise-seeker, rejecting much of the power that his predecessor so coveted. Straus still faces … Continue reading →

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More on Day One of the House hearings on voter ID

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

House Elections Committee Chair Todd Smith is full of ennui at how things have gone so far. Throughout today’s proceedings, Chairman Todd Smith, R-Bedford, has repeatedly insisted that he is “unimpressed,” and even on one occasion, “fabulously unimpressed,” with both … Continue reading →

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Blaming the nuns

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So as we know, today is expert testimony day for the voter ID hearings in the House. It’s still going on as I type this, and is expected to last till about midnight. Vince is liveblogging, Rep. Pena has a … Continue reading →

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Let the shenanigans begin!

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Boy, we only thought voter ID would not be brought up in the House till next week. Apparently, Rep. Betty Brown tried to attach a voter ID bill she has pending in its entirity to HB71, an otherwise fairly innocuous … Continue reading →

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The Heflin plan for voter ID

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

While I still have hope that voter ID can be stopped one more time, I can certainly understand the viewpoint that a sufficiently determined Republican majority can push through what it wants to if it really tries, especially if we … Continue reading →

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Voter ID coming to the House

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Well, that didn’t take long. Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, chair of the House Elections Committee, announced today his committee will devote two days of hearings to voter ID on April 6 and 7. The first day will be devoted to … Continue reading →

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House committee assignments are out

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

At long last, we know who’ll be working on what in the House. The full list is here (PDF); a list of chairs only is beneath the fold. Evan notes that Dems got 16 of 18 chairs. The main concern … Continue reading →

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