Kenneth Cuccinelli, Virginia Attorney General, Can't Subpoena Climate Scientist's Emails, Court Says

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Supreme Court says the state's attorney general does not have the authority to subpoena emails from a global warming researcher.

The court ruled Friday that Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, a climate change skeptic, can't have the emails. Cuccinelli is investigating whether researcher Michael Mann defrauded taxpayers by using manipulated data to obtain government grants.

Mann used to work at the University of Virginia and now works at Penn State. He has been a target of global warming skeptics for his work that shows the world's temperatures have risen since the early 1900s.

Other investigations, including one by the National Science Foundation, have found no wrongdoing by Mann.

Cuccinelli is a Republican who also has waged a high-profile battle against the Obama administration's health care overhaul.

Comments

[PaulBardinas]

04:36 PM on 03/06/2012

Just one more piece of evidence that the Republicans have gone mad. Transvaginal probes, climate scientist inquisitions, what's next public stoning of adulterers or perhaps a good witch burning? It seems the Republican party belongs in the 13th century.

[MikeWebster]

08:55 PM on 03/05/2012

He should be prosecuted for using his Government position to run a partisan political campaign of harassment against Mann.

[HoosierInMaryland]

06:08 AM on 03/05/2012

Awww, did KKKookinelli get his hand slapped by a mean ol' judge?

Do it again, and again, and again ....

[OzGirl]

03:51 PM on 03/04/2012

I live in Va --- and am disgusted by the money this man is wasting on this witch-hunt, while the public schools are left withering on the vine. The Cooch has already announced his intention to run for Governor in 2013 --- my work at the Democratic campaign office is NEVER done.

[shirley thomas]

06:53 AM on 03/05/2012

f&f thank goodness, i was beginning to think that there were no sane folks left in va.

[bcmom]

01:24 PM on 03/04/2012

The GOP bubble is going to kill us all.

[B Wood]

01:05 PM on 03/04/2012

Meanwhile the emails of these upstanding academics who have or still work for public universities in Virginia are not being requested:

Pat Michaels - UVa and George Mason U (aka Koch)
Freddy Singer - UVa and Koch U
Edward Wegman - Koch U

Koch U is very conveniently located near Washington DC. The school therefore receives many generous donations from organizations who are seeking political favors.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/George_Mason_University
http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=37

[Smedley99]

12:38 PM on 03/04/2012

To all climate change doubters, young earthers, and others....it's all about the math. See when scientists do experiments and test their hypotheses they use math. And math is very funny...it has no biases, it does not lie, it has no hidden agenda...it's just math. So before you waste our time with doubts about accepted scientific theories...do the math!!

[StephenBP]

10:57 AM on 03/04/2012

Cuccinelli's father has been a lobbyist for foreign natural gas interests.

Reputable scientists and reputable scientific organizations have been saying for some time now that the earth is rapidly warming, that this warming is partly caused by human burning of fossil fuel, and that we need to start replacing fossil fuel.

Reputable scientists and reputable scientific organizations have been seriously slandered time and again by the forces of the fossil fuel industry, and they are using tobacco industry tactics of creating doubt where there should be no doubt.

The fossil fuel supporters will probably proclaim that the climate is not changing until they draw their last breath, as they see no benefit from considering that they may be seriously wrong; because as soon as they do concede that they may be wrong, they will then have to consider the consequences of being liable for the huge amount death and damage they are causing to people around the world.

[shirley thomas]

06:54 AM on 03/05/2012

what do u expect from the crowd who believes and teaches that the earth is only 6000 years old.

[StephenBP]

07:51 AM on 03/05/2012

yeah, inquisitions is what you expect from them, isn't it....

[ThinkCreeps]

08:49 AM on 03/04/2012

Elections have consequences folks - VA is a useful warning for you in November.

[Barbara DeZan]

12:53 AM on 03/04/2012

Anybody read or study the Enlightenment?

Anybody wonder if the ancestors of these freaking GOPers have been in underground hideouts or caves for the past several hundreds of years.

[jimboy71]

06:38 PM on 03/04/2012

They stop at the old testament in order not to be accused of being liberal.

