Cuccinelli back at it again on climate-change issue
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced today that his office has reissued a civil investigative demand to the University of Virginia related to research conducted by former UVa. professor Michael Mann into global climate change.
The new CID has been drafted to comply with a judge’s ruling that had set aside an earlier CID attempt by Cuccinelli.
“While the CID was drafted to comply with the judge’s ruling, we do not believe that the ruling was correct in all of its particulars. Accordingly, we have noted that we will appeal the ruling while continuing our ongoing investigation,” Cuccinelli said in a statement.
The attorney general’s office is investigating whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant prosecuting Mann under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act. If Mann knowingly used research containing manipulated or deceitful data to obtain taxpayer-funded research grants, he could be liable under FATA, according to Cuccinelli.
The first civil investigative demand made of UVa. by Cuccinelli was related to five research grants received by Mann in the 1999-2005 time frame. Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross ruled in August that the AG’s office failed to show sufficient “reason to believe” that the university possesses documents related to the grants and to Mann’s research suggesting that any fraud had occurred.
“It is not clear what he did was misleading, false or fraudulent in obtaining funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Peatross wrote.
Peatross also noted in his opinion that Cuccinelli would have to limit the scope of any future civil investigative demand to the one research grant of the five being looked at by the attorney general that was obtained from state taxpayer funds. The other four grants were made from federal funding sources.
There could be a further limitation to the investigation of the one state grant. The law giving Cuccinelli the power to investigate Mann was signed into law in 2003, meaning any disbursements of grant funds before that date would not be subject to civil or criminal investigative review.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
WhenVirginiaWasBlue.com: Dems-Virginia taxpayers ‘real victims’ of Cuccinelli activism
Democratic Party of Virginia chair Dick Cranwell spoke out on Tuesday on the ruling by an Albemarle County judge on a request for information made by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli related to climate-change research by a former University of Virginia professor.
“I was glad to see this ideological crusade by Mr. Cuccinelli dismissed by Judge Peatross, but the real victims are Virginia’s tax payers,” Cranwell said in a news release issued by the Democratic Party of Virginia. “The attorney general is using his taxpayer-funded office as his own personal piggy bank, at a time when Virginians need help. These ideological crusades do nothing to protect Virginians from predatory lending. They do nothing to protect consumers from unsafe products or fraudulent services. In short they do nothing but advance the attorney general’s reputation as an extremist who cares more about his ideology than he does about Virginia. Taxpayers beware, Mr. Cuccinelli is wasting your money.”
Democratic Party of Virginia chair Dick Cranwell spoke out on Tuesday on the ruling by an Albemarle County judge on a request for information made by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli related to climate-change research by a former University of Virginia professor.
“I was glad to see this ideological crusade by Mr. Cuccinelli dismissed by Judge Peatross, but the real victims are Virginia’s tax payers,” Cranwell said in a news release issued by the Democratic Party of Virginia. “The attorney general is using his taxpayer-funded office as his own personal piggy bank, at a time when Virginians need help. These ideological crusades do nothing to protect Virginians from predatory lending. They do nothing to protect consumers from unsafe products or fraudulent services. In short they do nothing but advance the attorney general’s reputation as an extremist who cares more about his ideology than he does about Virginia. Taxpayers beware, Mr. Cuccinelli is wasting your money.”
Link to news brief on WhenVirginiaWasBlue.com.
Judge blocks Cuccinelli climate-change investigation
An Albemarle County judge has blocked Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s first effort to require the University of Virginia to turn over documents related to a former professor’s research on climate change.
The ruling was handed down on Monday, and Cuccinelli’s office responded with a comment attributed to the Republican promising that he will tailor a second civil investigative demand to the university in the matter that conforms to the ruling on the matter involving research conducted by former UVa. professor Michael Mann.
The first civil investigative demand made of UVa. by Cuccinelli was related to five research grants received by Mann in the 1999-2005 time frame. Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross ruled that the AG’s office failed to show sufficient “reason to believe” that the university possesses documents related to the grants and to Mann’s research suggesting that any fraud had occurred.
“It is not clear what he did was misleading, false or fraudulent in obtaining funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Peatross wrote.
Peatross also noted in his opinion that Cuccinelli would have to limit the scope of any future civil investigative demand to the one research grant of the five being looked at by the attorney general that was obtained from state taxpayer funds. The other four grants were made from federal funding sources.
There could be a further limitation to the investigation of the one state grant. The law giving Cuccinelli the power to investigate Mann was signed into law in 2003, meaning any disbursements of grant funds before that date would not be subject to civil or criminal investigative review.
The news release from the Cuccinelli office claimed that the ruling agreed with the office on “several key legal points,” spelling out two, regarding whether or not UVa. is a proper subject for a civil investigative demand (it is, according to Peatross) and whether the attorney general may investigate grants made with Commonwealth of Virginia funds (according to the judge, he can).
Those would seem to be hollow victories, though the release quotes Cuccinelli saying his office will “fully examine the decision and all of the available options before deciding whether or not to also appeal aspects of the ruling.”
Mann also issued a statement on the matter, calling today’s ruling “a victory not just for me and the university, but for all scientists who live in fear that they may be subject to a politically-motivated witch hunt when their research findings prove inconvenient to powerful vested interests.”
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
