Guess who’s coming to dinner at the Governor’s Mansion. That’s all you can do—guess—because Governor Abbott refuses to respond to open records requests about his visitors, for dinner or for sleepovers, even though the food and electricity are provided by taxpayers. And even though his predecessors have recognized the request as legitimate and released the information in the past. As he prepares to run for the White House, our governor is reluctant to disclose who he’s seeing away from the office, across the street at the official residence, understandably. Although he was like that before too. A request three years ago for the very same information of who’s coming to the Mansion, also during Greg Abbott’s residence there, led to release of a list of names of hundreds of individuals who had toured the Mansion—even though that was not what was asked for. This time, nada. As in nothing. This time the course of this information request through his General Counsel’s office is interesting because it tells us something about the governor and who he is breaking bread with and why.
Speaking of the
Governor’s Mansion. Back in the day by the way—this is so, like, not shameless
gossip, not mere grist for the rumor mill in the State Capitol. Before the millennium, before Y2K,
during the tenure of Governor George W. Bush, the guest list came back from the
Mansion and the only name of the dinner invitees that was surprising to my innocent eyes—among the Bush clan and
proto-Bushites and wannabe Bushes who were visiting the future President and
come to kiss his ring—was Rich Oppel, then editor of the Austin daily newspaper. To set the scene. This was well into W’s governorship, by the
way, when he had already signed off on a hundred or so executions and had cut
social services in state government—to polish his conservative credentials. And
Oppel seeing the governor privately when the newspaper was criticizing him
publicly, or not—isn’t that, like—isn’t that dining with the enemy? Or
schmoozing with the enemy? At least Rich Oppel wasn’t sleeping with the enemy because his name did not appear among the guests who spent the night, at the time
of my records request. So, like, you aren’t going to believe this. What you’re
about to hear will sound completely far-fetched and mind-blowing in the
extreme. But it was a different age, remember that. Among the documentation
related to housekeeping accounts and work done at the Governor’s Mansion that
was released by W’s lawyers was a short memo. It seemed that, during the
Bush Family’s tenure in the Big House, there was a guest who slipped in and
spent a night in the Mansion without Governor Bush’s knowledge or approval.
Recall that W had twin
daughters attending Austin High School, at the time, Jenna and Barbara, both
wonderful young women, good students too, who also enjoyed a margarita or three
and were soon to be sweethearts of Sigma Chi or whatever? To set the scene again. This was, to repeat, just
before the millennium. This is my memory of the affair. There was a memo in some of the documentation that was
released, by Governor Bush lo a quarter century or more ago, written by Mansion
staff who were pissed off, actually, because unbeknownst to staff or security,
or apparently the Governor and First Lady either, a teenaged boy, also
from Austin High, spent the night in the Mansion and the staff only heard about
it after the fact. You can call the episode, “Jenna’s Excellent Sleepover” or
“Barbara’s Best Night In,” depending upon your suspicions, because the memo did
not identify whom the young man was visiting. And at the time it seemed to me
that this was a private matter, not mere grist for the Capitol’s deplorable gossip mill, although it was a close call at the
time. But with Governor Abbott, nothing like that could happen, no unwanted
guests, because security practically has searchlights and machinegun towers around the Mansion. Besides if there’s an indiscretion this time, it’s
financial not an affair of the heart or a tryst for young lovers. If you’re
thinking that Governor Abbott does not want to reveal his guests at the Mansion
(the equivalent of the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom is the Sam Houston
Bedroom in Austin) because they include rightwing politicians or nutjobs—the Governor had lunch with the Proud Boys or whoever—the Grand
Dragon slept there. The kind of people Greg Abbott needs to
be seen with publicly in order to burnish conservative credentials. Former
President Trump has been here and done that with the Governor already. There is a hint
from the general counsel’s most recent missive of what concerns the
governor regarding releasing his guest list. It’s not political. It's financial.
My request was made almost exactly two months ago. The governor’s response was that fulfilling the search and providing the list of names would require staff time amounting to $225.90, which sounded reasonable. Any request on my part for a media discount, which the law allows, or a cheaper means of disclosure, which the law also allows for—the letter from the governor said explicitly that neither of those options would be possible in this case. A big bill is not a particularly original ploy to avoid disclosure, but fulfilling public information requests does take time and charging money seems fair. Usually a bill of this magnitude works like a charm with me personally and scares me off but, for a reason that remains unclear—even to me—my decision was to pay my money and takes my chances. Although $225 is a lot of money in my world.
