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VA AG Cuccinelli to invoke Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act over Climategate?

Elections have consequences for the other guy, too.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  May 5th, 2010 at 10:27 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Could be, could be:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is invoking a state anti-fraud law to demand the University of Virginia turn over years worth of documents related to climate scientist Michael Mann, targeting about $500,000 in grants that funded Mann’s studies.

Cuccinelli, a Republican who is separately suing the federal government over regulation of carbon emissions, issued the school a civil subpoena late last month probing “possible violations” of the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act by the former U.Va. professor. Mann, now a professor at Penn State, is famous for creating the controversial “hockey stick” graph charting a spike in global temperatures.

(Via AoSHQ Headlines) Basically, the Commonwealth of Virginia can investigate this because Mann took state money to do his research; and the Commonwealth of Virginia will investigate this because Virginian voters put both Cuccinelli and his boss (and fellow-Republican) Bob McDonnell into office last year.  Which means that there are a lot of Democrats huffing right now about over-liberal interpretation of laws (if you’ll pardon the pun).

To which I reply: Karma.  It’s what’s for dinner*.

Moe Lane

*Another way of putting it: they can call AG Cuccinelli whatever they like, just as long as they also cough up the materials required as per the subpoena.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

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  • dlerley

    I,m from Virginia. This guy will do what he says. He doesn’t bend with the wind like the rest of these traditional Republicans. He will fight. GBU KC

  • RINKER

    He needs to run against Webb.

  • johnt

    on the way. Screeching from the NY Times and hysteria of tidal wave proportions from the formerly known Reality Based Community to inundate America. “Threat from right” to be expected theme. At this very moment Katie Couric has given up trying to squeeze into last year’s dress and is practicing furrowing her brows & sounding alarmed.
    Al Gore nowhere to be found. Has anybody checked with his Swiss banks?

  • txgho1911

    All States should look for any pieces of this paper/money trail that belongs to them.
    Old university sovereign fund managers should check their exposures also.

  • Scope

    and also being from Virginia, I can tell you Cuccinelli actually had more support from many in the state than even McDonnell. Lt. Governor Bolling, R, has been successful in bringing new industry into the state. One new company is opening in one of the highest unemployment areas in the state.

    Virginia truly hit the trifecta with McDonnell, Bolling and Cuccinelli. Or, as they call themselves- McBoilingelli. They will show some other states how to do things right, and, Cuccinelli will tell the federal government they are not allowed to Tread On Us.

  • Doc Holliday

    I just finished watching the gun grabber Bloomberg pushing a Senate bill to create a federal gun registry. Bloomy also want’s to infringe on state’s rights and the Constitution by ending all private property sales if that property fires bullets. Bloomy has a (*&^- on for Virginia, as seen here.

    http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/bloomberg-finances-gun-control-ad-in-virginia-race/

    and here

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051001377.html

    This carpetbagger has to be stopped and Ken is the man to stop him.

  • The_Gadfly

    At the moment, both of these items make me sad.

    Penn State wasn’t a bad place to be when I was there. The leftists doing the anti-apartheid sit-ins were mostly shunned by the student populace who had better things to do. Unfortunately, the faculty aren’t so sensible. No way Mann should have been cleared the way he was by the inquiry.

  • Scope

    is also listed as the highest contributors to Tommy Perriello’s campaigns. In exchange he got them billions in stimulus money. One of the awards was to research why African Americans don’t get total knee replacement surgery as much as whites. No lie.

  • JadedByPolitics

    I thank God every time I hear this name that he is my state AG and that he is not taking the LIES of the global warming religionistas as fact but is taking them for what they are LIES and going after the LIARS!

  • uselogic

    Algore is hunkering down in his new $9M Cali oceanview estate, eatin’ Cheetos. When reached for comment, he replied “I got mine!”

  • E Pluribus Unum

    If there is a sudden large uptick in the amount of shredded material, they should go in there and start arresting people — secretaries, professors, administrative clerks, office managers, whatever — until somebody fesses up to obstruction or names names.

  • cabanon

    His data, his email correspondence, all of it? And who is going to review it all? This is going to cost the tax payers loads more money.

  • http://UnitedConservativesofVirginia Cargosquid

    Something worth my tax money! Go get Cooch!

  • http://UnitedConservativesofVirginia Cargosquid

    Darn “enter” key…..

  • http://teapartyconstitutionalists.ning.com/ russellpdavis

    who knows his job and his duty. And he does it. These days this is an awesome sight. He wears honor well and easily. Given examples like our AG perhaps honor can become an ordinary miracle.

