Max Miller

Rep. Max Miller says he did not authorize a disputed post made under his name, does not control his social media accounts and does not review what appears on them.

For an elected official, that defense may be more damning than the post, host Chris Quinn said on Tuesday’s episode of Today in Ohio, the news discussion podcast from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer..

A member of Congress cannot hand control of his public identity to employees and then disown their work when it causes trouble, he argued.

“He is a congressperson and he’s saying I have no responsibility for what’s out there under my name,” Quinn said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.”

Miller’s statement came during a court fight involving Stephanie Grisham, his former girlfriend, and a confidential 2023 settlement in which the two agreed not to disparage each other publicly.

Host Lisa Garvin said Cuyahoga County Judge Emily Hagan granted injunctive relief to both Miller and Grisham after hearing testimony from them. Grisham sued Miller in July, contending that he violated the agreement through public statements he made while defending himself against abuse accusations from his former wife, Emily Moreno.

The judge ordered both Miller and Grisham to remove social media posts that the other found objectionable, Garvin said.

At issue for Miller was a May 7 post on his X account sharing a 2024 recording of Moreno. Garvin said the recording was presented as showing that Grisham had fabricated accusations and that Miller had never harmed her.

Miller testified that he did not authorize the post and neither controls nor reviews his social media accounts.

That explanation immediately became the center of the podcast conversation. Quinn said Miller’s statement is about leadership. Leaders, Quinn said, don’t publicly throw subordinates under the bus. They take responsibility for errors by people on their team..

Miller did the opposite. He blamed his staff, saying it alone controls a channel bearing his name, photograph and office, and he bears no responsibility for the result.

Quinn translated: “Forget anything that appears under my name, my face, my accounts. I have nothing to do with it. I’m just a puppet of my staff.”

Garvin noted that Miller’s explanation was that he was occupied with congressional work. That did not satisfy Quinn. Members of Congress hire communications employees because they cannot personally compose every post, but delegation does not erase ownership. The staff members speak to the public with the congressman’s authority. Their statements carry his name because they are supposed to represent him.

The dispute therefore raises a question larger than who clicked a button on May 7: Who is accountable for Miller’s public communications?

If an account exists to convey a politician’s views, disclaiming knowledge of its content leaves voters unable to know whether anything posted there represents the politician. And if Miller accepts the advantages of communicating under his name when posts help him, he cannot abandon responsibility only when one becomes legally inconvenient.

Quinn said the response fits a troubling pattern in Miller’s public conduct: When something done under his name creates controversy, he points toward advisers or lawyers. Quinn’s broader criticism was about character and leadership, not the mechanics of managing an X account.

“Is this man responsible or accountable for anything that happens under his name?” Quinn asked. “And who wants a congressman that says that?”

Miller is seeking reelection against Democrat Brian Poindexter. Quinn was astonished that Miller would offer an opponent such a clean argument about accountability, particularly when voters expect elected officials to take responsibility for the people they supervise.

“We want leaders that lead,” Quinn said. “You want people who are responsible for their actions. And he’s just pointing fingers at everybody else.”

Listen to the discussion here.

Read more Today in Ohio news

A fact check on Amy Acton and ICE was accurate. But it wasn’t true

John Husted’s non-response to a grieving family reveals his character as a Senate candidate

Vivek Ramaswamy again refuses to say where he stands, this time on guns