Ken CuccinelliVirginia’s attorney general, the climate-change-denying right-wing darling Ken Cuccinelli (R), is waging what many are calling a “witch hunt” against climate scientist Michael Mann. Cuccinelli issued a subpoena that would force the University of Virginia to turn over thousands of emails and documents Mann wrote while he taught there from 1999 to 2005.
Now Cuccinelli is getting what’s coming to him.
The Physics Today website describes the AG’s action as a “blatantly political move to help strengthen his support among the right wing for his bid to become the next governor.”
An editorial in The Washington Post on May 7 also took Cuccinelli to task, and another Post editorial today urges the university to resist Cuccinelli’s ploy:
Science progresses when researchers can propose ideas freely, differ in their methods and argue about the interpretations of their results. The commonwealth should nurture that process, not make scientists fear that they will be subject to investigation if a politician dislikes their conclusions.
Like they said.