  • Scope

    The fact that you bring up the cost to taxpayers because of Cuccinelli’s lawsuit against the EPA endangerment finding, fits exactly in with the VA Democrats that are having heart attacks because of having to live with responsible effective Republican leadership in the state. I’m surprised that you have not also questioned the cost of Cuccinelli’s federal lawsuit against Obamacare. There are 20 states filing lawsuits because of Obamacare, and, 14 states filing lawsuits because of the EPA ruling.

    Looking back at the comments you have made in your one month here, you have posted in favor of DC voting rights and representation, you made a big deal of the “supposed” IRS and FBI investigation against Rubio, and, you have questioned the necropsy studies Vladmir posted about. What you have not done, at all, is to post anything about what/who you do support. I suspect soon enough you will expose yourself for the troll I believe you are. Your questions do not seem to be for educational purposes, but rather to inject doubt.

  • blooch

    when it starts flowing the other way. 100 more lawsuits like this, and we might yet make an honest man out of muggedbyrealism.

    I’m with Scope. You sound like a concern troll.

  • Leopard1996

    Of people like John Yoo, or the guy from one of the Kansas Universities that tried to make sure that the Arizona immigration bill fell under constitutional standards. Hypocrisy-it’s what is for dinner when it comes to liberals.

  • cabanon

    I’m not talking about the EPA lawsuit nor the Obamacare lawsuit. I’m talking about the anti-fraud lawsuit against the University of Virgina as that is the topic of the post.

  • blooch

    It’s all related. Like any good AG, Cuccinelli is building a case…connecting the dots, so to speak.

    “In February, Mr. Cuccinelli filed a motion with the EPA, asking the agency to reopen its hearings to consider new climate change data in light of the recent Climate-gate scandal, since the scandal broke after the agency closed its hearings on ?greenhouse gas? regulation in August 2009.

    Earlier this month, the EPA seemed to indicate that it does not intend to reopen hearings when it announced its intention to issue new emissions standards on cars and light duty trucks based on the same discredited data. As a result, the attorney general is now asking the court to compel the EPA to reopen hearings to allow for the full development of an accurate record.

    In the wake of the Climate-gate scandal, where emails were leaked from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia in Great Britain, several of the world?s prominent climatologists admitted that they manipulated data to overstate the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on the environment. Based on the EPA?s initial hearings and on the faulty global warming data on which it relied, the agency concluded that carbon dioxide and other ?greenhouse gases? are dangerous pollutants. The endangerment finding allows the EPA to strictly regulate carbon dioxide and these other gases. ”

    http://www.roanokefreepress.com/?p=8370

  • sparkyva

    Good observations Scope. The cost of the lawsuit must be weighted against the deterrent effect such a lawsuit will have of future fraud. The same must be said of the states lawsuits against federal encroachment on our liberties. The cost of war is always initially higher then the cost of surrender.

    On a similar subject, I wonder if it is too early yet to schedule a hearing on the government’s slow response to the oil spill. Perhaps it can be scheduled to the second week in January, right after the new congress is sworn in…

    Appointing cronies instead of competent people should not go unpunished. I predict that the O will have to reorganize his staff as well to try to remove the stink of dead fish from the office of the White House.

  • cabanon

    The EPA based their decision on Massachusetts vs. EPA, the Supreme Court decision which was largely determined based on the Clean Air Act’s definition of an “air pollutant”. The SCOTUS decision was that the EPA had to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. I don’t think the SCOTUS considered any of Mann’s work but I don’t know, if you have any info on if they looked at his work that would be very interesting.

  • Leopard1996

    That determined AGW, if that is a yes, then come to find out it was manipulated then he is culpable and his work should be brought in for investigation.

  • Scope

    is already taking place in the Court of Public opinion. Each day there is more evidence presented by way of very large campaign donations to Obama by BP, in exchange for lax inspections from the Obama team. Usually, most people who are on the take, don’t bite the hand that feeds them. No question that when Obama heard that the explosion and spill involved BP, his mind ran through the thoughts of those millions of dollars. Now that he has his cronies installed at every level of government, those BP millions are pocket change to him. He has had to clean some of the dead bodies from under his bus to make room for BP. Undoubtedly this is a crisis Emanuel would have loved to see go to waste, or downplayed at least.

    I am very proud to call Cuccinelli my state Attorney General. If it costs me a few more dollars in state taxes to have someone with guts, and love of freedom from an ever encroaching federal government, so be it. Lord knows not many others are trying to stop the march to Marxism.

