Tamala Barksdale

🚨 BREAKING: Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa has filed an official request to inspect unredacted communications between Gov. Greg Abbott’s office and Elon Musk and his companies, after roughly 1,400 pages of records released last year were heavily redacted. The state previously argued that portions of the communications could be withheld because they contained “intimate and embarrassing information.” In a letter sent to Abbott’s office today, Hinojosa invokes a provision of the Texas Public Information Act governing information requested by lawmakers for legislative purposes. She is seeking the same records previously released to the Texas Newsroom, but “without any redactions whatsoever,” including material deemed “embarrassing” or “intimate.” Hinojosa says the records could shed new light on Musk’s relationship with Abbott, including his companies’ lucrative state contracts and tax incentives, as well as Musk’s campaign contributions. She argues Musk has turned Texas into a corporate playground and says greater transparency is needed to expose what she describes as corruption in Abbott’s relationship with powerful tech interests. She is requesting that Abbott’s office arrange an inspection of both the redacted and unredacted records on or around October 13. Now Texans may finally learn what was considered so “intimate and embarrassing” that it was kept from public view.