ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of energy. Signal as much as obtain our largest tales as quickly as they’re revealed.
This text is co-published with The Texas Newsroom and The Texas Tribune as a part of an initiative to report on how energy is wielded in Texas.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doesn’t need to disclose months of communications with Elon Musk or representatives from the tech mogul’s corporations, arguing partially that they’re of a non-public nature, not of public curiosity and doubtlessly embarrassing.
Musk had an eventful legislative session in Texas this 12 months. Along with his lobbyists efficiently advocating for a number of new legal guidelines, Abbott cited the Tesla and SpaceX CEO because the inspiration for the state creating its personal effectivity workplace and has praised him for transferring the headquarters for a lot of of his companies to the state lately.
As a part of an effort to monitor the billionaire’s affect within the state Capitol, The Texas Newsroom in April requested Abbott and his workers’s emails since final fall with Musk and different individuals who have an electronic mail handle related to a few of his corporations.
Initially, the governor’s workplace stated it will take greater than 13 hours to assessment the information. It supplied a value estimate of $244.64 for the work and required full cost up entrance. The Texas Newsroom agreed and reduce a verify.
After the verify was cashed, the governor’s workplace advised The Texas Newsroom it believed the entire information had been confidential and requested Texas Legal professional Common Ken Paxton, whose workplace referees disputes over public information, to permit the paperwork to be saved personal.
Matthew Taylor, Abbott’s public data coordinator, gave a number of causes the information shouldn’t be launched. He argued they embrace personal exchanges with attorneys, particulars about policy-making choices and data that might reveal how the state entices corporations to take a position right here. Releasing them to the general public, he wrote, “would have a chilling impact on the frank and open dialogue vital for the decision-making course of.”
Taylor additionally argued that the communications are confidential underneath an exception to public information legal guidelines often known as “common-law privateness” as a result of they encompass “data that’s intimate and embarrassing and never of authentic concern to the general public, together with monetary choices that don’t relate to transactions between a person and a governmental physique.”
He didn’t present additional particulars concerning the precise content material of the information.
The language Abbott’s workplace used seems to be pretty boilerplate. Paxton’s workplace, in an evidence of the common-law privateness exception on its web site, mentions that “private monetary data” that doesn’t take care of authorities transactions “is mostly extremely intimate or embarrassing and should be withheld.”
However Invoice Aleshire, a Texas-based lawyer specializing in public information regulation, was appalled that the governor is claiming that months of emails between his workplace and one of many world’s richest persons are all personal.
“Proper now, it seems they’ve charged you $244 for information they don’t have any intention of providing you with,” Aleshire stated. “That’s stunning.”
Aleshire stated it’s commonplace for presidency businesses to faucet the common-law privateness exception in an try and withhold information from the general public. However he’s used to it being cited in instances that contain kids, medical knowledge or different extremely private data — not for emails between an elected official and a businessman.
“You’re boxing at nighttime,” Aleshire stated. “You possibly can’t even see what the goal is or what’s behind their declare.”
Aleshire added that because of a current Texas Supreme Courtroom ruling, there may be successfully no option to implement public information legal guidelines towards Abbott and different prime state officers. He known as the choice an “ace card” for these politicians.
The case handled requests to launch Abbott and Paxton’s communications within the wake of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and the 2022 faculty capturing in Uvalde. The excessive courtroom dominated that it’s the solely physique that may assessment whether or not these officers are in compliance with public information legal guidelines.
Kevin Bagnall, a lawyer representing Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX, additionally wrote a letter to Paxton’s workplace arguing the emails must be saved secret. He cited one important motive: They include “industrial data whose disclosure would trigger SpaceX substantial aggressive hurt.”
Many of the remainder of Bagnall’s letter, which additional defined SpaceX’s argument, was redacted.
Musk and representatives for his corporations didn’t reply to requests for remark for this story.
Abbott’s spokesperson didn’t reply to particular questions concerning the information, together with whether or not The Texas Newsroom can be refunded if Paxton withholds them.
In a press release, he stated, “The Workplace of the Governor rigorously complies with the Texas Public Info Act and can launch any responsive data that’s decided to not be confidential or excepted from disclosure.”
The workplace of the lawyer normal has 45 enterprise days to find out whether or not to launch Abbott’s information.
Lauren McGaughy is a journalist with The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration amongst NPR and the general public radio stations in Texas. She is predicated at KUT in Austin. Attain her at [email protected]. Join KUT newsletters.
