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This article is published in collaboration with the Texas Newsroom and the Texas Tribune as part of an initiative to report on how power is exercised in Texas.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doesn’t want to reveal months of communication with Elon Musk or representatives of the tech giant’s company.
Musk held an eventful legislative meeting in Texas this year. Abbott, who successfully defends several new laws in addition to his lobbyist, cited Tesla and SpaceX CEOs as state inspiration to create their own efficiency offices, praised many business headquarters for moving to the state in recent years.
In April, as part of an effort to track billionaires’ impact on the state capitol, the Texas newsroom requested emails from his staff with other people who have masks and email addresses associated with parts of his company since last fall.
Initially, the governor’s office said it would take more than 13 hours to review the records. It provided a cost estimate of $244.64 for the work and had to pay in full upfront. The Texas newsroom agreed and cut checks.
After the check was cashed, the governor’s office asked the Texas newsroom to believe all records were confidential and to ask Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to see the office’s judges challenge the public records and keep the documents private.
Abbott’s public information coordinator Matthew Taylor has given us several reasons why records should not be published. He argued that they would include details on private exchanges with lawyers, details on policy decisions, and information that would reveal how the state would invest in them here. He made them public and wrote that “it would have a calm effect on the candid and open discussions needed for the decision-making process.”
Taylor also argued that communications are confidential under the exception of public records law known as “common law privacy,” as it consists of “intimate, embarrassing, non-public concern information” that “includes financial decisions not related to transactions between individuals and government agencies.”
He did not provide details about the exact content of the record.
The Abbott offices used seem to be quite fused. In its website’s description of the Common Law Privacy exception, Paxton’s office states that “personal financial information” that does not deal with government transactions is “generally very intimate or embarrassing and must be withheld.”
But Bill Alesher, a Texas-based lawyer specializing in public record law, was allegedly aware that the governor claims that months of email between his office and one of the world’s wealthiest people, is all private.
“Now it appears they’ve charged you $244 for records that they don’t intend to give you,” Alesher said. “That’s shocking.”
Aleshire said it is not uncommon for government agencies to tap on common law privacy exceptions as they attempt to withhold records from the public. However, he was cited when not emailing between elected officials and businessmen, but containing children, medical data or other highly personal information.
“You’re boxing in the dark,” Aalscher said. “We can’t even see what the target is or what’s behind their claims.”
Aalscher added that the recent Texas Supreme Court ruling has virtually no way to implement public record laws against Abbott and other state authorities. He called the decision an “ace card” for these politicians.
The incident dealt with requests to release communications between Abbott and Paxton in the wake of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the 2022 school shooting at Uvalde. The High Court held that it is the only institution that can confirm whether these officials are in compliance with the Public Records Act.
Kevin Bagnall, the lawyer representing Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, also wrote to Paxton’s office, claiming that emails should be kept secret. He cited one of the main reasons. Includes “Commercial Information that causes competitive harm that disclosure causes SpaceX.”
Elon Musk’s fantastic year at the Texas State Capitol
Most of Bagnall’s remaining letters that further explained the SpaceX discussion have been edited.
Musk and his company representatives did not respond to requests for comment on the story.
Abbott’s spokesman did not respond to specific questions about the record, such as whether the Texas newsroom would be refunded if Paxton withheld tax.
In a statement, he said, “The Governor’s Office is strictly in compliance with the Texas Public Relations Act and will release responsive information that is deemed not to be excluded from confidentiality or disclosure.”
The Attorney General’s Office has 45 business days to decide whether to publish Abbott’s records.
Lauren McGaughy is a journalist in the Texas newsroom and is a collaboration between Texas NPR and public radio stations. She is based in Kut, Austin. I’ll reach her [email protected]. Sign up for Kut Newsletters.
