Since I have started updates here, I’ll keep this post as a “sticky” – new content will follow below it and linked within updates. – Anthony
UPDATE 71: 3:27PM In his latest post 18 U.S.C. 1343 Steve McIntyre demonstrates how Andrew Lacis of GISS, has no clue about law, and likely no clue about ethical behavior either. As Eli Rabbett would say Andrew, RTFM.
UPDATE70: 2:40PM 2/28 A very detailed Fakegate timeline has been prepared by WUWT reader A. Scott, which I have published complete with an Excel Spreadsheet. Notes made of the new Copner timeline also. Details here.
UPDATE69: 10:03AM 2/28 Mosher and Copner are following another trail over at Lucia’s in comments. It seems even Gleick’s associates were warning him against use of the phrase “anti-climate”. The response about “giving away the game” makes me wonder if there were others in on the phishing, but it could just be coincidental.
UPDATE68: 9:25AM 2/28 Walter Starck has a good comparison of Heartland/Fakegate -vs- Climategate at Quadrant Online
UPDATE67: 8:05AM 2/28 Ben Pile has an excellent summary of Fakegate
UPDATE66: 4:45PM 2/27 Yesterday it was “hordes” today it is “swarms”. The hilarity continues over at DeSmog Blog.
UPDATE65: 3:08PM 2/27 the AGU president issues a statement on Gleick and AGU’s involvement with Gleick’s AGU ethics committee. It is quite strong and condemns Gleick (though could be stronger).
UPDATE64: 1:00 and 1:18PM 2/27 In a press release, the Heartland Institute President Debunks Fakegate Memo Meanwhile, days later, the Pacific Institute Board of Directors catches up with a new statement citing what we all knew last Friday.
UPDATE63: 10:15AM 2/27 Lying and deception can be justified, says climate change ethics expert James Garvey, a philosopher and the author of The Ethics of Climate Change has written a defence of Peter Gleick at the Guardian.
UPDATE62: 10:10AM 2/27 Fakegate: DeSmogBlog’s epic fail – You almost have to feel sorry for the folks at DeSmogBlog.
UPDATE61: 2/26 Mr. Worthing on “Funding Imbalance” says: Note that the latest grant of $100 million was made on the day after the hippies got all hot under the collar about Heartland’s ‘huge’ annual budget of $4.4 million
UPDATE60: While “Fakegate” rages, which is a huge distraction from the science, this essay by Dr. David Evans The Skeptics Case is useful to consider and to cite in the thousands of online arguments now occurring. A PDF is provided for emailing also.
UPDATE59: I no more than post QOTW (bonus edition), and Steve McIntyre provides yet another quote for serious consideration. Uncharacteristically, he has disabled comments. But when you see his quote, you’ll understand why.
UPDATE58: 5:15AM 2/26 Dr. Judith Curry has a relevant QOTW (bonus edition). My earlier QOTW choice has apparently terrorized the twits with WUWT “hordes”.
UPDATE57: 8:00PM Christopher Booker in the Telegraph says: The Gleick affair is further proof of the warmists’ endless credulity – Dr Peter Gleick provides more evidence that the supporters of the Cause will stop at nothing.
UPDATE56: 3:02PM 2/25 Peter Gleick lecturing the U.S. Senate on “deceitful tactics”
UPDATE55: 1:50PM 2/25 The Weekly Standard has a great story up – Why the Climate Skeptics Are Winning – Too many of their opponents are intellectual thugs.
Loved this part:
Finally, “coordinated”? Few public policy efforts have ever had the massive institutional and financial coordination that the climate change cause enjoys. That tiny Heartland, with but a single annual conference and a few phone-book-sized reports summarizing the skeptical case, can derange the climate campaign so thoroughly is an indicator of the weakness and thorough politicization of climate alarmism.
UPDATE54: 12:20PM some interesting essays by Donna Laframboise here entitled: Peter Gleick – Then and Now and another by Hilary Ostrov entitled: From the ashes of Gleickgate: a new mantra is born h/t to Dr. Judith Curry from her Week in Review
UPDATE53: 10:45AM 2/25 Steve McIntyre has a humorous piece entitled Gleick and America’s Dumbest Criminals
UPDATE52: 10:20 AM 2/25 Nicola Scaffeta has contributed a guest essay – What triggered Dr. Peter Gleick to do identity fraud on Jan 27th?
