Richmond Times Dispatch Opinion:
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s fishing expedition into climatologist Michael Mann’s e-mails made for good politics and awful policy. The issue of global warming has been lamentably politicized — plenty of fault for that on both sides — and Cuccinelli’s crusading on the issue has turned him into a hero for many foot soldiers of the conservative movement who deny any connection between human activity and global climate change.
Unfortunately, his pursuit of Mann was wrong in just about every way that it is possible to be wrong.
That it rested on dubious science was the least of its many shortcomings. After all, the AG is not a scientist and cannot be expected to know much about climatology. But he is a lawyer, and he should know something about the law. Yet in order to bring a civil investigative demand, Cuccinelli relied on an extremely elastic interpretation of Virginia’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (FATA) — a move not gracefully executed by someone who professes to believe in strict scrutiny and original intent.
Cuccinelli never accused Mann of failing to do the work for which he was paid, or of spending the research money he received from the state and federal governments on, say, fast cars and fancy suits. Albemarle Circuit Judge Paul Peatross was entirely right when he said the AG never clearly stated “the nature of the conduct” Mann supposedly engaged in that constituted fraud. “What the attorney general suspects that Dr. Mann did that was false or fraudulent in obtaining funds from the commonwealth simply is not stated,” Peatross wrote.
Cuccinelli appealed that decision to the Virginia Supreme Court. On Friday, the court denied his appeal — on the grounds that he has no authority under FATA to issue civil investigative demands to state agencies in the first place. If this were a robbery case, then the AG has now effectively been told (a) he used the wrong statute to seek a search warrant, and (b) he can’t use a search warrant in the hopes of finding out whether anything has been stolen. This will not go down in history as an episode of great lawyering prowess.
Attorneys general are supposed to act as the in-house legal counsel for their state governments. In recent years they have strayed far from that limited role, exploiting the power of their office to launch self-aggrandizing, politically motivated crusades against perceived evildoers, from tobacco companies to gun manufacturers. It is not a welcome trend. Perhaps the Supreme Court’s rejection of his own crusade will lead Cuccinelli to ask himself whether he should have been a part of it.
Sometimes things just don’t feel right and this was one of those times. Cuccinelli over-reached. Judge Paul Peatross turned him down. The Virginia Supreme Court turned him down. Uber conservatives like Cuccinelli need to learn to play by the rules. He should have known better. He isn’t a scientist but he is a lawyer and he should be expected to know the law. The TD called this one completely right.
Kudos to the RTD for a very well-written editorial.
Mr. Cuckoonelli must learn to respect the Constitutional rights of Virginians.
Don’t you hate it when you have a word on the tip of your tongue and it just escapes you! Well, I am experiencing that now. Cuccinelli’s behavior reminds me of……geez, reminds me of……., wait, wait, I think its coming to me…….
Ah yes, I have it!
McCarthyism!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism
cuccinelli would be funny if he didn’t scare me with his willingness to misuse his office to promote his own political agenda.
Totally agree, Elena. He is misusing his office, in my opinion.
On another note, I am proud of Judge Mac Peatross. I went to school with him. Go Mac Go. Its been many years since I’ve seen him and he was a little older than I was but I still remember him.
No, it was not a liberal school. Far from it–about as far as you can get which makes it even funnier.
Cool Moon!
Yea, Elena. I made that discovery when I was posting the thread. I thought the name looked familiar.
So does this help or hurt Cuccinelli? I can’t even tell any more. H.e took on the big boys. Does this make him a hero?
I think the actions of Cuckoo and Gov McDonnell over the past few months will hurt the Repug candidate’s presidential prospects in November for winning Virginia. I predict Virginia will go for Obama and remain blue in 2012.
They certainly have given the Democrats a lot of cannon fodder. @Starry
How do we hold Virginia politicians responsible for all the money they waste on stuff like this?
He really did piss away a million bucks or so it appears. He was on a fishing expedition. He gambled and he lost. That isn’t his job.
I’m sure Mr. Cuccinelli made a calculation (which I suspect is correct) that every public dollar used to pursue UVA and Professor Mann was free money in buying votes in the upcoming intra-GOP battle for the nomination for Governor. From his perspective, this was a rational way to advance his ambition.
@Scout, of course, you are right. He did it at our expense. GRRRRRRR
The only fault I can find with Cuccinelli here is a minor waste of time. Shaming a “global warming” nut-bag is like going hunting at the zoo….no sport.
@pokie, how about waste of money? Should he be wasting our money as well as our time?