UPDATE4: 6/7/12 11AM PST The independent investigator is named, see update #4 below.
UPDATE5: 6/7/12 11:15AM PST Heartland has just released a statement, read it here.
UPDATE6: 6/7/12 1:15PM PST Josh weighs in with some biting satire in a cartoon here
Breaking news from the Pacific Institute website: http://www.pacinst.org/press_center/press_releases/statement6612.html
PACIFIC INSTITUTE BOARD OF DIRECTORS STATEMENT
The Pacific Institute is pleased to welcome Dr. Peter Gleick back to his position as president of the Institute. An independent review conducted by outside counsel on behalf of the Institute has supported what Dr. Gleick has stated publicly regarding his interaction with the Heartland Institute. This independent investigation has further confirmed and the Pacific Institute is satisfied that none of its staff knew of or was involved in any way.
Dr. Gleick has apologized publicly for his actions, which are not condoned by the Pacific Institute and run counter to the Institute’s policies and standard of ethics over its 25-year history. The Board of Directors accepts Dr. Gleick’s apology for his lapse in judgment. We look forward to his continuing in the Pacific Institute’s ongoing and vital mission to advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity.
“I am glad to be back and thank everyone for continuing their important work at the Pacific Institute during my absence,” said Dr. Gleick in a statement. “I am returning with a renewed focus and dedication to the science and research that remain at the core of the Pacific Institute’s mission.”
==============================================================
Of course there’s no mention of who conducted this “independent investigation” nor are we given the opportunity to read it.
There’s no mention of it it prior releases:
News Updates and Press Releases
[6/06/12] Dr. Peter Gleick Returns to the Pacific Institute
[5/31/12] Survey of Water Suppliers Launched to Better Understand How Water is Priced in California
[5/24/12] Training Now Available Online for Cost Effectiveness of Water Conservation and Efficiency Model
But hey, this is climate science politics, so anything goes.
Since we heard about this some time ago (May 21st 2012) from Guardian reporter Suzanne Goldenberg, it seems the fix was in. Oddly, there’s no mention of this new official announcement at the Guardian today per the search I made. The last mention of Gleick was May 24th. (Update: they finally got around to posting their article at 12:03PM EDT today)
Maybe they were distracted by Wisconsin.
UPDATE: I’m waiting on an email reply from their press contact to these two questions:
1. What organization, law firm, or group conducted the investigation?
2. Why has that investigation not been made public?
I would call them, but with my hearing issues telephone interviews could be misunderstood. Anyone want to make the call for me? Tel: 510-251-1600
UPDATE2: They aren’t talking with openness or providing any details.
I received a response from Pacific Institute Communications Director Nancy Ross at 3:59PM today.
She says:
It was conducted by an independent professional investigation firm. The independent review conducted by outside counsel on behalf of the Pacific Institute has supported what Dr. Gleick stated publicly and has further confirmed and the Pacific Institute is satisfied that none of its staff knew of or was involved in any way. It will not be released because it is a confidential personnel matter.
So, there is no way to confirm the investigation even took place. Since they even refuse to name the firm, it could be entirely made up for all we know.
UPDATE3: 6PM PST Two queries to Pacific Institute Communications Director Nancy Ross sent after her 3:59PM PST response regarding the disposition of the issue of the fake document have gone unanswered. The second query advised her that I had an approaching deadline, and that was related to the radio interview I gave from 5:20 to 5:30PM on the nationally syndicated Lars Larson show regarding the Pacific Institute. The nation knows the story now. Since then, according to comments left here, others have spoken with her, so I know she wasn’t out of the office.
Meanwhile I seem to have scooped everyone with this story, including the Guardian which still has nothing up on it as of this writing. I also scooped Climate Progress’ Joe Romm, who posted a “breaking news” item almost two hours after mine, but of course can’t bring himself to point to my website as the source for breaking the story. “Integrity” all around with these clowns it seems.
Romm, like the Pacific Institute, doesn’t want to talk about the fake document, which was demonstrated by an independent investigation that WAS revealed with full disclosure to have likely been authored by Peter Gleick.
Some advice to the board of the Pacific Institute: This question is not going away, and will be asked at any meeting where Dr. Gleick appears or submits an opinion. You really need to deal with the issue, because all you’ve done so far is draw suspicion on yourselves.
BTW it bears repeating that Heartland has scored a prize plum in all of this, not only are their donations up, but the have secured Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker as the featured keynote speaker for their annual dinner in August.
Readers may recall that Dr. Peter Gleick turned down this same invitation as keynote speaker on the same day he declined the offer then posed as a Heartland board member to obtain board documents under false pretenses.
I hope somebody hands Governor Walker some bottled water to hold during that address, it would be great symbolism since Gleick had not the courage to fill that spot.