UPDATE51: 7:15PM 2/24 According to the San Jose Mercury News, Dr. Gleick has requested a leave of absence from the Pacific Institute – details here
UPDATE50: 5:00PM 2/24 Quote of the week – from Scientific American, a comment on “The Cause” as we saw in CG2 emails
UPDATE49: 3:23PM 2/24 Dr. Judith Curry posts a “bombshell” on her website saying: With virtually no effort on my part (beyond reading an email, cutting and pasting into the blog post), I have uncovered “juicier stuff” about Heartland than anything Gleick uncovered.
Oh, the ironing.
UPDATE48: 3:00PM 2/24 Rep Ed Markey, probably still upset that Waxman-Markey cap and trade didn’t go anywhere, is sticking his nose into the Fakgate affair.
UPDATE47: 10:10AM 2/24 Fraudulent emails to Heartland from Gleick have been released. See details here.
UPDATE46: 10:00AM 2/24 The EPA was shown yesterday to “disappear” $468,000 in Federal grants to Gleick’s Pacific Institute. Now even more grants to Gleick have been scrubbed from EPA Grants Database. Steve Milloy at Junkscience.com reports:
EPA, do you know where your grants are?
Additional grants (possibly as much $647,000) to Peter Gleick’s Pacific Institute seem to have disappeared from the EPA Grants Database.
The purpose of the grants on the screencap he has is a hoot.
UPDATE45: 8:00 AM 2/24 I’ve known this for several days, but now it is in the press. The gloves are off and The FBI has been called in.
UPDATE44: 11:00PM 2/23 Here is a special news report from KUSI-TV in San Diego on Fakegate – John Coleman reports.
UPDATE 43: 10:45PM 2/23 Here is a video “self-interview” from Dec 2011 by Peter Gleick from his PI office where he talks about people having a “fundamental trust in scientists”.
UPDATE42: 8:20PM 2/23 It appears that Gleick’s cyber impersonation to Heartland may have run afoul of a new law in California.
UPDATE41: 4:32 PM 2/23 The story on yours truly in the local alternate weekly “Leaked Documents Hit Home”
UPDATE40: 10:55AM 2/23 Heartland publishes the email thread with Dr. Gleick where he was invited to Heartland’s annual dinner as a speaker (with a speaking fee), and then declined after consideration.
UPDATE39: 10:09AM 2/23 Junkscience reports: Breaking: EPA scrubs web site of Gleick grants?
UPDATE38: 9:45AM 2/23 What do you do when you are a climate skeptic and have access to sensitive private documents? The answer is here.
UPDATE37: 7:30AM 2/23 Monckton writes an opinion on why the perpetrators(s) should be prosecuted.
UPDATE36: 12AM 2/23 You can participate in a crowdsourcing experiment using free open source stylometry/textometry software to determine the true authorship of the “faked” Heartland Climate Strategy memo. Details here.
UPDATE 35: 11:45 PM 2/22 Steve McIntyre has some interesting posts on the Gleick affair. Gleick and the NCSE and also Gleick’s AGU Resignation.
UPDATE34: 10:20PM 2/22 AP/WaPo: Ethicists blast chair of science ethics panel for taking global warming skeptic group’s papers
UPDATE 33: 10:00PM 2/22 The Guardian reports: Scientist who lied to obtain Heartland documents faces fight to save job. It seems the Pacific Institute Board of directors isn’t very happy. Their recent statement contrasts with Update 19 below. And he’s been dropped as a columnist by the SFO Chronicle.
UPDATE32: 9:45PM 2/22 Megan McArdle of The Atlantic has her third article in a series on this affair. She writes:
And ethics aside, what Gleick did is insane for someone in his position–so crazy that I confess to wondering whether he doesn’t have some sort of underlying medical condition that requires urgent treatment. The reason he did it was even crazier.