  • Scope

    of Cuccinelli connecting the dots, though, cabanon wasn’t seriously looking for any explanation. He/she is already well versed in his/her beliefs and why. I still stick with my original thought that this person isn’t asking questions to gain any knowledge, but rather, to instill doubt in the minds of those that read his/her comments. This person underestimates the level of intelligence, foresight and ability of the Rdestaters to pinpoint dishonesty. The only level of concern that cabanon seems to have is that the Progressives program is collapsing. Yes, you are right, when taxpayer money is actually being used wisely, all of a sudden taxes become an issue.

  • cabanon

    or to the SCOTUS decision in regards to Massachusetts vs. EPA. The determination was that carbon dioxide is a pollutant mainly because it is a waste material added to the air, not because of AGW. There’s a big difference thats why I don’t think Mann’s work is really relevant to overturn the SCOTUS decision.

  • Achance

    it merely determined that the EPA had the right and duty to make the determination as to whether CO2 was a pollutant. EPA made that determination and since it was determined to be a pollutant, then EPA has the power to regulate CO2. For once a federal court kept its black robes on rather than putting on lab coats.

  • blooch

    in classic flyerhawk fashion. He’s already jettisoned his concern for the taxpayers. and now is quibbling about SCOTUS. If I may take it back to Cuccinelli for a moment…what is it that a good lawyer never does? He never asks a question that he doesn’t already know the answer to.

    Now, twelve-stepping back to Carbanon’s SCOTUS addiction: I bet Cuccinelli knows something about Mann’s direct influence on the SCOTUS decision which neither you nor I have the time or patience to fetch for this guy.

  • cabanon

    authority to regulate CO2 because it wasn’t a pollutant. SCOTUS cited CAA as clearly defining what a pollutant is and determined that CO2 was therefor a pollutant removing that argument. Scalia’s dissent.

    “Not only is EPA?s interpretation reasonable, it is far more plausible than the Court?s alternative. As the Court correctly points out, ?all airborne compounds of whatever stripe,? ante, at 26, would
    qualify as ?physical, chemical, . . . substance[s] or matter which [are] emitted into or otherwise ente[r] the ambient air,? 42 U. S. C. ?7602(g). It follows that everything airborne, from Frisbees to flatulence, qualifies as an ?air pollutant.? This reading of the statute defies common sense.”

    I like his sense of humor.

  • cabanon

    You made an interesting point that it might have to do with the EPA lawsuit as well but didn’t explain how, I’m trying to follow through on that connection. If there is a connection between Mann’s work and the SCOTUS decision then that would be a big deal otherwise its speculation.

    So until there is any evidence of a connection it remains an anti-fraud case with the stae at the very most gets its $500k back and at the worst spends another $500k on legal expenses.

  • leehazel

    I may be wrong here but I thought Mann had already “copped out” using the lost data (inadvertently destroyed) plea.

    Getting the subpoenaed information may prove interesting at least. It is already known that the so called “Hockey Stick” CO2 graph is the result of not using certain of the 15th 16th century temperature data.

    You know,the data that indicates farming in Greenland!
    PC is Thought Control

  • Leopard1996

    Would more or less show that there was an activism involved that pushed the EPA to that decision that should not have been made in the first place.

  • Scope

    taxpayer money. You are concerned about the EPA, who you apparently are trying to defend, being found in court to be the fraud it has always been. If you were truly worried about taxpayer money then you would be more concerned about the taxes and the tremendously increased cost of everything to every citizen if the EPA is allowed to implement it’s plans. Whatever the cost is of Cuccinelli’s lawsuit, it will still be cheaper than what costs the EPA will inflict on all US citizens.

    Are you a Republican? I have strong doubts that you are.

  • cabanon

    and either being deliberatly disingenuous or are trying to pick a fight. The Mann anti-fraud lawsuit is not related to the EPA lawsuit. Its an intriguing idea that they could be but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence linking the two, until Cuccinelli produces something to that effect you are just speculating.

    We only got onto the EPA subject because someone suggested they might be linked but ultimately this is a post on the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act as it relates to Mann’s work, not the EPA lawsuit.

    Anyway I have never said I was against Cuccinelli?s lawsuit against the EPA, I said I thought his lawsuit against Mann would be a waste of tax payer money. Why you are conflating the two is a mystery to me.

  • cabanon

    I think SCOTUS decided that the EPA can regulate CO2 as a pollutant and I don’t think that will get overturned or changed. He could possibly get the EPA to re-open and reconsider their position though.