In any case—there are two governor’s offices in Austin, both on the Capitol grounds, the second on the east grounds, home to the big guy’s lawyers. Trekking there to pay for disclosure of the guest list, which now had the significance of a state secret, me passing state troopers with automatic weapons mounting a non-static defense of the State Capitol grounds—no fixed posts and the lawdogs moving unexpectedly, in cars and on foot, which can be a worrisome sight for black men like me. Anyway the governor’s office accepted my check and acknowledged same through email and cashed it a few days later. Two hundred and twenty-five dollars and ninety cents, not to repeat myself, a lot of money to me, not to repeat myself again. So, like, imagine my surprise—again, a couple of weeks after Greg Abbott banked my check. Another letter arrived from his general counsel saying the governor would not release the list of names of people who have been to the Mansion without first receiving permission from me to redact names at the governor's discretion. Or his lawyers would seek an attorney general’s ruling, which the Texas Public Information Act does permit, within ten days not two months later. Be that as it may. Specifically the letter mentioned that Governor Abbott would like to redact names for two reasons, security being one—which was bullshit, since my original request was for guests not bodyguards. And for commercial reasons. That is what the letter said and that is what apparently really worries Greg Abbott. Who the Office of the Governor of Texas is doing business with. And in that regard, in this instance, regarding who has been visiting the Abbotts at the Mansion. There is a change in the usual dynamic of a powerful politician not wanting to reveal his or her guests, for fear of embarrassing the politician. In this instance it’s apparently for fear of embarrassing businesspeople socializing with this governor right now.
Right off, three names come to mind as certainties for people who have been to the Governor’s Mansion recently and probably don’t want it known, whether they’ve done a sleepover or not. Elon Musk of Tesla fame and Space X fortune for sure is one. During the early bad reaction to the latest anti-abortion legislation, not to mention the new voting restrictions which were also laid down, and which will disenfranchise minorities, uneasiness has also been reported among some businesspeople, especially those with plans to move to Texas. The world’s richest man refused to criticize the abortion law or the governor in this regard—Musk saying that he’s “not political,” words to that effect. Another very likely guest is Jeff Bezos, the world’s second richest person. Amazon has huge interests in the Lone Star State and Bezos grew up in South Texas and the probability is very good that he has had a drink, or two, or a meal with the governor, whoever that governor may be. #3, and this is another absolute certainty—Michael Dell, of Dell Computers, who is said to be two steps to the right of Attila the Hun’s grandmother and who has had a close working relationship with both the prior Republican governors, W and Rick Perry. Michael Dell is merely the world’s 25th richest person, a pauper compared to Musk or Bezos, and for Dell the connection to the governor of Texas has historically been very important. Dell Computers was built in part on State of Texas business, when Bush was governor, and W himself has said that Michael Dell liked to come by the State Capitol to show the Governor Bush how to work his PC. Michael Dell likely knows Greg Abbott well enough to stop by with takeout.
On the political front, on the same logic, not wanting to be seen with the governor right now, there is Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and the guys and girls on the Texas Supreme Court, where Greg Abbott served for five years, btw. Supreme Court justices and powerful politicians socialize all the time, including at the White House, but Governor Abbott’s recent political activity seems to be under constant appeal to the state’s highest court and the idea that Governor Abbott is dining with or having drinks with the people deciding those cases, in cozy evenings at the Mansion, would not look good and would lead people to believe the governor and the justices discuss cases, which they almost certainly do and probably always have done, in every state. Mostly though, as in everything else at the Capitol, it's about money.
The commercial
interests that the governor cited in his letter involve flows of money that go
both ways. Greg Abbott is looking for political contributions but he also gives
away a lot of state money, which has been problematic in the past. Governor Abbott’s
predecessor Rick Perry was in constant hot water regarding dispersals from the
state’s Emerging Technology Fund. Greg Abbott disbanded that high tech moneypot but he still makes loans for business
development, through almost a dozen different programs, including one for
spaceport development. The governor’s press office refuses to say who is
getting state dollars as incentives and it’s hard to imagine that Elon Musk
needs money from the State of Texas, but you can’t find out for sure because
Greg Abbott is not telling, just like he's not saying who's going to dinner at the Mansion. You have to guess. Maybe the real issue is not money or politics but
transparency? Is that possible? No recent governor has been worse in that
regard than Greg Abbott is now.
A requestor can sue but that is expensive and time-consuming (and the case may end up
with Chief Justice Hecht and his colleagues, which is another reason to want to
know who’s hanging out with Greg at the Mansion.) There's a criminal provision in
the open records law, actually, which led to an interesting exchange recently with the local prosecutor who would have jurisdiction, Travis County Attorney Delia
Garza. Her office wouldn’t even listen to a complaint about the
governor’s compliance with the Texas Public Information Act and her staff told
me to take the matter to the Austin police or to the Sheriff. Does
that mean flag down a patrol car? What goes unsaid here is that violating transparency laws is in every
political leader’s best interests. Ms. Garza was until this year a member of
the Austin City Council, the only people with a worse history of open
government than Governor Abbott. Last year, months into the pandemic, Austin’s
City Attorney answered an open records request for Mayor Steve Adler’s email on
COVID-19 by saying that no documentation exists. That he had, in other words,
written no messages on the subject. There are, basically, two ways to thwart
open records requests in Texas. A politician or political entity can lie and
say no documentation exists, like the City of Austin, or tell the truth and
refuse to give it up, like Greg Abbott. Somehow Governor Abbott’s approach
seems more honest.