UPDATE31 9:15PM 2/22 The Daily Mail gives WUWT props in this affair, here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2104908/Fakegate–new-nadir-climate-change-swindle.html
UPDATE30: 6:30PM 2/22 “So, Peter Gleick: if I am wrong, sue me.” says Maggie’s Farm on the fake document. Meanwhile, in a desperate attempt at self vindication, the paid propagandists at DeSmog blog have become their own “verification bureau” for a document they have no way to properly verify. The source says it isn’t verified but that’s not good enough for them so they spin it. They didn’t even bother to get an independent opinion. Get this: Evaluation shows “Faked” Heartland Climate Strategy Memo is Authentic. It seems to be just climate news porn for the weak minded Susuki followers upon which their blog is founded. As one WUWT commenter (Copner) put it – “triple face palm”.
UPDATE29: 5:00 PM 2/22 Dr. Roger Pielke Sr. weighs in saying:
On September 4 2011 I posted
Hatchet Job On John Christy and Roy Spencer By Kevin Trenberth, John Abraham and Peter Gleick
I have reposted below since the recent behavior (e.g. see) of Peter Gleick, co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California, involving the Heartland Institute is just another example of the often vitriolic and unseemly behavior by some to discredit what are appropriate alternative viewpoints on the climate issue. Unfortunately, the action towards the Heartland Institute displayed by Peter Gleick is just another example of an attitude of a significant number of individuals in the leadership of the climate science community.
UPDATE28: 11:40AM James Evans in comments reports that “the BBC has finally weighed in, and it’s lame”. It only took Richard Black 36 hours to be convinced by an onslaught of emails. Whatta guy! The article makeup leaves no question now that Black is biased beyond all hope.
UPDATE27: 11:25 AM 2/22 Marlo Lewis at Globalwarming.org summarizes in From Climategate to Fakegate
UPDATE26: 8:25AM 2/22 Time Magazine has a feature story by Bryan Walsh: The Heartland Affair: A Climate Champion Cheats — and We All Lose
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2107364,00.html#ixzz1n825Q9Gm
UPDATE25: 8:18PM 2/21 Willis Eschenbach writes An Open Letter to Dr. Linda Gundersen asking et tu AGU?
UPDATE24: 8:10 PM 2/21 Joe Bast of the Heartland Institute gives a video interview with the Wall Street Journal. He accuses Gleick directly, saying:
Gleick “impersonated a board member of the Heartland Institute, stole his identity by creating a fake email address, and proceeded to use that fake email address to steal documents that were prepared for a board meeting. He read those documents, concluded that there was no smoking gun in them, and then forged a two-page memo”
h/t to THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: Another Climate Scandal
See also this additional update: http://heartland.org/press-releases/statement-heartland-institute-president-joseph-bast-regarding-wall-street-journal-onl
UPDATE23: 7:30PM 2/21 Megan McArdle of The Atlantic gives Mosher and the blogosphere props for the takedown, and some jeers for others.
UPDATE22: 3:30PM 2/21 The AGU weighs in on Gleick with “disappointment” Gleick resigned on Feb 16th, but apparently didn’t tell them the full story of why.
UPDATE21: 2:55PM 2/21 Fakegate – It’s What They Do by Chris Horner
UPDATE20: 2:30PM 2/21 Warning Signs: “Fakegate” Blows Up in Warmist Faces
UPDATE19: 2:12PM 2/21 For now, Dr. Gleick still has an office, though I’m not sure that will true in the future. The Pacific Institute made an announcement on their web page that Dr. Gleick has been and continues to be an integral part of our team.
UPDATE18: 1:55 PM 2/21 Josh designs the new spring line of Climate Churnalism’s New Clothes
UPDATE17: 1:30 PM 2/21 With resignations happening already, and AGU removing him from his webpage, (Update11) The question out there is now about the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Gleick signed an “integrity” document “Climate Change and the Integrity of Science,” was published in the journal Science on May 7th, 2010 as the “Lead Letter”, plus a supporting editorial. Will the co-signers defend the tarnished integrity of climate science now? Will Dr. Gleick continue on the NAS as a member?
UPDATE16: 1:05PM 2/21 The Union of Credit Card Holding Concerned Scientists weighs in with a “devil made me do it” excuse.
Gleick’s Actions Don’t Excuse Heartland’s Anti-Science Campaign
Lame-o-meter pegged, Kenji is displeased.
