HOUSTON – First it was a hacker, then it was a less-than-diligent staffer.
Both were explanations given by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller regarding an offending tweet posted on his account.
Miller has never been shy about using his Twitter feed to express his conservative views on a range of issues. Miller told KPRC he was tied up in meetings all day Tuesday so he instructed his staff to find items relating the presidential election.
"If you find some good stuff, just retweet it, and they did," Miller said he told his staff.
One such tweet referenced a new poll in Pennsylvania. The tweet read Donald Trump had 44 percent of the vote, while Hillary Clinton had 43 percent.
Except, instead of using Clinton's name, the tweet used an incredibly derogatory term when referring to the Democratic nominee.
"Not something that I would ever approve of, it was a very vulgar word that shouldn’t be used in describing any female," said Miller.
Miller said a staff member copied and pasted an item they found online and just didn't check it before they hit the tweet button.
"They’re very very regretful that it happened, it was an honest mistake. It was not a malicious intent," said Miller.
The tweet was removed and Miller personally took to Twitter to apologize. Miller said the responsible staffer has "been dealt with." However, Miller declined to say what type of punishment the person received.
"I am at liberty (to say), but I’m not going to do that because I don’t want that person’s name to get out. I don’t want to embarrass him further," said Miller. "I’ve apologized to everyone for it and we took it down and we’re moving forward."
The campaign was retweeting information on Twitter today and inadvertently retweeted a tweet that they were not aware contained a derogatory
— Sid Miller (@MillerForTexas) November 1, 2016
term. The tweet was taken down as soon as possible.
— Sid Miller (@MillerForTexas) November 1, 2016
Commissioner Miller finds the term vulgar and offensive and apologizes to anyone who may have seen it.
— Sid Miller (@MillerForTexas) November 1, 2016
Miller's campaign released the following statement:
The campaign was posting information on Twitter today and inadvertently retweeted a tweet that they were not aware contained a derogatory term. The tweet was taken down as soon as possible. Commissioner Miller finds the use of the term vulgar and offensive and apologizes to anyone who may have seen it.