Elon Musk's threat shows that California leaders need to 'wake up,' says constitutional attorney
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Harmeet Dhillon, a constitutional attorney, said on Monday that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a “good reason” to follow through with his lawsuit against Alameda County, California, over the stay-at-home order that's preventing one of his largest factories from opening.
“There is a second facility in San Joaquin County and they are allowed to operate, but Alameda County is saying, after some negotiations, we’re not going to let your factory open and that is their main factory in America,” Dhillon told “Fox & Friends.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“That’s crippling to the 20,000 employees in Tesla in California and so that’s why he’s threatening to move it all to Texas and other places,” Dhillon added.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez seemed less than upset Saturday night at the news that entrepreneur Elon Musk planned to pull much of his company Tesla – along with an unspecified number of jobs – out of the state over coronavirus shutdown rules that have stalled the automaker's operations.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gonzalez, a Democrat from San Diego, appeared to be saying something along the lines of “Good riddance” — except she didn’t exactly use those words.
Reacting to Gonzalez’s tweet, Dhillon said that the lawmaker created legislation that is responsible for the “deaths of more jobs” in California than any other member of the legislature.
“Very foul mouth on that lady,” Dhillon said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“California really needs to wake up and start changing up its policies and opening up safely and faster."
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Gonzalez's message contrasted sharply with those from lawmakers and candidates in Texas and Nevada, where Musk said his company plans to relocate. They seemed pleased with the news that jobs would be coming to their states instead of leaving.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In its lawsuit, filed Saturday, Tesla referred to the actions of Alameda County as a “power grab.”
“Alameda County’s power grab not only defies the governor’s orders, but offends the federal and California constitution,” the suit claims, according to the Mercury News of San Jose.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a previous tweet, Musk said Tesla would be filing a lawsuit against Alameda County over the company not being allowed to reopen because of coronavirus-related rules.
“The unelected & ignorant ‘Interim Health Officer’ of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense,” Musk wrote.
Erica Pan, the Alameda County health officer, had said Friday that Tesla was working with the county, but the company had not yet been cleared to reopen the Fremont facility, even after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that manufacturers would be allowed to resume operations, Reuters reported.