(Received via email direct from Heartland president Bast in advance of their website posting, see Gleick’s statement/confession here – Anthony)
FEBRUARY 20, 2012: Earlier this evening, Peter Gleick, a prominent figure in the global warming movement, confessed to stealing electronic documents from The Heartland Institute in an attempt to discredit and embarrass a group that disagrees with his views.
Gleick’s crime was a serious one. The documents he admits stealing contained personal information about Heartland staff members, donors, and allies, the release of which has violated their privacy and endangered their personal safety.
An additional document Gleick represented as coming from The Heartland Institute, a forged memo purporting to set out our strategies on global warming, has been extensively cited by newspapers and in news releases and articles posted on Web sites and blogs around the world. It has caused major and permanent damage to the reputations of The Heartland Institute and many of the scientists, policy experts, and organizations we work with.
A mere apology is not enough to undo the damage.
In his statement, Gleick claims he committed this crime because he believed The Heartland Institute was preventing a “rational debate” from taking place over global warming. This is unbelievable. Heartland has repeatedly asked for real debate on this important topic. Gleick himself was specifically invited to attend a Heartland event to debate global warming just days before he stole the documents. He turned down the invitation.
Gleick also claims he did not write the forged memo, but only stole the documents to confirm the content of the memo he received from an anonymous source. This too is unbelievable. Many independent commentators already have concluded the memo was most likely written by Gleick.
We hope Gleick will make a more complete confession in the next few days.
We are consulting with legal counsel to determine our next steps and plan to release a more complete statement about the situation tomorrow. In the meantime, we ask again that publishers, bloggers, and Web site hosts take the stolen and fraudulent documents off their sites, remove defamatory commentary based on them, and issue retractions.
# # #
For more information, contact Jim Lakely, communications director of The Heartland Institute, at 312/377-4000 or jlakely@heartland.org.
Joseph Bast
President
The Heartland Institute
One South Wacker Drive #2740
Chicago, IL 60606
Phone 312/377-4000
Email jbast “at”heartland.org
Web site http://www.heartland.org
Support The Heartland Institute today!
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The hysterical-warmist crowd would do well to remember the words of Seneca: “Revenge is a confession of pain”.
Another nail in fanatical AGW coffin.
I have been reading WUWT for a while, but have not commented. Until now. HI needs to drag every piece of filth who had a role in stealing these documents, or transmitting them on the web, into court, if nothing else but to force depositions from those creeps.
Great work, Mr. Watts. Keep fighting the good fight.
And to those who played a role in this crime: karma is a beast. Remember that.
The preacher of ethics …with his pants down.
Why he’s the guy who preaches science ethics
A brief lesson in the integrity of science
Climate Change and the Integrity of Science, Again
AGU’s new task force on scientific integrity and ethics begins
Threats to the integrity of science: congressional testimony
http://judithcurry.com/2012/02/20/breaking-news/
I bet Gleik, has got some sticky ick, running down his criminal legs all over his green liar sandals.
I hope the Heartland Institute sues the sticky ick out of the LA times and every single person and organization who repeated the lie.
Now where’d I put my popcorn maker?
This isn’t just going to break, I think ‘shatter’ is a more apposite term.
A bit surprising, perhaps, is that Peter Gleick is the just announced American Geophysical Union expert to lead the AGU task force on scientific ethics and integrity.
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011EO470009.shtml
NOV 2011
It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings.
California Penal Code Section 528.5 make it a crime to create an email account in someone else’s name with intent to defraud. Seems like that applies here. Maybe Federal charges too. This is serious stuff.
It seems like the goal was to create a skeptic climategate and instead we have something that makes alarmists look bad and that rational people should be ashamed of.
Oh the humanity!
Repeatedly asking that the documents be taken down is a waste of breathe. The internet has them. They aren’t going away.
It looks like Gleick has earned some time on the Group W bench. While the request to remove the alleged stolen documents from the Internet is at first glance heavy handed, if they are used as evidence against this self-confessed boob they will become part of the public record. I’m ok with the request.
I trust he’s written his last missive as a representative of the Brotherhood of Climate Alarmists.
Why do I keep hearing the opening theme music to Jaws playing in my head when I read this?
Somebody is in deep — hope they have a big legal liability policy.
Larry
Didn’t see Revkin’sapology…nor Romms. We will wait. What is the temperature in Hell right now?
The CAGW narrative is unravelling everywhere.
On another front – good letter in WSJ
http://junkscience.com/2012/02/20/wsj-concerned-scientists-reply-on-global-warming/
i hope that they rake them over the coals…
very publicly i might add…
From Eos … seems like the noble scientists forgot the ancient Roman question—Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
And they wonder why we don’t trust them, even when they set up special task forces to encourage us to trust them …
w.
@ur momisugly dalyplanet
> A bit surprising, perhaps, is that Peter Gleick is the just announced American Geophysical Union expert to lead the AGU task force on scientific ethics and integrity.
Not just expert, Chair!
http://www.agu.org/about/governance/committees_boards/scientific_ethics.shtml
“In the meantime, we ask again that publishers, bloggers, and Web site hosts take the stolen and fraudulent documents off their sites, remove defamatory commentary based on them, and issue retractions.”
I can understand the desire to limit dissemination of the offending documents at “unfriendly locations”, however open discussion of the documents at selective locations i.e. WUWT is useful and productive. After all, Mosh figured it out by reading them, eh?
The well funded CAGW scientist has been driven to confessing about lying, stealing, and forgery because there is a single small non profit funding a private professional weather company to build an independent analysts of public government released weather results.
I hope the letter of the law is thrown at the guilty party.
Edward von Bear (@Edward_von_Bear) says:
February 20, 2012 at 8:27 pm
“And to those who played a role in this crime: karma is a beast. Remember that.”
Karma is an angry beast and we are poking at it with sticks.
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/cas_angry_beast.jpg
or (h/t Zefal)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/zefalafez/al_gore_fire_angry_beast.jpg
Hopefully this douchebag will be convicted of criminal fraud and sent to jail. It’s way past time these “people” pay for there criminal actions. I also hope there are civil penalties in the millions of dollars as well. HI, please…please…don’t have any mercy on Gleick. Stick it to the creep.
Add another name to the list of prominent crimate scientists.
Seems to me – that should be the end of Peter Gleick, professionally and ethically. Good riddance to bad rubbish. And the best thing is… he did it to himself. GK
Predictions:
1. Desmog and other alarmist outfits will rush to support Gleick, accepting his story uncritically, and offering up plausible defenses, contorting the evidence and timeline to explain how things could have transpired. They will also continue to act as if the strategy document were authentic. They will portray him simultaneously as a hero (David standing up to Goliath), and a victim (an innocent whistleblower being harassed by evil deniers and their lawyers).
2. It will become apparent that Gleick was in contact with Desmog prior to sending them the document cache. They knew he was the source, and they probably knew that he falsified the strategy document. They also likely received the documents ahead of the other 14 recipients, which is the only way they could have had a blog post up with all the documents AND a summary hyping up their talking points within hours of receiving them.
3. This will take months, or possibly years to fully resolve.