Bishop Hill Qui Tam
Aug 31, 2010 Climate: Mann Readers who are interested in Virginia A-G Cuccinelli's ongoing battle with Michael Mann and the University of Virginia will want to take a look at the Virginia Qui Tam Law blog, which is posting regularly on the legal ins and outs of the case. I found the following quote instructive.
...most lawyers representing targets of a [civil investigative demand (CID)] take advantage of the opportunity to try to convince the government that there has been no wrongdoing, and that the client has nothing to hide.
There are very good reasons for this, because this epic battle over this CID is much ado about nothing. Even if a target "wins" and the CID gets set aside, they haven't really won anything at all, because a CID is just a preliminary investigative tool......even if a party fighting a CID wins and successfully quashes the CID, guess what? They may not have to respond to the CID, but they have spent thousands and thousands of dollars, and the winning prize is normally a freshly-filed lawsuit by the OAG. And then, as soon as discovery begins in the case, the OAG will ask for exactly the same materials they requested in the CID. At that point, the defendant will have no choice but to produce the material.
Reader Comments (7)
OAG, not a Norse God but the Office of the Attorney General, I had to look it up...sigh.
My reading of the judgement is, You asked the question the wrong so I will disallow it, but if you ask this way I will allow it. Hint Hint. Wink wink
It ain't over till the Fat Lady sings. Cuccinelli will file again. Note that he is suing the EPA over its CO2 endangerment ruling, so I suspect Cuccinelli's ultimate motive is to see if there are any more Climategate-like e-mails in Mann's computer-server that he could use in his arguments against the EPA. Discrediting Mann helps to undermine the IPCC; the EPA relied heavily upon the IPCC for its science position rather than performing its own independent research evaluation. The latter EPA suit is the important battle, not the skirmish at the University of Virginia.
I wonder how the EPA deals with CO2 enrichment in glasshouses? Not to mention soda pop...
I think I'd be asking for audit trails and mail/server backups from the same time frame as well. Call me paranoid, but I feel Mann is not above attempting to delete evidence.
I read somewhere that Mann turned up to the Penn inquiry with his emails on a zip drive. Only available from him and if no one asked him directly hidden from view.
Now it appears the judge in the case had an apparent conflict of interest involving his wife's environmental activities. See the 8/31/2010 article at www.Icecap.us
or
http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/245200/breaking-hockey-stick-judge-rejects-academic-freedom-argument-denies-cuccinelli-a