[shirley thomas]

06:54 AM on 03/05/2012

f&f

[ARNOST]

10:18 PM on 03/03/2012

It makes you wonder Why ? Maybe cause its all Lies ! but those emails will be exposed anyway .

[chrisd3]

09:14 AM on 03/04/2012

Yes, lies that have been replicated over and over and over by scientists all over the world using all kinds of data.

Sometime I wonder if you "skeptics" ever actually think about what you're saying.

[1967Tbolt]

09:30 AM on 03/04/2012

They just take the money and make false accusations.

[ARNOST]

11:50 AM on 03/04/2012

Global warming is a scam to add carbon tax to the people of the world . Its a sick joke that is in the minds of sick people that never know when enough greed is enough . Lies Lies Lies .

[shirley thomas]

06:55 AM on 03/05/2012

wow that super thick tin foil hat is working just fine making u impervious to facts. do u believe that the earth is only 6000 anf that men walked with dinosaurs

[ARNOST]

08:41 AM on 03/05/2012

Look how the Vipers get angry when the Rightous Speak about there Lies.

[gjwarnock]

08:55 PM on 03/03/2012

I swear,,, What is with these wing-nuts?
Why is climate change so hard to believe?,, (Money)
I am sure he doesn't even know what Pi R Squared does, so what would the scientists e-mail do for him?
Why do they hate this world,,, and Obama,,, sooo much?
Has reason and common sense totally escaped them?
This island Earth is a living, breathing, biological entity that man is strangling!
And it is the only one we have, it will be difficult to pack up and move when it will no longer support us!
I suppose I should be grateful I will no longer be alive to see it's decimation,
I just hope the children of these "Madmen" will see through their lies and begin
a new revolution to set things right!
Thank You for allowing me to "Vent"!

[palindrom]

09:24 AM on 03/04/2012

"Why is climate change so hard to believe?"

My take is that it's because many of these folks have an extreme free-market/libertarian ideology.

The "invisible hand'" of the marketplace does not push back when you pollute the atmosphere, so solving this problem requires collective government actions. That is anathema to them. Therefore, they cling to any scrap of a factoid that supposedly shows global warming isn't happening -- because if it is, their entire philosophy is wrong. And that's just too much of a shift for them to bear.,

That, and money.

[nirek]

10:42 AM on 03/04/2012

Thanks for venting so I don't have to.
F&F

[gjwarnock]

10:49 AM on 03/04/2012

:>) TY, U2

[Chudye]

08:02 PM on 03/03/2012

Cuccinelli is the one who needs to be investigated for defrauding those who voted for him. He apparently isn't smart enough to understand science or how to properly run his office.

[ubrew12]

02:20 AM on 03/04/2012

I'll take a climate scientists opinion on how corrupt the Attorney General is,
before I'll take an Attorney General's opinion on how corrupt a climate scientist is.

One is a scientist studying hard facts. The other is a lawyer. Nuff said.

[palindrom]

09:25 AM on 03/04/2012

Well, there are honest lawyers, some of whom are in my family.

But the profession as a whole has a lot to answer for.

[Chudye]

02:27 PM on 03/04/2012

exactly!

[Gayle Boesky]

07:17 PM on 03/03/2012

Cucchinelli's looking to ride this issue to higher office. If he hasn't already done so,he hopes to attract the attention and support of folks like the Kochs who can provide all the funding he needs. He's very much like Walker in Wisconsin. Two pretend crusaders with ulterior motives.

[Elizabeth Fulton]

06:42 PM on 03/03/2012

Any one who can not see the changes in our worlds weather patterns is blind , deaf, and dumb. Next comes mass migrations of cold or hot , hungry people. It's not politics, it's real life science. I think assigning blame is just a tactic, to keep us un-aware of real life.

[Barbara DeZan]

12:55 AM on 03/04/2012

You'd think one or two of them might have read a book or two about our earths history.....and the billions of years of changes we have undergone...

Oh, wait.....silly me....I forgot.

The earth is only a couple thousand years old.

[Dan Jack]

05:00 PM on 03/04/2012

And!!! Get this, (don't tell anybody) but it is still flat.