Miller wrote a letter to the University of Texas at San Antonio urging officials to admit the daughter of a close associate – a cannabis attorney. To make his case, he painted the applicant as disadvantaged, even claiming she didn’t own a computer and missed her acceptance online, and highlighted that she was a “biracial Latina.”

In other words, he wrapped a political favor for an insider in the same DEI-style identity politics he has publicly declared war on.

This is how Miller operates: one set of rules for his insiders, another for everyone else. Just look at his longtime political consultant Todd Smith. In 2021, Smith was arrested for soliciting more than $150,000 in bribes for hemp licenses that legally cost just $100. He later pleaded guilty to felony bribery – and what did Miller do?

He rehired him as his chief of staff at the Texas Department of Agriculture, putting him at the helm of the very agency he exploited in his bribery scheme

That’s not leadership, that’s rewarding corruption.

It’s not the only time Miller has sided with preferential treatment. This year, Miller declared, “End illegal immigration magnets. Texas incentivizes illegal immigration with in-state tuition and social benefits. This must stop.” What he didn’t admit was that he voted in 2001 to give non-citizens without legal status that very benefit, in-state tuition, putting them ahead of American families who are citizens.

That’s a double standard, not conservative leadership.

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It doesn’t stop there.

At a “Friendship Exchange” with Mexican officials, Miller told the media, “If we’re going to build a wall, Mexico needs some input. … I don’t want to cut off all migrant workers. It’s just not going to work for agriculture.

Yet a few years later, on Facebook, he declared, “We have an invasion on our Southern Border. We must continue construction of the Texas Border Wall.”

These examples are the latest in a long line of controversies that include raising fees on farmers and ranchers, ethics fines for abusing state and campaign funds, and bringing junk food back into Texas schools.

The common thread is clear: Miller says what’s politically convenient, then does whatever benefits him and his circle of friends.

He denounces DEI, then uses it. He warns about magnets for illegal immigration  after voting to create them. He calls himself a conservative fighter, but again and again, he’s chosen hypocrisy, corruption and self-interest.

Texans deserve better. Integrity matters.

Nate Sheets is a fifth-generation Texan and owner of Nature Nate’s, a branded honey company. Sheets is challenging Miller in the GOP primary for Texas agriculture commissioner.