Cites nearly half a million dollars in state grant-funded climate research conducted while [Dr. Michael ] Mann— now director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State— was at UVA between 1999 and 2005.
From The Hook, it seems satirical YouTube videos will be the least of Dr. Mann’s worries now.
=================
No one can accuse Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli of shying from controversy. In his first four months in office, Cuccinelli directed public universities to remove sexual orientation from their anti-discrimination policies, attacked the Environmental Protection Agency, and filed a lawsuit challenging federal health care reform. Now, it appears, he may be preparing a legal assault on an embattled proponent of global warming theory who used to teach at the University of Virginia, Michael Mann.
In papers sent to UVA April 23, Cuccinelli’s office commands the university to produce a sweeping swath of documents relating to Mann’s receipt of nearly half a million dollars in state grant-funded climate research conducted while Mann— now director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State— was at UVA between 1999 and 2005.
If Cuccinelli succeeds in finding a smoking gun like the purloined emails that led to the international scandal dubbed Climategate, Cuccinelli could seek the return of all the research money, legal fees, and trebled damages.
“Since it’s public money, there’s enough controversy to look in to the possible manipulation of data,” says Dr. Charles Battig, president of the nonprofit Piedmont Chapter Virginia Scientists and Engineers for Energy and Environment, a group that doubts the underpinnings of climate change theory.
…
The Attorney General has the right to make such demands for documents under the Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, a 2002 law designed to keep government workers honest.
=================
more at The Hook
h/t to Chip Knappenberger
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*sigh*
Lot of ad hominem and irrelevant slag being directed at the VA AG on this. Sure, there’s a lot of folks ticked at Cucinelli for his first ‘big’ announcement – that the state’s Universities were not supported in the law with some of their actions, actions which the previous two Governors encouraged, even though they could not get them codified via legislation. Cucinelli pointed this out, as was his job, and people had hissy fits.
Likewise, the actions he’s taking here are squarely within his purview and responsibilities – to investigate the potential mis-use of government allocated funds, quite possibly rising to the level of something calling for criminal sanction (yes, $500K is a ‘drop in the bucket’ in governmental budgetary terms, but it’s still a large enough sum to be significant). It is quite probable that these suspicions have been raised by the revelations of Dr. Mann’s apparent willingness to ‘cook the books’ with regard to his professional works – it is quite logical to make the connection that if he’s willing to play funny with one set of numbers. . . There is also the possibility that the AG’s office has received other, non-public information indicative of malfeasance on Dr. Mann’s part during his tenure at UVA with regards to his handling of grant funding.
What some are eager to see here, a complete review of Dr. Mann’s professional works during his UVA tenure – well, don’t get your hopes up folks. This won’t be about the veracity of Mann’s professional publications or pronouncements – superficially, the investigation will have very, very little to do with Dr. Mann’s “work product” – it will be an examination into whether or not he mis-used any of the taxpayer monies he was provided to conduct his research. As such, it won’t be an investigation of his ability for creative statistical manipulation, but an audit to see if he also engaged in creative book keeping and accounting. Or if he tried to ‘hide the decline’ from any hinkyness from his funding accounts. . .
Global warming is only about politics – if science mattered the scare would have disappeared long ago.
Unlike (former) NY-AG Spitzer who shook down large corporations because it was easy money, Cuccinelli is playing the politics of global warming, and I support him for it. There are too many Holdren’s and Chu’s around, lying for the anti-science big-government side.
Cuccinelli was one of the first (and few) to challenge the EPA re: CO2:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1893914
He understands that it is politics and not science driving the global warming scam.
First, I want to thank you, Anthony, for all that you have done to reveal information regarding the so called global warming issue that is not covered by the main stream press. I hope that you, McIntire, McKitrick, and so many others recieve the Nobel Prize (if that would mean anything since it’s handed out now like Halloween candy).
I have invested over 2000 hours research into the so called global warming issue and in doing so discovered your site WUWT. I have also reviewed Climate Audit, Bishop Hill, Real Climate, etc., to many to list and my bookmarks have become unmanagable. You do an excellent job and I sincerely appreciate it.
