can you even fathom all the seedy shit we don't know about yet
— Karl Bode (@karlbode.com) July 14, 2025 at 10:42 AM
We know the Texas legislature has given Musk a lot of goodies in recent years — including the ‘freedom’ to flout environmental laws at his SpaceX compound. But what exactly did Guv Abbott (and his legislative cronies) have to do to… lure these exciting opportunities? And what exactly did they get in return for their open-hearted generosity?
They don’t want the public to know! Per ProPublica / the Texas Newsroom / the Texas Tribune:
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 public 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 many of his businesses to the state in recent 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 some of his companies.
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 required full payment up front. The Texas Newsroom agreed and cut a check.
After the check was cashed, the governor’s office told The Texas Newsroom it believed all of the records were confidential and asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office referees disputes over public records, to allow the documents to be kept private.
Matthew Taylor, Abbott’s public information coordinator, gave several reasons the records should not be released. 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 public, 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 public records laws known as “common-law privacy” because they consist of “information that is intimate and embarrassing and not of legitimate concern to the public, 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…
Repub Venality Open Thread: If You Thought the *Paxton* News Was Scummy…Post + Comments (75)
