\n<\/p>\n
A Texas Democrat running to become the state\u2019s attorney general has said he will investigate Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX company if elected, saying it \u201csure looks like\u201d corruption was involved in a deal he said handed the world\u2019s richest person $110m of taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n
Nathan Johnson made the comment in an interview with the Dallas News on Friday, in which he called for greater legislative scrutiny of state grants funneled to SpaceX for its Starlink satellite program, which provides fast internet access for customers in remote areas.<\/p>\n
Johnson, who won the Democratic primary runoff for attorney general in May, said the award by Texas Republicans of 99% of the available grant funds to a company led by billionaire Musk, a Donald Trump ally, was lopsided.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not declaring that corruption was at work in this instance. I am saying that it sure looks like it,\u201d Johnson, a state senator, told the Dallas News. \u201cPublic confidence in the bidding process has been undermined.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his primary campaign, Johnson promised to overhaul the office of the Texas attorney general, a position currently held by Ken Paxton, the scandal-ridden hardline Republican recently nominated by his party to run for the US Senate in November\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n
He has said he will work closely with the state comptroller to audit how government contracts are awarded.<\/p>\n
The Starlink grants, signed off by the Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, after his office reportedly revised rules to favor low-Earth-orbit satellite providers in bids to provide rural internet access, have become a particular source of controversy.<\/p>\n
Records show Musk has made previous monetary donations to Abbott, among many others, but there is no suggestion it is linked to the grants.<\/p>\n
Johnson questioned members of the Texas broadband development office (BDO) at a hearing of the state senate\u2019s business and commerce committee in June, at which they conceded changes to the grant-awarding process came at Abbott\u2019s behest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe office of the governor asked us to look at how our proposed structure compared to other states,\u201d Bryant Clayton, director of the BDO, said, according to KUT News. \u201cGenerally \u2026 we were out of step with other nearby states.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eight companies offering ground-based fiber broadband complained in a letter they appeared to have been cut out of the revised grant application process, a development the committee\u2019s chair, Republican Charles Schwertner, seemed to acknowledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll just say it bluntly. Favoritism and transparency are real big concerns that have been brought to my office,\u201d he told the hearing.<\/p>\n
In his interview with the Dallas News, Johnson said the Starlink broadband awards should face additional legislative scrutiny, and promised to look closer at the state\u2019s dealings with SpaceX \u2013 headquartered in Starbase, Texas \u2013 if he wins in November.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | Around 2-3 times a day<\/p>\n
Sign up to Breaking News US<\/span><\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n He has touted an anti-corruption policy plan on the campaign trail, and his assertion that he will launch inquiries into grants effectively puts an investigation into Musk on the ballot, NBC News said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe AG is supposed to ensure that government serves the public good over private interests, not the other way around,\u201d Johnson said on X in June, linking to a speech attacking Mayes Middleton, his Republican opponent in November who has declared himself a Trump loyalist.<\/p>\n Abbott, meanwhile, has defended the grants, saying they were ultimately directed to SpaceX, which dominates the lower-Earth-orbit internet satellite industry, because ground-based broadband solutions were costly and problematic.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernor Abbott supports getting high-speed internet to rural Texans as quickly and cost-effectively as possible,\u201d Andrew Mahaleris, his press secretary, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cLow Earth orbit satellite service is essential for the most remote areas where traditional fiber is too expensive and slow to build. The Broadband Development Office in the Office of the Comptroller made the decision to adjust the grant disbursement schedule to better align with other states and allow providers to access capital earlier, helping deliver service to rural communities faster.\u201d<\/p>\n The Guardian has contacted SpaceX. The Dallas News said the company did not respond to its request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Texas Democrat running to become the state\u2019s attorney general has said he will investigate Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX company if elected, saying it \u201csure looks like\u201d corruption was involved in a deal he said handed the world\u2019s richest person $110m of taxpayers\u2019 money. Nathan Johnson made the comment in an interview with the Dallas News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[8706,3134,1891,3539,5357,91,406,92,5549,1010],"class_list":{"0":"post-51033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-110m","9":"tag-candidate","10":"tag-claims","11":"tag-corruption","12":"tag-democratic","13":"tag-elon","14":"tag-grants","15":"tag-musks","16":"tag-starlink","17":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}