Heartland Institute

Climate Change Scientist Used G-Mail Account To Trick Anti-Climate Science Think Tank

Ryan J. Reilly | February 24, 2012, 3:28PM

Emails released by the Heartland Institute this week show that scientist Peter Gleick apparently created a G-mail account under the name of an existing board member to trick the group, which casts doubt on the science of man-made climate change, into sending him internal documents that he later sent to the press.

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Climate Change

National Science Foundation Clears 'Climate-Gate' Scientist Of Any Misconduct

Jillian Rayfield | August 24, 2011, 6:15AM

Climatologist Michael Mann

The National Science Foundation has cleared climatologist and Penn State professor Michael Mann of any misconduct in the "Climate-Gate" controversy, which became a lightning rod for climate change skeptics in 2009.

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Fox News

Fox News Bureau Chief Told Staff To Cast Doubt On Climate Change

Ryan J. Reilly | December 15, 2010, 9:30AM

Fox News correspondent Wendell Goler and Fox vice president Bill Sammon

Fox News D.C. Bureau Chief Bill Sammon e-mailed staffers last December to instruct them not to assert that the "planet has warmed (or cooled)" without "IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question."

Sammon's e-mail, obtained by Media Matters, came less than 15 minutes after Fox correspondent Wendell Goler reported on-air that the World Meteorological Organization at the U.N. said 2000-2009 was "on track to be the warmest [decade] on record."

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Climate-Gate

'Plagiarized' GOP-Commissioned Climate Change Report Laid Groundwork For Climate-Gate

Rachel Slajda | November 29, 2010, 8:36AM

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

In 2005, the then-chairman of the House Energy Committee, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), a climate change skeptic, commissioned a report that would challenge the data in two major climate change papers, including the popular "hockey stick" theory. In 2006, the Barton-commissioned report was released and heralded by climate change skeptics the country over, laying the groundwork for last year's "Climate-Gate" controversies.

Last week, experts who reviewed the report for USA Today determined that the report was largely plagiarized.

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Joe Barton

Congressional Report Denying Climate Change Was Likely Plagiarized

Rachel Slajda | November 22, 2010, 6:30PM

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

Experts hired by USA Today to analyze a 2006 Congressional report that questioned global warming data say the report appears to have been plagiarized heavily from textbooks and Wikipedia.

The report was requested, and then often quoted, by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) when he was chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It was written by Edward Wegman, a statistician with George Mason University. The school is now conducting its own investigation into whether Wegman plagiarized the report, which calls into question numbers used by climate scientists.

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Darrell Issa

Darrell Issa's Subpoena Gameplan For 2011: Investigate ACORN, Climate-Gate And The U.S. Postal Service

Ryan J. Reilly | September 28, 2010, 10:01AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

After ACORN's demise, you might have thought that if if the GOP takes the House and Rep. Darrell Issa becomes the new chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the California Republican would have better things to worry about. You'd be wrong.

Last week, Issa issued a blueprint for his agenda titled "A Constitutional Obligation: Congressional Oversight of the Executive Branch." Among the issues he chastised the Democratic leadership for not addressing: the fraud he says was committed by the community organizing group ACORN.

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Ken Cuccinelli

Judge Rejects Cuccinelli's Subpoena Of UVA 'Climate-Gate' Docs

Jillian Rayfield | August 30, 2010, 2:58PM

VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

A judge in Virginia has set aside Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's subpoena of University of Virgina documents relating to research by Michael Mann, a former professor who was involved in the "Climate-Gate" controversy last year.

Cuccinelli, a climate change skeptic, said he was investigating whether Mann had committed fraud when obtaining government funds for research into human-caused climate change, but Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. ruled that "it is not clear what [Mann] did was misleading, false or fraudulent in obtaining funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia."

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Ken Cuccinelli

UVA Fighting Cuccinelli's Climate-Gate Subpoena -- Prez: Demand 'Sent A Chill' Through Academia

Zachary Roth | May 28, 2010, 11:45AM

VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

The University of Virginia will fight a demand from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that it hand over documents relating to the work of a former UVA climate scientist.

In a court filing, the university argued that Cuccinelli's subpoena for the records of government-funded work conducted by climate scientist Michael Mann goes beyond the AG's legal authority, and threatens academic freedom.