UPDATE4: Apparently feeling the blowback from the lack of transparency, Pacific Institute Communications Director Nancy Ross sent me an email this morning stating:
The investigator is Independent Employment Counsel, LLP.
I am waiting for confirmation that they performed the review from one of the two partners at the firm. http://www.iecounsel.com/ If I get credible confirmation, I’ll edit the headline to fit the facts as they are known.
The guy should have been fired, posing as a board member of another company to access secret information is not something that one just “apologises” for and all is forgiven. Clearly the Pacific Institute is as bad as Gleick.
To take a page from MSM reporting of the Wisconsin recall election:
Breaking news: Gleick narrowly survives independent investigation; could be indicted any day now …
Ha, Anthony, I read your suggestion for the Governor to have a bottled water in his hand. Knowing the hoax of some bottled waters, I recalled the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, during the torch relay. Quoting from http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/display/category/student_pranks/
“Cross-country champion Harry Dillon was scheduled to bear the flame into Sydney, where he would present it to the mayor, Pat Hills. After making a short speech, Hills would pass the flame along to another runner, Bert Button.
Thirty-thousand people lined the streets of Sydney waiting for Dillon to arrive. Reporters stood ready with their cameras to record the historic occasion. Finally the runner appeared, bearing the flame aloft, and everyone began cheering. As the crowd pressed forward a police escort surrounded the runner in order to keep order.
With this escort around him, the runner made his way through the streets all the way to the Sydney Town Hall. He bounded up the steps and handed the torch to the waiting mayor who graciously accepted it and turned to begin his prepared speech.
Then someone whispered in the mayor’s ear, “That’s not the torch.” Suddenly the mayor realized what he was holding. Held proudly in his hand was not the majestic Olympic flame. Instead he was gripping a wooden chair leg topped by a plum pudding can inside of which a pair of kerosene-soaked underwear was burning with a greasy flame. The mayor looked around for the runner, but the man had already disappeared, melting away into the surrounding crowd. (The handle was pained in silver paint, still wet, adding to the discomfort. Seen on national TV.)
Maybe the URL above is a candidate repository for the Gleick story?
The “investigation” commissioned by the board of directors was likely focused on the degree to which the Pacific Institute, and more importantly its board members, might be criminally or civilly liable. The investigation had nothing to do with right and wrong. D&O (director and officer) liability insurance is expensive and has caps on liability. If the board could be actually liable (or even end up looking culpable) for serious charges they would all be heading for the exits.
We really do need an ice age…………….
If the investigation “cleared” him, why was it important to note that none of the institute staff had anything to do with it?
This independent investigation has further confirmed and the Pacific Institute is satisfied that none of its staff knew of or was involved in any way.
Apparently, the Pathetic Institute mean “staff” in the sense of “a group of officers appointed to assist a civil executive or commanding officer”; in which case, the investigation didn’t look into Gleick’s actions, just those of the little people.
Hopefully Heartland will file suit, then subpoena the Pacific Institute for all documents regarding the “investigation.” The usual battery of FOIA objections commonly used to withhold documents wouldn’t apply in civil discovery. There’s no chance the documents could be withheld then.
And if Heartland was willing to spend a few more bucks, they could take the depositions of the “investigators.” That would make fascinating reading.
By chance an undated photocopy of the investigation report has come into my hands. I’ll be forwarding it to WUWT in a plain brown envelope.
By chance an undated photocopy of the investigation report has come into my hands. I’ll be forwarding it to WUWT in a plain brown envelope. Please don’t mention my name, and destroy the envelope.
It is a sign of the changing times.
It is a coup to have Governor Walker address the Heartland Annual Dinner…. The Pacific Institute should bear in mind that both the tide of politics and science is turning against them… If they and people like them, continue to be the aggressors in a propaganda war against scientific principles and common decency. If they continue to use pseudo science and outright chicanery to promote detrimental political agendas, they in the future, may find themselves bought to account in an atmosphere totally different to the one that they currently enjoy.
I don’t say this with any relish or childish triumphalism. The truth is, despite the conservative, decent people that we be, we have little influence ultimately over those who crave power and attain it. Just as we have no real power now, except to appeal to those with decency themselves…. and it is heartening to see that Governor Walker sides with the decent and courteous.
I would suggest that the Pacific Institute set to rights their commitment to scientific rigour and debate. Perhaps Peter Gleick should ask for an invitation to attend, to apologize and to debate…. Just for starters.
“…his actions…run counter to the Institute’s policies and standard of ethics over its 25-year history.”
Gleick founded PI — his ethics *are* PI’s ethics, and they’re obviously situational.
It’s official — warmie “independent investigation” is now synonymous with warmie “peer review.”
Gleick got a double secret exoneration.
“The Task Force on Scientific Ethics for the well-respected American Geophysical Union has quietly expunged the name of committee chairman Peter H. Gleick from its website — following Gleick’s admission that he used a false identity to obtain confidential documents from The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank.”
