Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Refuses To Share Emails With Elon Musk | EUROtoday

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) says he shouldn’t have to show over emails between himself and billionaire Elon Musk in response to a journalist’s public information request, arguing they embody “information that is intimate and embarrassing and not of legitimate concern to the public.”

The Texas Newsroom, as a part of an initiative with ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, mentioned it sought out the emails between Abbott and Musk to see what sort of affect Musk had in Texas. During this 12 months’s legislative session, Musk’s lobbyists advocated for practically a dozen payments that will profit his corporations, and together with that, Abbott additionally cited Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency as a motive for Texas to launch its personal effectivity division.

In April, The Texas Newsroom requested emails between Abbott and Musk and others who’ve emails related to Musk’s corporations courting again to the autumn. The governor’s workplace mentioned it might take 13 hours to assessment the emails with a price of $244.64 to be paid earlier than the work was executed. The Texas Newsroom workers mentioned it wrote the verify, however after it was cashed, Abbott’s workplace responded that the emails have been truly confidential and requested Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to maintain them non-public.

Paxton has but to decide, and his workplace didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.

Matthew Taylor, Abbott’s public data coordinator, argued in a letter that the emails shouldn’t be launched as a result of they included dialogue of what Texas presents companies to encourage them to put money into the state, “privileged attorney-client communications,” and policy-making processes.

Taylor additionally cited common-law privateness, a authorized customary that protects data {that a} typical individual would discover “highly objectionable” to publish and isn’t of public concern.

“The [Office of the Governor] asserts the information … 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 government body,” he wrote.

In a remark to HuffPost, Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, mentioned The Texas Newsroom’s give attention to the “intimate and embarrassing” language within the letter is “purposefully misleading.”

“The reporter knows full well that the language used comes from a Supreme Court of Texas opinion half a century old — with over 10,000 Office of Attorney General opinions applying those same common law privacy protections,” Mahaleris mentioned. “Texans and Texas businesses who disclose confidential and privileged information to state government should feel confident that their information will be protected.”