UPDATE15: 11:08AM 2/21 Unbelievable. Daily Kos elevates Gleick to hero status (via Tom Nelson):
Daily Kos: Hero Scientist responsible for Heartland Expose
Hero scientist, Peter Gleick, a water and climate analyst is the one responsible for exposing the Heartland agenda to spread misinformation and lies and subvert any real action for the climate change crisis. He did so at considerable risk to his career and personal reputation.
UPDATE14: 9:40AM Daily Climate article cites “criminal act” and “steel cage death match” here
UPDATE13: 9:30AM 2/21 NCSE posts a story about Gleick on their news page, they mention his resignation from NCSE’s board.
On the same day as he posted his statement, however, he apologized to NCSE for his behavior with regard to the Heartland Institute documents and offered to withdraw from the board, on which he was scheduled to begin serving as of February 25, 2012. His offer was accepted.
UPDATE12: 8:10AM 2/21 Delingpole on integrity here
UPDATE11: 8AM 2/21 Gleick removed from AGU Task Force on Scientific Ethics page
UPDATE10: 7:45AM 2/21 Dr. Judith Curry tries to reconcile Gleick’s essays on “integrity” with his actions. It is a fascinating read.
UPDATE9: 7:20AM 2/21 Josh has a cartoon out on it, I don’t agree with it. Time magazine calls out Gleick.
UPDATE8: 11:20PM Over at DeSmog Blog they are praising Gleick and spinning his confession so fast that it has created its own localized climate distortion. They are labeling him as a whistleblower: Whistleblower Authenticates Heartland Documents
For his courage, his honor, and for performing a selfless act of public service, he deserves our gratitude and applause.
These paid propagandists are shameless, they are labeling him as a martyr for the cause. The Noble Cause Corruption is thick there.
UPDATE7: 9:32 PM Politico writes:
Two sources in California — longtime Democratic operative Chris Lehane and Corey Goodman, a member of the Pacific Institute board of directors — confirmed to POLITICO that Gleick authored the Huffington Post blog confessing to be the source of the leak.
Lehane, Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign press secretary, is helping Gleick pro bono with communications issues. Gleick is represented by John Keker, a prominent San Francisco-based white collar criminal defense attorney.
UPDATE6: 9:25 PM Steve McIntyre writes:
No one should feel any satisfaction in these events, which have been highly damaging to everyone touched by them, including both Heartland and Gleick.
I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, the damage will continue until such time legal redress is made, which appears to be the next step. Steve also has a good timeline analysis here.
UPDATE5: 8:40PM commenter “Skiphill” writes:
Many will also be heartened to know that Gleick’s Pacific Institute has a special initiative in “Integrity in Science” (I know that his apologists will claim that this episode is not about integrity “in” scientific research etc. but still…..):
http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_of_science/index.html
Integrity of Science
The Pacific Institute’s Integrity of Science Initiative responds to and counters the assault on science and scientific integrity in the public policy arena, especially on issues related to water, climate change, and security.
UPDATE4: 8:35PM Dr. Judith Curry notes the irony about Dr. Gleick lecturing her on integrity here
UPDATE3: 8:15PM I have received the Heartland statement, it will be posted under a separate post here. 8:23 PM It is posted here
UPDATE2: 725PM PST This post will likely go through many revisions as we learn more, I’ll timestamp each.- Anthony
UPDATE: 715PM PST Heartland advises me they will issue a statement soon. Stay tuned.
As many of us had surmised, Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute is the Heartland document leaker. He has issued this statement:
Since the release in mid-February of a series of documents related to the internal strategy of the Heartland Institute to cast doubt on climate science, there has been extensive speculation about the origin of the documents and intense discussion about what they reveal. Given the need for reliance on facts in the public climate debate, I am issuing the following statement.
At the beginning of 2012, I received an anonymous document in the mail describing what appeared to be details of the Heartland Institute’s climate program strategy. It contained information about their funders and the Institute’s apparent efforts to muddy public understanding about climate science and policy. I do not know the source of that original document but assumed it was sent to me because of my past exchanges with Heartland and because I was named in it.
