Gina Hinojosa, a state representative and the Democratic nominee for governor, told KBTX in an interview published Monday that Flock license plate cameras across Texas should be taken down and that people living near the SpaceX Terafab project in Grimes County deserve a voice in it.
Gov. Greg Abbott, the Republican seeking a fourth term, took up the same two subjects in his own KBTX interview after an Oct. 7 campaign stop in Brazos County.
The general election is Nov. 3, and early voting continues through Oct. 30.
Flock cameras
Hinojosa faulted Abbott over the state grant money that paid for Flock cameras and argued the Legislature never authorized them. "I think that they were put up by Greg Abbott in violation of law, frankly," she said.
She called the spending wasteful, said people should get their money back and said the cameras "need to come down," while allowing that they may make sense in some locations. Most Texans do not want them spreading statewide, she said.
Abbott told KBTX earlier this month that he paused state funding for the cameras because of reported misuse by law enforcement and others, and that the state needs time to gather information before deciding how to proceed. He said he sees it as a legal question rather than an election issue. "Fundamentally, we cannot have people's Fourth Amendment rights violated," Abbott said.
The issue is a live one locally. In late September, the College Station council voted 4-2 to renew its Flock Safety contract, keeping 84 cameras running under a deal worth nearly $400,000 a year, after most speakers at the meeting urged the city to drop it, KBTX reported.
Terafab
Hinojosa framed the SpaceX chip plant as part of her wider argument that Abbott is too close to Elon Musk, who runs SpaceX. She said residents must "have a say" in economic development of that kind, and she wants a halt to new data center permits until the state has safeguards covering water, the power grid and local input.
She also pointed to her lawsuit against Abbott, filed in Travis County, seeking release of his emails with Musk.
Abbott said he expects Terafab to cooperate with both local officials and residents, and that the principles he applies to data centers apply to the project as well. He noted the plant is going up on a former power plant site rather than beside a neighborhood. "We have to respect the water concerns local residents have," he said.
