After Elon Musk sued local authorities in California and threatened to move Tesla’s HQ to Texas or Nevada over attempts to contain the coronavirus outbreak, one Democratic state politician had a blunt message for the electric car magnate: “F*ck Elon Musk.”
Lorena S Gonzalez from San Diego, who describes herself on Twitter as a “Mama, Labor Leader turned CA Assemblywoman [and] Progressive Latina Democrat”, tweeted the pithy rebuke on Saturday night, earning predictable press attention. She did not immediately comment further.
Musk has been pushing to reopen Tesla’s factory in Fremont in northern California but the Alameda county health department said the carmaker must not reopen, because local lockdown measures to curb the coronavirus remain in effect.
Tesla filed a lawsuit against the county on Saturday, calling the restrictions a “power grab” by the county since California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Thursday manufacturers in the state would be allowed to reopen.
In the lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court, Tesla said Alameda was going against the federal and California constitutions, as well as defying the governor.
Alameda county is scheduled to remain shut until the end of May, with only essential businesses allowed to reopen. In a statement on Saturday, the county health department said it had been working with Tesla to develop a safety plan allowing the Fremont plant to reopen while protecting workers.
“We look forward to coming to an agreement on an appropriate safety plan very soon,” the statement said. But it also said residents and businesses had made sacrifices to protect the health of people in the region.
“It is our collective responsibility to move through the phases of reopening and loosening the restrictions of the shelter-in-place order in the safest way possible, guided by data and science,” the department said.
Fremont mayor Lily Mei said in a statement that she was growing concerned about the regional economy without provisions for major manufacturing to resume.
“We know many essential businesses have proven they can successfully operate using strict safety and social distancing practices,” the statement said.
Musk has been complaining about the stay-home order since his company’s first-quarter earnings were released at the end of April. He has called the restrictions fascist and urged governments to stop taking away people’s freedom.
On Saturday he blasted “the unelected and ignorant ‘Interim Health Officer’ of Alameda” for, he said, “acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!”
According to CNBC the county official in question, Erica Pan, told an online town hall on Friday that even though California had relaxed coronavirus restrictions, “If there are local orders, whichever is stricter prevails.”
CNBC reported that Pan “added that Alameda county – where the Fremont car factory is based – is ‘still a little bit stricter’ than the state in its approach to protecting public health amid an outbreak of the novel coronavirus”.
Pan reportedly said of Tesla: “We have not given the green light. We have been working with them looking at some of their safety plans. But no, we have not said that it is appropriate to move forward.”
“Frankly, this is the final straw,” Musk wrote. “Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen[t] on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in [California].”
Musk also claimed “Tesla knows far more about what needs to be done to be safe through our Tesla China factory experience than an (unelected) interim junior official in Alameda County”.
“I’m not messing around,” the billionaire insisted. “Absurd [and] medically irrational behavior in violation of constitutional civil liberties, moreover by unelected county officials with no accountability, needs to stop.”
Lawmakers in Texas and Nevada were swift to express receptiveness to any interest from Musk, who already plans to open a plant in Texas.
But a move would be costly at a time when lack of production in California is already hitting Tesla hard. In a note to investors, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives wrote: “Moving away from Fremont would take at least 12 to 18 months and could add risk to the manufacturing and logistics process in the meantime.”
Governor Newsom did not immediately comment.