Why Won't Climate Denialists Stop Attacking This Man?

When it comes to the research of climate scientist Michael Mann, the old adage “stop beating a dead horse” immediately springs to mind.

The latest challenge to Mann’s studies comes from the American Tradition Institute, which has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to cull information on climate science research Mann did while at the University of Virginia. Like others before them, the group is after Mann, who now works for Penn State University, because of his involvement in the hacked e-mails at the heart of the bloated “Climategate” scandal from more than a year ago.

Not surprisingly, like Mann’s other adversaries, the group also has a clear global warming bias.

Its director, for example, was plucked from the Heartland Institute, an Exxon-backed organization that puts on an annual conference hosting hucksters who deny manmade climate change. And the head of its duplicitously titled Environmental Law Center is the author of such tomes as Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud and Deception to Keep You Misinformed and Power Grab: How Obama's 'Green' Policies Steal Will Your Freedom and Bankrupt America.

Prior to the institute’s involvement, Mann’s most noteworthy adversary was Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who also has a history of denying climate change. Cuccinelli issued a subpoena of Mann’s work last year on the dubious grounds that it constituted taxpayer fraud; later, he was rebuffed by a judge who claimed the investigation lacked objectivity. (Mann has also been cleared of wrongdoing in several other inquiries, including a conclusive exoneration by Penn State University last July.)

It's gotten so bad that even two Democratic state senators are considering introducing legislation specifically to thwart Cuccinelli's attacks on Mann.

Considering all this, it’s maddening to think Mann—and all the research tied to the “Climategate” scandal—could still take such a public beating. In addition to Cuccinelli and ATI, even an ex-CIA agent has gotten on board, by essentially blackmailing Mann's colleagues to spill the dirt on his research.

Eight months ago, in a post about Cuccinelli’s witch hunt against Mann, I quoted the beleaguered climate scientist as saying: "I don't doubt for a minute that the climate-change deniers will continue their campaign of disinformation and smear. That's all they've got left."

Oh, how right he was.

Sign this petition to tell the University of Virginia to fight back against the American Tradition Institute's biased, unfounded request.

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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/Gary Grieco