I am from Virginia and respect our current governor for taking the actions that he has taken. It has certainly rattled the AGW monkey’s cage. They will not sleep for a long time now as the stakes are much higher. They have too much ego, power, and money riding on further exposure to their schemes. It will be hot in the blogosphere for a long time to come. I hope that you are caught up on your sleep.
I have not commented in the past as there are so many visiting on your site with greater intellect than myself, so I have been along for the ride. I think we are coming up on the whoopie doos (dirt bike terminology) and it’s about to get exciting. I have a firm grip so bring it on!
Virginian,
Thanks for the kind words
Anthony
The state is well within the statute of limitations by it’s three different measures. Mann as many scientists, probably loaded up his boxes and drug them to Penn State which can be a big problem They are not his sole personal property and this can be theft.
Mann has a sassy attitude and that will hurt him. Lack of cooperation with authorities because you have a PHd and they are too stupid to need to know the details of your work will backfire.
The mnost recent law firm that left the office tower I officed in was over 200 lawyers. They are not only expensive, but Penn state will not cover his VA case. When docs move, they buy insurance coverage for prior cases. Science is not generally a litigious field but now the grants are fat and the stakes are high. Mann is gone so he doesn’t have uses of clerks and secretaries at Virginia where his files are. (I suspect he left next to nothing which is another problem)
Mann is around 40,000 in a hole for a retainer and will need to use more than 1 lawyer and a researcher.
CEI has filed against Gavin Schmidt who sorta partners with Mann and will be a case of a lower risk for Gavin. Now if an inspector General files on schmidt and Hansen for breech of duty and malfeasance, they will join the “elephant graveyard”
CEI’s lawsuit is civil and not a direct party.
Now these cases are incredibly critical for the greenies because the EPA doesn’t do original research and relies in good faith on these unaudited and uncertified findings for climate forecasting.
BillD says:
“I have been involved as an writer, editor or reviewer of about 700 scientific papers and I am often impressed at how critical, insightful and useful peer reviewers are.”
BillD’s optimism in the light of such long experience is not to be easily dismissed (I wonder in what field he works), however it may be hard to see objectively from within the establishment and this peer review has been shown to fall victim to small groups of ‘mates’ , groupthink, fads and ideology. I believe BillD also misses one important distinction:
Peer review may work well in theoretical research, but once that research hits the tarmac of commercial reality or policy, its naive to rely on peers to verify data. Regulators must and normally do step in. That is why the results of peer reviewed scientific studies by drug companies get audited by gun-wearing FDA investigators. It is why there are federal laws requiring medical research data to be secure and unalterable for such audits – lives are at risk.
With climate data, there was no commercial product, no drug for approval, so no regulator, and the unaudited conclusions went directly into global policy, costing trillions and placing millions of lives in developing countries at risk (directly via biofuels or by misdirection of resources). Imagine me going to FDA with a new drug saying, oh I lost the validation data – but we’re in luck, I have my ‘adjusted’ data – can I sell it now?
Interestingly a similar problem occurred with the disastrous DDT ban – there was not a new product, just the removal of one, so no FDA audit and millions of Africans died of Malaria needlessly (hmm, again, never mind, its only third world deaths).
There was infinitely more scrutiny of Viagra safety data than the world changing AGW [..wait, as a man I am totally OK with that priority 🙂 ]
Climate data risks lives – maybe the world, so its data, risk analysis and conclusions need auditing by an FDA-like body before being used for policy. I don’t get which part of this is not blindingly obvious to everyone?
The EPA might have been that body, but they admitted to rubber stamping the IPCC findings – an abdication of responsibility beyond my comprehension, unless politically driven.
In the absence of a Climate FDA-like body, legal means seem the only avenue to audit, so I say more power to this Cuccinelli in this endeavor, whatever his motives.