Given the potential impact however, I attempted to confirm the accuracy of the information in this document. In an effort to do so, and in a serious lapse of my own and professional judgment and ethics, I solicited and received additional materials directly from the Heartland Institute under someone else’s name. The materials the Heartland Institute sent to me confirmed many of the facts in the original document, including especially their 2012 fundraising strategy and budget. I forwarded, anonymously, the documents I had received to a set of journalists and experts working on climate issues. I can explicitly confirm, as can the Heartland Institute, that the documents they emailed to me are identical to the documents that have been made public. I made no changes or alterations of any kind to any of the Heartland Institute documents or to the original anonymous communication.
I will not comment on the substance or implications of the materials; others have and are doing so. I only note that the scientific understanding of the reality and risks of climate change is strong, compelling, and increasingly disturbing, and a rational public debate is desperately needed. My judgment was blinded by my frustration with the ongoing efforts — often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated — to attack climate science and scientists and prevent this debate, and by the lack of transparency of the organizations involved. Nevertheless I deeply regret my own actions in this case. I offer my personal apologies to all those affected.
Peter Gleick
See also Andy Revkin’s DotEarth here. Revkin writes:
Now, Gleick has admitted to an act that leaves his reputation in ruins and threatens to undercut the cause he spent so much time pursuing. His summary, just published on his blog at Huffington Post,
…
(Added 7:25PM PST) One way or the other, Gleick’s use of deception in pursuit of his cause after years of calling out climate deception has destroyed his credibility and harmed others. (Some of the released documents contain information about Heartland employees that has no bearing on the climate fight.) That is his personal tragedy and shame (and I’m sure devastating for his colleagues, friends and family).
Peter Gleick’s HuffPo blog here.
For the record Dr. Gleick, I am not “anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated” as you suggest. And you have damaged me and my business. I suspect I’ll be seeing you in court to protect my rights, along with many others, sir.
“peetee says:
February 20, 2012 at 9:04 pm
guys, guys! What was faked?”
================================
The summary document. It is the one with all the sexy money quotes everyone is using. If you take it away it’s all boring general stuff that you would expect Heartland to be doing and other than how little they are spending on Climate Science isn’t exciting at all. Thus the fake.
If your interested scroll down the front page of Watts up with that and look for the article about it being fake. That article contains links to a very good dissection of the fake as fake on Forbes.
Varco says:
February 20, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Anthony,
while I respect the rights of you and the others directly affected by Gleicks actions to seek redress, the continued public pursuit of someone who may be in a vulnerable state of mind doenot appear to be in the spirit of this blog. Could I suggest an appeal to reason for the contributors of this blog to leave further judgement of Mr Gleick to the authorities and history.
=========================================================================
Comments here are understandable and I doubt Mr Gleick will read them. If it were me I would be more concerned with the reaction of my AGW buddies who may:
a) circle the wagons and defend him at any cost, or
b) be the first at their labs with tee shirts saying “I’m not a Gleick”!
Breaking News:
“Lehane, Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign press secretary, is helping Gleick pro bono with communications issues. Gleick is represented by John Keker, a prominent San Francisco-based white colar criminal defense attorney.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73099_Page2.html#ixzz1mzVrmLoT
John Keker represented Lance Armstrong during his recent doping allegation troubles.
[snip – I don’t have to take your abuse Mr. Alemany – get the hell out of my home on the Internet, and don’t come back. I’ve done nothing wrong. Be mindful of libel. – Anthony Watts]
Stephen Schneider must be lying flat and quiet in his grave.
Wow, just.. Wow…
I love being right 😉
The one single thing I hope comes out of this is that the “other side” admits that there is a debate to be had between rational people and that all of us here are not “anti-science.”
I still think “Anti-Science-Gate” wins…
Cheers!
As I just posted with link on the thread of the Heartland announcement, it seems that (according to the UK’s Guardian rag) Gleick has retained the services of Chris Lehane for “crisis management” aka political warfare. I am aware that Lehane has a particularly nasty rep for how he wages political media war (under Clinton and Gore). This suggests not a strategy of contrition (didn’t seem like it from the Gleick statement) but preparation for media war.
I’m know that HI and Anthony and others have seen unending vitriolic onslaughts through the years, but the retention of Chris Lehane by Gleick suggests it will all get uglier fast.
@Smokey
“…. you sound like a credulous fool who has been spoon-fed alarmist propaganda.”
Well done sir, thanks for the laugh, next time let him have both barrels…you’re too shy and polite.
