Issues About “Double-Agent Lobbyists” For And In opposition to Tesla

Sure, issues proceed to be bizarre within the orbit of Elon Musk. Apparently, teams of individuals in cities and states throughout the US which might be very upset about a number of — or quite a few — horrible issues Elon Musk and his crew did in politics at the moment are working to advocate for modifications that can harm Tesla, and thus Elon Musk, on a extra native stage. There are efforts to take away Tesla’s proper to promote on to prospects, efforts to dam Tesla’s robotaxi plans, and efforts to deport folks with the primary identify Elon — simply kidding on that final one.

Curiously, although, there’s concern that lobbyists employed in these efforts to make life tougher for Tesla come from firms which have additionally been employed by Elon Musk.

“The wave of anti-Tesla laws is, I believe, one of many simpler responses to [what] Elon Musk did at DOGE,” stated James Browning, government director of watchdog group F Minus (a bunch targeted on exposing conflicts of curiosity in lobbying). “He’s clearly determined to detoxify Tesla and determined to get again to enterprise as typical. However there’s a perverse irony right here, which is that some progressive cities which were actually harm by DOGE — and the place you noticed large No Kings protests final weekend — are spending their very own tax {dollars} on the identical lobbying companies [as Musk]. And that’s actually harmful and self harmful.”

Now, my preliminary thought was: come on, massive firms will be employed by and professionally do their job for opposing shoppers. Nevertheless, I then thought: effectively, might executives at these firms be cautious of pissing off a big shopper of theirs with more cash than anybody can fathom? I additionally know effectively — very, very effectively — that Elon Musk is tremendous spiteful and expects deference and loyalty to him as if he’s king of the universe. Would he dump an organization that was additionally representing his opponents? You betcha!

So, sure, there might positively be conflicts of curiosity in these circumstances.

On the flip aspect, “Other than holding Musk accountable for the hurt he precipitated throughout his days at DOGE, Browning argues that pressuring lobbyists to drop his companies as a shopper would possibly make these companies higher advocates for the native governments and transit businesses that additionally make use of them — and in the end, a extra highly effective pressure multiplier for democracy,” Streetsblog writes. “And it could already be occurring. Browning says congressional lobbying agency Pioneer Public Affairs dropped Tesla after an outcry, permitting them extra time to deal with nonprofit shoppers like Public Citizen and the League of Conservation Voters — and different lobbying companies might simply observe swimsuit.”

I don’t count on any notable circumstances towards Tesla are going to get far — banning direct gross sales to prospects is so backwards, and even when some limitations are put in place for robotaxi deployment, the large subject is de facto whether or not Tesla’s robotaxi service can function effectively and safely or not. However who is aware of? Efforts on the native/state subject may very well be rather more efficient than broader nationwide ones. In any case, although, it’s bizarre for Tesla and its opponents to be represented by the identical lobbying companies, so I might assume that ought to change as extra folks look into it.