Originally published at: Gov. Greg Abbott Was Ordered to Release Some of His Emails With Elon Musk. Most Are Blacked Out.
This article was first published as a collaboration between ProPublica, The Texas Newsroom and The Texas Tribune as part of an initiative to report on how power is wielded in Texas. Months after fighting to keep secret the emails exchanged between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s companies, state officials released nearly 1,400 pages to…
Open government experts say the limited disclosure is emblematic of a larger transparency problem in Texas. They pointed to a 2015 state Supreme Court decision that allowed companies to oppose the release of records by arguing that they contain “competitively sensitive” information.
“If our competitors know how much bribe money we paid to elected officials, they will be able to out-bribe us for the next state contract.”
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Tesla Withholds Data from Travis County
Is Elon missing targets for tax breaks?
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Ultimately, Paxton’s office mostly sided with Abbott and Musk.
There’s a shocker.
Wouldn’t it be easier for Abbott, Musk, Paxton, et al if state government and Tesla just merged?
Think of the synergy.
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My first reaction to hearing that such an overwhelming percentage of pages were blacked out in full is: “Wow, they must be hiding some REALLY BAD STUFF in those pages!”
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Sounds like Tesla is in breach of contract. Travis County should shitcan the deal.
such hurdles are becoming more common as legislation and court decisions have weakened the state’s public records laws
“Surprise, surprise, surprise.”
— Gomer Pyle, 1962
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Did the Texas Newsroom publish the redacted emails? I would still like to take a look at them, redactions and all.