JG
Heartland have to make an example here. If the situation is as Heartland have indicated. Then they must take this to the fullest extent possible…… People like Gleick are utterly shameless, so it is no good just trying to shame them….. The pound of flesh must be removed in this instance. He has to bleed reputationly and financially….. Otherwise he will laughingly apologize and spit the faces of those he has nothing but utter contempt for.
~FR says: February 20, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Only if you reorder the words.
Peter Gleick’s apology reads like something my teenage son might say after I’ve caught him hiding evidence of his misbehavior. This is not how an responsible elected member of NAS should act. Any organization that has him as a member should request (demand?) his resignation immediately.
I come into this very late. What shines through is the classic “end justifies the means” stance from Gleick. He’s admitting stuff, all right, but I doubt he knows fully just how silly and self-imolating his actions are. He basically says: “I was only trying to save the world, and it’s just so frustrating being me”. Awwwww, poo bebby. You took your shovel and bucket home from the beach, and tried to kick sand in everyone’s face…because you have no control over your emotional state. Heckuva way to gain influence over the situation, Pete. I suggest, that you begin with some psychotherapy and a good, long, one-way sabbatical. Any ordinary joe who pulled this stunt would be arrested and locked up. Now that you are an ordinary joe…..
So, Gleick confessed? Not surprising…..NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!
It is clear that Mr. Gleick did not consider his actions beyond what his own worldview imposed on him as a crusader for AGW. He did not think about the fact that what is deleted is not erased and that a public mea culpa today may help him avoid a jail sentence tomorrow.
While I agree that piling on to him in his moment of woe is not appropriate, that is if what he said was truly a mea culpa. It was not. It was a self serving scree that in a sense is the same type of answer you would get on a school yard when someone was caught stealing money from a fellow student.
The truly damaging part of all of this is that there are people who have so bought into the political aspects of AGW that they feel that all is fair in pushing forward that agenda. To see this in action in a larger sense all of you have to do is read the climategate emails and to see a similar mindset in the person of Dr. Michael Mann.
What these people need to understand is that the political solutions proposed for fighting the problem that they so passionately believe in are the same solutions as brought forth by groups such as the Club of Rome 40 years ago. They too used computer models, now long since discredited, to prove their points. Mr. Gleick and Mr. Mann have been manipulated by the noble cause syndrome to support a political system that most of us find abhorrent. There are other solutions to the AGW problem, if indeed it is a problem, rather than thinking for an instant that you can run a civilization of what is soon to be 9 billion people with solar panels and wind turbines. It is simply impossible to do so, yet there are solutions, rooted in technology that will solve the problem of AGW if indeed it is a problem. At the same time this will get us beyond the limited resource of hydrocarbons that is increasingly being used as a weapon by nation states addicted to the funds it brings into their coffers that otherwise would never ever happen.
Mr. Gleick you have been fooled. Time to research why that happened and to learn from this as the rest of us should take this as a cautionary tale.
Have to agree with Skiphil, bringing on Lehane is an ominous sign, certainly not the action of someone who is contrite. That act alone should encourage HI and others harmed to tighten the screws now before the media campaign can take hold. Expect Phil Jones-esque media stories of “a broken man” and such to start hitting the press in an attempt to shame HI to back off. If they do, Lehane and his cronies will go for the jugular.
As a lawyer by training and experience in the US, a few thoughts.
Obtaining documents electronically by fraud is, in the US, termed “wire fraud”.
Wire fraud is a Federal crime, and like most Federal crimes carries a sentence of 10 years.
Federal crime, unlike state sentences, allows for very little reduction–Federal time is REAL time. A 10-year sentence almost certainly means 9+ years served (whereas in state sentences, perhaps a third of the formal sentence is actually served), the reduction purely for “good behavior” (which, presumably, would mean no more wire fraud).
Most crimes of this nature carry a statute of limitations of 3 years–so no prosecution need be brought prior to the November 2012 Presidential election. Within less than a year from now there may well be a new Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice, one more interested than the current fellow in following up on wire fraud of this nature.
While Gleick may be well known in extremist climate circles, he lacks a sufficiently high profile to reasonably generate any real likelihood of receiving a prophylactic pardon from Obama.
