Virginia Attorney General

Thu, 2010-10-21 14:40Brendan DeMelle
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UVA Defends Against Ken Cuccinelli Attacks On Climate Science and Academic Freedom

The University of Virginia has filed two new responses in its ongoing court battle fending off Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's politically-motivated witch hunt against climate scientist Michael Mann.  UVA correctly alerts the court that crazy Cuccinelli's 'investigation' is “an unprecedented and improper governmental intrusion into ongoing scientific research” [PDF of filing].

Cuccinelli's relentless campaign to waste Virginia taxpayer money attacking Mann continues, despite a total lack of evidence of any wrongdoing on UVA's or Mann's part. Instead the row hinges entirely on Cuccinelli's zeal to pollute public discourse with his own climate denial, clogging the courts with a thinly veiled attack on academic freedom that the Washington Post labeled "a pernicious fishing expedition."  

UVA argues that Cuccinelli's latest demand for documents related to Mann's research repeats the exact same arguments that Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross rejected in August.  Cuccinelli merely recycled his previous non-starter of a complaint in an ongoing effort to woo the Tea Party and stoke the fire for his ambitions to run for higher office.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) examined Cuccinelli's original arguments and confirms they have been recycled again to further harass Mann and his colleagues.

“Scientists are proud of UVA for standing up to this relentless rubbish,” said Francesca Grifo, director of UCS's Scientific Integrity Program. “This investigation has never been about fraud or the facts. Cuccinelli is abusing his power to fight a public relations war against scientific findings.”

Read more: UVA Defends Against Ken Cuccinelli Attacks On Climate Science and Academic Freedom
Mon, 2010-10-04 19:26Brendan DeMelle
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Cuccinelli Revives Witch Hunt Against Michael Mann and Climate Science

 

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has revived his witch hunt against prominent climate scientist Michael Mann, recycling pieces of his earlier botched subpoena into a new Civil Investigative Demand aimed at Mann and the University of Virginia. Cuccinelli's previous witch hunt was blocked by Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross, who ruled that Cuccinelli lacked "an objective basis" for his subpoena, which The Washington Post editors noted "put a damper on a pernicious fishing expedition."

But Cuccinelli has re-strung the same stale Climategate bait on his fishing pole, "extending his assault on academic freedom" as expected. Oh, and he's going to appeal Judge Peatross's ruling, in a remarkable display of hubris that is sure to embarrass Virginia yet again.

In his latest political attack on climate science, Cuccinelli demands seven years' worth of Dr. Mann's emails, documents and just about every other shred of paper and bytes related to one state grant Mann received during his tenure at UVA. Cuccinelli wants to see every email Mann exchanged with a list of 39 other scientists, as well as Mann's communications with his secretaries and research associates, related to the state grant. Cuccinelli only stripped his inappropriate request for documents related to federal grants after Judge Peatross smacked down that trolling effort, although he vows to appeal to re-open that garbage can.

Read more: Cuccinelli Revives Witch Hunt Against Michael Mann and Climate Science
Wed, 2010-09-01 11:53Brendan DeMelle
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Washington Post Editorial Slams Ken Cuccinelli "Embarrassing" Witch Hunt Against Climate Scientist

The Washington Post penned an excellent editorial yesterday deriding Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's political attack against climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann, a former UVA professor whom Cuccinelli has targeted in a witch hunt.  

The Post editorial notes that "the overblown critique of climate science that emerged early this year continues to underwhelm," citing several examples of the recent rash of politically-motivated attacks on climate science, including the much-ado-about-nothing 'Climategate' episode last winter, the repeated attacks against the integrity of the U.N. IPCC, and of course Mr. Cuccinelli's witch hunt against UVA and Mike Mann. 

This week's ruling by Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross confirming that Cuccinelli lacked "an objective basis" for his witch hunt "put a damper on a pernicious fishing expedition," the Post says.

But that hasn't checked "Mr. Cuccinelli's zeal," since he immediately announced plans to re-rig his fishing pole and try again to smear Dr. Mann, "thereby extending his assault on academic freedom," says the Post.

The editorial closes with sharp criticism for Cuccinelli's attempt to "embarrass Virginia":

"We hope he rethinks his course. At this point all he can do is waste more taxpayer money, force the university to waste more of its money and embarrass Virginia in a way that can only harm its higher education system." 

Check out the full editorial, "A judge puts a damper on Mr. Cuccinelli's U-Va. witch hunt." 

Read more: Washington Post Editorial Slams Ken Cuccinelli "Embarrassing" Witch Hunt Against Climate Scientist
Mon, 2010-08-30 11:02Brendan DeMelle
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Judge Rules Against Cuccinelli’s Witch Hunt Of Michael Mann

 

Virginia Attorney General and global warming denier Ken Cuccinelli has been rebuffed by a state Circuit Court judge who ruled today that Cuccinelli's politically-charged subpoena against the University of Virginia and climate scientist Michael Mann lacked an “objective basis.”

Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. ruled that Cuccinelli’s subpoena failed to include a "reason to believe" that Mann violated Virginia fraud statutes by receiving research grants from the state to study climate change.  Cuccinelli is seeking years’ worth of documents related to Mann’s work at UVA, but his political attacks on climate science and efforts to waste Virginia taxpayers’ money will have to return to the drawing board. 

In his six-page ruling Judge Peatross wrote:

"What the Attorney General suspects that Dr. Mann did that was false or fraudulent in obtaining funds from the Commonwealth is simply not stated."

Dr. Mann, who now works at Penn State University, said in a statement: "It is a victory not just for me and the university, but for all scientists who live in fear that they may be subject to a politically-motivated witch hunt when their research findings prove inconvenient to powerful vested interests.”

Read more: Judge Rules Against Cuccinelli’s Witch Hunt Of Michael Mann
Fri, 2010-05-14 14:58Brendan DeMelle
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Nature Pens Scathing Editorial On Virginia A.G. Cuccinelli Witch Hunt of Michael Mann

In a scathing rebuke of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s witch hunt relating to the work of climatologist Michael Mann, the highly-regarded journal Nature this week published an editorial called “Science subpoenaed” that condemns the latest political attack on a climate scientist and calls into serious question Cuccinelli’s motives.

AG Cuccinelli, a former Republican state Senator, earlier this month launched a ridiculously over-the-top inquiry demanding that the University of Virginia turn over a massive number of documents and personal communications related to Professor Mann’s work and government contracts.  Cuccinelli demands to see eleven years’ worth of Mann’s emails and other correspondence with climate scientists, and all available documents, computer code and data relating to Mann's research on five different state and federal grants.

Echoing The Washington Post, which published a similar editorial lambasting Cuccinelli’s “witch hunt” of Professor Mann, the Nature editorial similarly slammed the AG.

Read more: Nature Pens Scathing Editorial On Virginia A.G. Cuccinelli Witch Hunt of Michael Mann
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