I generally agree with you, but on the idea of having the FEDS do an investigation…No way would I want that to happen. The current administration would never do it for one, and if they did it would just end up being a waste of time. We are far better off having the VA state AG do the investigation, if he finds something wrong you can be sure every other state AG will smell the blood and start snooping around. If the VA AG is even halfway successful, watch the finger pointing start anew. Stock up on popcorn folks, this should be a good show.
theduke says:
April 29, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Generally I’m opposed to heavy-handed legal investigations, and particularly when they involve scholarly work. But given the heavy-handedness of the EPA in recent months and Mann’s part in providing the science to legitimize that autocratic behavior, I think his work needs to be investigated.
In fact, the federal government needs to form a high-level commission to investigate all aspects of climate science and its theories and do an engineering grade study on the claims that are being made.
To that end, this may be a step in the right direction.
Why are there a flock of people (whom I’ve never seen post here before) coming in and asking us to pity Michael Mann, saying it’s an awful thing to persecute poor, humble scientists, and how the VA Attorney General is nothing but a (put your favorite ad hominem here)? I’d guess this is a sure sign that the Warmistas are really, really, REALLY frightened.
Hang him high, Cooch.
I posted a comment that apparently disappeared. The old wattsupwiththat format displayed it as pending commentator approval.
BillD,
What was that all about? You sound like an educrat protecting your gravy train. Are you saying that anything goes, as long as the grant money keeps coming in?
None of that matters in this situation. What matters is the evidence the AG has that convinced him to investigate Michael Mann. At this point, we are not privy to that information. [Don’t miss the short linked article at the Hook, and the interesting comments below it. Some are reasonable, and some are scientifically illiterate emotion. Anyone can add a comment.]
Maybe the AG is betting his career on this information demand, maybe not. But it appears that he has the authority to act:
The folks getting all riled up about Mann having to lay his cards on the table would be better off directing their energy against the EPA for preposterously labeling CO2 a “pollutant.”
That one deliberate misrepresentation, based completely on pseudo-science, and which made an end run around Congress, will cost us literally $Trillions. And for what benefit, exactly? Does anyone believe that CO2 will be forced below 1990 levels, with China, India, Russia, Brazil, and a hundred other countries in the picture, snickering at our national self destruction?
Anyway, I look forward to Michael Mann’s explanation of how he got peer reviewed by using an upside down chart. Who wants popcorn?
Clearly Mann is a poor scientist, and dogged to the point of petulance in defending his flawed statistical analysis, and the conclusions he draws from them.
Nevertheless, I am uneasy about using this form of attack. All scientists receive funding, and it is essential that they be able to pursue their research without fear that they may be called to account if they turn out to be wrong – an ever present possibility in science. Is this enquiry going to assess the quality of Mann’s science? On who’s advice? If so, I think a dangerous precedent could be set.
I don’t believe funding is the right tool to use to go after Mann. If the current enquiries did their job (!?!), he would be rightly “convicted” on scientific grounds, which is the basis on which this whole issue should be considered.
Global warming is about politics – the science has become irrelevant otherwise the scare would have ended long ago.
Unlike the (former) NY-AG Spitzer who scammed large corporations since it was easy money, Cuccinelli is playing global warming politics. There are too many Holdren’s and Chu’s around, so I appreciate what Cuccinelli is doing.
He was one of the first (and few) to challenge the EPA on the CO2 scam:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1893914
Question with boldness!
(I sincerely suggest the rest of you need to spine up.)
Although this AG may be a political kind of guy, it is also possible that he intends to do an honest investigation. If so, I welcome it. Ideally, Mann should receive fair treatment, no more and no less. He should not be immune from investigation because he is a scientist.
As I understand it (I am not a lawyer), “fraud” as a legal term is difficult to prove. Several elements must be present and provable. It seems unlikely Mann will end up prosecuted for fraud, but if he actually did commit a crime against the taxpayers, then he should be.
It disappeared again.
You don’t have to post this, but I didn’t use to have problems posting on here and now it doesn’t work.
The VA AG is not interested in the science, but in Mann’s actions in enforcing the AGW agenda. Otherwise why would his principle interest be in emails. He is engaging in his own brand of politics to attack a fellow, possibly crooked, politician.
Dr. Mann chose politics over science a long time ago. He dressed his politics in science to be sure, but as many here understand, his science was crap and the only reason it got wide approval was its politics.
