Why Greg Abbott refuses to release his emails with Elon Musk

Why Greg Abbott refuses to release his emails with Elon Musk was first published by The Texas Tribune a nonprofit nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about society program politics leadership and statewide issues This article is co-published with ProPublica a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power Sign up for ProPublica s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published Also sign up for The Brief our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the preponderance essential Texas news This article is co-published with The Texas Newsroom as part of an initiative to record on how power is wielded in Texas Gov Greg Abbott doesn t want to reveal months of communications with Elon Musk or representatives from the tech mogul s companies arguing in part that they are of a private nature not of population interest and potentially embarrassing Musk had an eventful legislative session in Texas this year In addition to his lobbyists successfully advocating for several new laws Abbott cited the Tesla and SpaceX CEO as the inspiration for the state creating its own efficiency office and has praised him for moving the headquarters for several of his businesses to the state in newest years As part of an effort to track the billionaire s influence in the state Capitol The Texas Newsroom in April requested Abbott and his staff s emails since last fall with Musk and other people who have an email address associated with particular of his companies Related Elon Musk hired a dozen Texas lobbyists this year State law keeps their influence under wraps Initially the governor s office explained it would take more than hours to review the records It provided a cost estimate of for the work and required full payment up front The Texas Newsroom agreed and cut a check After the check was cashed the governor s office narrated The Texas Newsroom it considered all of the records were confidential and requested Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton whose office referees disputes over society records to allow the documents to be kept private Matthew Taylor Abbott s residents information coordinator gave several reasons the records should not be disclosed He argued they include private exchanges with lawyers details about policy-making decisions and information that would reveal how the state entices companies to invest here Releasing them to the masses he wrote would have a chilling effect on the frank and open discussion necessary for the decision-making process Taylor also argued that the communications are confidential under an exception to masses records laws known as common-law privacy because they consist of information that is intimate and embarrassing and not of legitimate concern to the society including financial decisions that do not relate to transactions between an individual and a governmental body He did not provide further details about the exact content of the records The language Abbott s office used appears to be fairly boilerplate Paxton s office in an explanation of the common-law privacy exception on its website mentions that personal financial information that doesn t deal with governing body transactions is generally highly intimate or embarrassing and must be withheld But Bill Aleshire a Texas-based attorney specializing in constituents records law was appalled that the governor is claiming that months of emails between his office and one of the world s richest people are all private Right now it appears they ve charged you for records they have no intention of giving you Aleshire reported That is shocking Aleshire noted it s not exceptional for administration agencies to tap the common-law privacy exception in an attempt to withhold records from the inhabitants But he s used to it being cited in cases that involve children healthcare records or other highly personal information not for emails between an elected official and a businessman You re boxing in the dark Aleshire explained You can t even see what the target is or what s behind their claim Aleshire added that due to a latest Texas Supreme Court ruling there is effectively no way to enforce general records laws against Abbott and other top state authorities He called the decision an ace card for these politicians The occurrence dealt with requests to release Abbott and Paxton s communications in the wake of the Jan attack on the U S Capitol and the school shooting in Uvalde The high court ruled that it is the only body that can review whether these authorities are in compliance with populace records laws Kevin Bagnall a lawyer representing Musk s rocket company SpaceX also wrote a letter to Paxton s office arguing the emails should be kept secret He cited one main reason They contain commercial information whose disclosure would cause SpaceX substantial competitive harm Most of of the rest of Bagnall s letter which further explained SpaceX s argument was redacted Musk and representatives for his companies did not respond to requests for comment for this story Abbott s spokesperson did not respond to specific questions about the records including whether The Texas Newsroom would be refunded if Paxton withholds them In a report he stated The Office of the Governor rigorously complies with the Texas Masses Information Act and will release any responsive information that is determined to not be confidential or excepted from disclosure The office of the attorney general has business days to determine whether to release Abbott s records Lauren McGaughy is a journalist with The Texas Newsroom a collaboration among NPR and the populace radio stations in Texas She is based at KUT in Austin Reach her at lmcgaughy kut org Sign up for KUT newsletters Disclosure KUT News has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune a nonprofit nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members foundations and corporate sponsors Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune s journalism Find a complete list of them here This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https www texastribune org texas-greg-abbott-elon-musk-emails-spacex-telsa-FOIA The Texas Tribune is a member-supported nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and approach Learn more at texastribune org Read more about Texas Why Kristi Noem hates FEMA Texas could soon execute a man before his appeal is heard and set a dangerous national precedent Texas flash flood is a preview of chaos to come The post Why Greg Abbott refuses to release his emails with Elon Musk appeared first on Salon com