If there is a sweeter deal for Republican Senator "global warming is hoax" Inhofe [2] I don't know what it would be.
DeSmogBlog has received the details of an invitation that has apparently gone out to elected officials promising them "lodging and pay for up to two (2) nights of accommodation," in New York if they would like to attend the Heartland Institute's "International Climate Change Conference." [3]
And if that isn't enough, elected officials who are a member of the Heartland's "Legislative Forum," will also receive an extra bonus of $300 to cover travel expenses.
Ka-ching! Membership has its privileges - free trip to New York, free hotel room, I guess political life isn't as bad as everyone says it is.
The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based "think" tank with a cozy relationship with the energy sector describes the conference [4] as, "... the first major international conference to focus on issues and questions not answered by advocates of the theory of man-made global warming."
At the bottom of this post is the text of the email invite to elected officials and attached is an RSVP form with the details of the junket.
Our friends at RealClimate.org [5] describe the impressive sounding conference in not-so glowing terms:
Normal scientific conferences have the goal of discussing ideas and data in order to advance scientific understanding. Not this one. The organisers are surprisingly open about this in their invitation letter [6] to prospective speakers, which states:
So this conference is not aimed at understanding, it is a PR event aimed at generating media reports."
So who do you think is most likely to take the Heartland up on the offer?
My top 4 guesses:
Kentucky State Rep. Jim Gooch (D-Providence) [8]
Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) [9]
Kansas State Rep. Melvin Neufeld (R-Ingalls) [10]
Here's the email transcript of the Heartland invite for elected officials:
From: xxx
Sent: Mon 2/18/2008 3:04 PM
To: "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@domain.invalid
Subject: Climate Change Conference for legislators/lodging free
Attached is an application on a conference on Climate Change that would be from the perspective that scientifically there is much evidence that humans do not cause any climate change. I think in light of the Governor's Climate Change Commission it might be good for some to go.
For elected officials, there is no registration fee for this event and The Heartland Institute will arrange for your lodging and pay for up to two (2) nights of your accommodations. If you are a member in good standing of The Legislative Forum at The Heartland Institute, you will also receive up to $300.00 of your travel expenses reimbursed after the conference.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| LegislatorReplyForm.pdf [11] | 12.86 KB |