We’re watching.
Pacific admits he violated their ethics polices. Gleick CONFESSED he committed a crime and breached every possible ethical standard in existence.
But everything is OK because he “apologized”…. to THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS!
I too am glad they have chosen this route. They have shown the nation and the world that ethics are no longer of ANY importance to them – that even eggregious violation and confessed unlawful acts are just fine as long as you apologize to your Board of Directors.
Ask Best Buy founder Dick Schulze how he feels about that. He failed to report alleged wrongdoing (later found unjustified) by the then CEO – taking the complaint direct to the CEO instead of to the Board. Despite the Boards finding there was NO misuse of company property etc they removed Schulze as Chairman, and he will also leave Board at end of current term.
The Pacific Institute is simply full of equestrian excrement – right up to their disgusting little eyeballs.
Here is their Board of Directors:
Board of Directors
Peter Boyer, Trustee of The Ayrshire Foundation, member of the National Advisory Board of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Chair for Rocky Mountain Institute National Solutions Council.
Gigi Coe, former Director of Strategic Planning at the California Public Utilities Commission and former Assistant Executive Director, California Energy Commission.
Joan M. Diamond, Chairperson, Chief Operating Officer/Sr. Scenarist at The Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability. Consults for policy and research organizations undergoing major change.
Dr. Anne H. Ehrlich, Senior Research Associate, Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University.
Dr. Eric Gimon, postdoctoral researcher in particle physics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Peter H. Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security.
Dr. Corey Goodman, Managing Director and co-founder of venBio LLC; Adjunct Professor at UCSF; Chairman of the Board of Second Genome, Oligasis, and Ossianix; member of the Board of NeuroTherapeutics and Mirna; elected member of the National Academy of Sciences; and member of the California Council on Science and Technology.
Margaret Gordon, Second Vice-President of the Board of Port of Oakland Commissioners and a founding member of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project.
Dr. Malo André Hutson, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Department of City and Regional Planning, specializing in community and economic development, regional planning, and urban health.
Olivier J. Marie, business strategist, former Partner at Accenture and Booz Allen & Hamilton, Energy Analyst. Works with MBA students from the Haas School of Business New Sector Alliance helping non-profit organizations.
Richard Morrison, former Senior Vice President and Director of Environmental Policies & Programs, Bank of America.
Dr. Robert Stephens, founder and former President of the Multi-State Working Group on Environmental Performance (MSWG). Retired in 2004 as the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management and Sustainability at the California Environmental Protection Agency, he is currently the Chair of the International Committee of MSWG and serves as Secretariat to the United Nations Environmental Program, Best Practices Network for Sustainable Development.
Professor Michael J. Watts, Professor, Geography Department at the University of California, Berkeley where he specializes in Third World development, forestry issues, and world geography.
And here is their “Funders List” …
http://www.pacinst.org/about_us/financial_information/funders_2011.pdf
I DO NOT ADVOCATE nasty responses to either Board of Directors or their funders. That said well expressed, honest, civil comments would be well appropriate in my opinion.
Anthony/Mods feel free to remove any of this if you feel appropriate, but it is direct from their website.
I knew this would happen, you see to the warmists Glieck is a hero. He will have even more power now. Heartland should have prosecuted him.
It’s funny, but when I “connect the dots”, I get that the “independent investigator” was none other than Suzanne Goldenberg herself !?! It would explain everything.
They’ve taken more rope… with which to hang themselves.
“Climate Science Watch”, a program of the “Government Accountability Project” according to Wiki, which receives funding from Soros’ Open Society Institute, supposedly promoting corporate
accountability by protecting whistleblowers – “welcomes” Gleick’s reinstatement:
http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2012/06/06/pacific-institute-reinstates-peter-gleick-after-heartland-institute-incident/
For some odd reason I get this feeling that they only want to hold accountable those that do not drive around only making left hand turns.
We are not sure who wrote the report exonerating Glieck, but the writing style looks a lot like the forgeries.
Can we now refer to her as Suzanne ‘Nostradamus’ Goldenberg?
That Gleick was reinstated was pretty much a given. No matter the extent of the lie, the data corruption or the crime all are justifiable, understandable and accepted within the alarmist cabal.
What I want to know is will one of these people be brought before a judge and jury. This pussy-footing around has been going on too long. I want to see someone’s head on a pike!
George E. Smith; says:
June 6, 2012 at 5:08 pm
I thought he confessed to his crimes; maybe he’s catholic, and that’s all it takes for salvation.
————
Were Gleick Catholic he’d have to make amends, where doing so would not further harm the aggrieved party, he’d have to resolve not to repeat the error and he’d have to do penance, among other things, for the “serious lapse in judgement” to be forgiven.
It appears the Passivic Institute is far more lenient.