Now that the politics are changing, Mann and the others who chose that route are finding out what happens when political tides change.
I like this guy! 🙂
The purpose is not to use the power of the state as a club for some ideological witch hunt. It is to compel the release and disclosure of documents and data created at the public’s expense that, heretofore, Dr. Mann has refused to divulge. Honor the discovery request and nothing more will be heard on this issue for years – unless there IS a smoking gun.
Maybe it IS all about money. Don’t know if anyone else noticed this. Interesting list of co-patentholders, too (Al’s not on it, though).
Fannie Mae owns patent on residential ‘cap and trade’ exchange
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Fannie-Mae-owns-patent-on-residential-_cap-and-trade_-exchange-91532109.html#ixzz0mVG4RyGi
When he wasn’t busy helping create a $127 billion mess for taxpayers to clean up, former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Officer Franklin Raines, two of his top underlings and select individuals in the “green” movement were inventing a patented system to trade residential carbon credits. Patent No. 6904336 was approved by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office on Nov. 7, 2006 — the day after Democrats took control of Congress. Former Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., criticized the award at the time, pointing out that it had “nothing to do with Fannie Mae’s charter, nothing to do with making mortgages more affordable.” It wasn’t about mortgages. It was about greenbacks. The patent, which Fannie Mae confirmed it still owns with Cantor Fitzgerald subsidiary CO2e.com, gives the mortgage giant a lock on the fledgling carbon trading market, thus also giving it a major financial stake in the success of cap-and-trade legislation.
Various culpable universities and government bodies have been trying to cover Climategate up with their transparently rigged investigations.
This may be the only way to bring the necessary information out in the open.
When the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around. James Taylor
Unfortunately, it has come to this, but it always does anyway, legal action is the only way to stop them. They have not got the message that now the majority is sick and tired of it. This includes all the others promoting the farce (newspapers, journals, politicians, comercial interests etc) who know that it is a farce but continue to push it.
Nicely written, Anthony.
Sweeeeettt!
Hope he gets a cell next to Madoff, after he pays the VA taxpayers and the Federal taxpayers back. He and Gore have killed countess thousands already by conning gullible governments into diverting food to alcohol, and this just for starters.
[snip]
When Mann accepted the funding, he likely signed a piece of paper to the effect that, if requested, he would have to turn over all his work to the State. The A/G is just doing his job. With the odor of fraud in the air, the A/G would be irresponsible not to at least look things over. When you accept public money, that’s just part of the deal.
It will be interesting to see if Mann still has the documentation. If he can produce it, I doubt that any serious problems will be found since it is not likely to be a rigorous technical review of his work. The biggest problem for Mann will likely be an inability to produce the documents. His contract likely included a clause requiring him to keep everything safe and intact, which would include the original data as well as the “value added” type. The real bonus will be if all the documents are released as a result of this investigation.
This could be very interesting.
Anthony
My accusatory tone was directed at the quote from mpaul, who said that Mann stubbornly refuses to release data and code, when he clearly does, recently at least.
I didn’t take issue with the investigation at all. However, I’d notice that there has been a lot of talk here about the supposed misuse of UK taxpayer funds at UEA, not all by UK citizens.
1 Most likely the AG has dedicated a lot of hours into this case and is taking it forward because he has a strong case
2 To this point, we have seen no real legal cases because the witnesses to fraud and malfeasance have never had a phone call. No one has called Mcintyre. (this is a classic test for a coverup. They won’t call experts that may tell them what they do not want to hear.)
3 There are attorneys that specialize in dealing with proprietary information cases, employment law and research related property cases.
4 In the course of Mann going up the road to PSU, he would need to have a contract to compensate for work he took with him and performed at Virginia.
One of the earlier companies I ran, I had enough legal work to hire my own attorney from wall Street. It is a luxury to have in house council and prevent a lot of problems. I am very familiar with the Enron havoc. Very familiar.
Mann demonstrated fraud alongside the honest services theory like in Skilling’s case at Enron. When Hansen and Mann are into these head trips, they have blatant disregard for honesty. They won’t come out and say publically they really have no clue why is is getting cooler. Bring out the popcorn (salt free)