Elon Musk has been busy in the state of Texas recently. The city of Austin allowed him to begin operating Tesla Model Y robotaxis on its streets, and he helped kill a bill that would have regulated autonomous vehicles. He also had his hands in a few other laws that benefit both Tesla and Musk’s other companies, especially SpaceX. So earlier this year, ProPublica submitted a request to see the emails between Governor Greg Abbott’s office and Musk, as well as his associates. Now, the Governor’s office is fighting their release, claiming they include “intimate and embarrassing” information, ProPublica reports.
If this sounds familiar, it’s probably because Tesla recently fought the release of information on what it told Austin officials about its plans for its so-called robotaxis. This time around, though, the Governor’s office reportedly agreed, at least initially, to release the requested emails. In fact, they charged the Texas Newsroom $244.64 to do so, but after the check cleared they changed their tune, claiming all those emails are actually confidential, and they want Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to keep it that way.
According to Abbott’s public information coordinator, releasing those emails “would have a chilling effect on the frank and open discussion necessary for the decision-making process.” He also claimed they include “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.” Hmmm… intimate and embarrassing, you say?
$244 down the drain
Now, before you go assuming that means Abbott used his official government email account to discuss weird sex stuff with Musk, you should know the Texas AG’s office includes a section that explains the common-law privacy exception to the Texas Public Information Act and states that as long as it isn’t related to official government transactions, “personal financial information” is considered “generally highly intimate or embarrassing and must be withheld.” So while they can’t prove there isn’t any weird sex stuff in there unless they release the emails, the actual contents of the emails may be far more boring than you’d hope.
That doesn’t mean it’s normal to hide months of emails between the Governor’s office and one of the richest people in the world behind the common-law privacy exception, though. When ProPublica spoke with Bill Aleshire, a Texas-based attorney who specializes in public records law, he was reportedly “appalled” by Abbott’s attempt to do so. He said “it’s not unusual” for the government to use the exception to keep records from going public, “[b]ut he’s used to it being cited in cases that involve children, medical data or other highly personal information — not for emails between an elected official and a businessman.”
Unfortunately for all of us and especially those who still live in Texas, the state’s Supreme Court recently decided that only it can determine whether or not state officials are complying with public records laws correctly. “Right now, it appears they’ve charged you $244 for records they have no intention of giving you,” Aleshire told ProPublica. “That is shocking.”
For now, though, it’s up to Texas AG Ken Paxton’s office to decide whether or not to release the emails. And as we all know, Paxton is a morally upright gentleman who you can always depend on to do the right thing.