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Ken Cuccinelli

Cuccinelli: Critics Of Climate-Science Probe 'Need Not Worry'

Zachary Roth | May 19, 2010, 6:20PM

VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

Ken Cuccinelli is trying to allay intense concerns from Virginia's scientific and academic communities about his investigation of a former University of Virginia climate scientist.

"The same legal standards for fraud apply to the academic setting that apply elsewhere," the attorney general told a crowd on Tuesday at a fundraiser for -- what else? -- an abstinence-only education group, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "The same rule of law, the same objective fact-finding process will take place."

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Ken Cuccinelli

Eight Hundred Scientists And Profs To Cuccinelli: Drop Climate-Science Probe

Zachary Roth | May 18, 2010, 1:33PM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

Eight hundred scientists and professors have signed a letter to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, urging him to call off his investigation of a former University of Virginia climate scientist.

"The request is unfounded and could undermine the effectiveness of not only climate scientists but also thousands of other Virginia researchers," says the letter, which was organized by the environmental group the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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Ken Cuccinelli

UVA Suggests It May Not Comply With Cuccinelli Climate-Gate 'Witch Hunt'

Zachary Roth | May 11, 2010, 11:31AM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

The wrangling over Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's investigation of a climate scientist continues...

After indicating last week that it would comply with a subpoena sent by the AG, demanding documents relating to the work of former University of Virginia climate scientist Michael Mann, the university is now equivocating. "Our intention is to comply but we are looking at some options," a UVA spokeswoman told the Washington Post yesterday.

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Bob McDonnell

McDonnell Mum On Cuccinelli's Climate Science 'Witch Hunt'

Zachary Roth | May 6, 2010, 2:12PM

Virginia Att. Gov. Ken Cuccinelli and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell

Since news broke that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is conducting a fraud investigation into the work of a former UVA climate scientist who was caught up in the "Climate-Gate" controversy, reactions have been pouring in -- with even some climate skeptics slamming the probe as a threat to academic freedom.

But one interested observer has been noticeably mum: Governor Bob McDonnell.

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Ken Cuccinelli

Cuccinelli Probe Of Climate Scientist Blasted As 'Witch Hunt'

Zachary Roth | May 4, 2010, 10:23AM

Climate scientist Michael Mann and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

An investigation by Ken Cuccinelli of a climate scientist who was caught up in last year's "Climate-Gate" flap is being likened to a "witch hunt" -- even by global warming skeptics.

As we reported yesterday, the conservative Virginia attorney general last month demanded that the University of Virginia hand over a slew of documents relating to the grant-funded research of Michael Mann, a climate scientist who worked at UVA from 1999 to 2005. Among the materials requested by May 27 were email correspondence with a long list of other climate scientists, including several who, like Mann, were prominent figures in Climate-Gate. You can see Cuccinelli's "Civil Investigative Demand," first obtained by the The Hook, a Charlottesville newspaper, here.

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Ken Cuccinelli

Cuccinelli Targets 'Climate-Gate' Scientist

Zachary Roth | May 3, 2010, 12:05PM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the Virginia state seal

Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia's ambitious and deeply conservative attorney general, has launched two new fronts in his right-wing crusade: one absurd, the other deeply troubling.

Absurdity first: Cuccinelli recently handed out to his staff lapel pins with a redesigned version of the state seal, which shows the Roman goddess Virtus, or virtue, the Virginian-Pilot reported over the weekend. In the usual version of the seal, Virtus's left breast is exposed. In Cuccinelli's version, it's covered up.

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Rick Perry

If At First You Don't Secede ... Sue The EPA: Texas Guv Uses Climate-Gate Emails To Take On Feds

Zachary Roth | February 18, 2010, 11:41AM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is suing the Environmental Protection Agency in a bid to stop it from regulating global warming pollution. The centerpiece of his argument? Those leaked "Climate-Gate" emails.

Last year, the governor -- who faces a contested GOP primary race, which includes a Tea-Party-backed candidate who has lately caught fire -- raised the threat of seceding from the union. And on Tuesday, he opened a new front in his quest to tout his conservative bona fides.

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