In these circumstances, most criminal defense attorneys recommend that their clients “cooperate with the prosecution” to minimize their sentence. Read that as “squeal like a stuck pig.” Three years in pen is WAY better than nine years.
That’s not even touching on the identify theft charges–such charges were not common when I was actively practicing law, so I’ll defer to those with greater experience. But I do know the penalties for them are not trivial.
Good luck to Peter. My advice–beg, borrow, and steal whatever you can to pay for the best defense lawyer possible. You WILL need them. (And yet, make sure you hold back enough for the appeal.)
And if you do end up doing the long fall–sucks to be you, you fraud.
I feel sorry for Peter Gleick and the many others just like him. No kidding, I really do.
Their complete belief in AWG closes their minds to other possibilities. Their hatred of skeptics overcomes their common sense. They think they are the right and just. And this allows them believe that any action, no matter how wrong, that gets them to the desired goal is acceptable.
Peter Gleick let his hatred get the best of him. He, his career and his family will all suffer because of his hatred. He did this to himself. Peter Gleick will have to reap what he has sewn. His family unfortunately did not sign up for this. They will be the ones hardest hit by his actions.
As this affair play out in the coming days, weeks and months, both sides of the debate should study diligently and self reflect. For there are people on both sides of the debate that allow their hatred to control their actions.
The judgment that this affair has harmed HI seems dubious. I think HI will come out of this smelling like a rose, and with a much broadened and strengthened support cast. Amongst other effects, those Gleick & friends have slandered and attempted to bully are surely going to be determined to show to themselves and the world that they have not been cowed.
Heartland could score an epic coup if they did just one thing.
Print an open letter in all the major newspapers, highlighting both the letter from Peter Gleick AND the open letter from the major climate scientists. In both of the letters the other side stated that they want debate, but we all know they do not.
So… Heartland prints an open invitation to the next 10 NIPCC conferences and as a part of the settlement (to drop the charges against Gleick) asks PG, along with the signers of the “other” open letter (Mann etc) to attend debates.
It would be the score of the century, proving once and for all that our side simply wants to reopen the debate. That it really is about the science. It would empower NIPCC as a real player in the game and give them a voice.
Such an act has the power to truly tip the scales.
Go for it Heartland !!
Cheers!
On a more serious note:
Desperate people do desperate things.
I know that climate skeptics have received serious threats in the past, and some have suffered actual acts of violence.
This is not new – about a decade ago, I counselled some of my colleagues to take precautions to protect their safety and that of their families.
But at that time we were losing the public debate, drowned out by false shouts that “the science is settled”. The global warmists were winning then.
The tables have turned now – there has been no global warming for a decade, and the global warmist elite has been exposed in the Climategate emails as liars, bullies, and fraudsters.
So perhaps now it is even more necessary for global warming skeptics to take reasonable precautions to protect their safety and that of their families.
Desperate people do desperate things.
Lehane, Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign press secretary, is helping Gleick pro bono with communications issues. Gleick is represented by John Keker, a prominent San Francisco-based white collar criminal defense attorney.
=========================
Who is paying Gleick’s defence bills ? Follow the money.
The FBI should be executing a raid on Gleick’s offices and residence immediately. Any Judge will recognize enough probable cause (confessed fraudulently gaining goods or services by deception) and the need to secure evidence (forensic) speedily. Certainly, more probable cause, than they had for the TallBloke raid. GK
They’ll simply say it was a Gleitch…
Gleick has made a show of awarding his choices of “Climate B.S. Of the Year” awards the past couple of years, with sneering and inept (dare I say dishonest) personal attacks. May I wonder whether he can be awarded a special 2012 “Climate B.S. Of the Year” Award of his own? Perhaps some blog that likes to mix it up with the CAGWarmists in a personal way should counter this:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2012/01/05/the-2011-climate-b-s-of-the-year-awards/
“There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.”
The above is from the Desmog home page. How exactly do they square that philosophy with their current position of defending Gleick? Simple…”The ends justify the means”…an attitude spoken and upheld by every good fascist organization in history.
Kozlowski says:
February 20, 2012 at 9:58 pm
“Heartland could score an epic coup if they did just one thing.”
Yeah that’s what you’d like, right? You sound like a Moby.