An Albemarle County Circuit Court judge said he expects to issue a ruling within 10 days on Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s investigation into records involving climatologist Michael Mann, a former University of Virginia professor.
Cuccinelli in April issued civil investigative demands, akin to a subpoena, seeking information on five taxpayer-funded research grants under Virginia’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, as well as a wide range of documentation on Mann.
“We have made our arguments in this case and will await Judge [Paul] Peatross’s decision,” Cuccinelli said.
The judge said he hoped to rule from the bench, but needed more time to examine the dispute.
Mann, who was behind the global warming “hockey stick” graph, was implicated, and later largely vindicated, in last year’s “Climategate” scandal, in which researchers were accused of manipulating data to support their arguments.
The Attorney General’s Office is simply investigating to see if there is enough evidence to warrant further action, and there is no fraud suit at this point, said Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for Cuccinelli.
“The attorney general is the sole official charged with enforcing Virginia’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act,” Gottstein wrote in an e-mail. “Our office is investigating whether a false claim was presented to the university to secure payment under government-funded grants — nothing more, nothing less.”
The back-and-forth briefs filed by the attorney general and the university reached fever pitch and went well beyond the typical legalese.
The university’s reply brief filed in Albemarle County Circuit Court characterizes the attorney general’s brief filed July 13 as an “editorial screed” that does not describe conduct that would be in violation of Virginia’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.
It argues that Cuccinelli issued the demands not to investigate fraud against taxpayers, but “to challenge a university professor’s peer-reviewed data, methodologies and conclusions.”
Cuccinelli has argued that the First Amendment and concepts of “academic freedom” do not shield the information sought in the demands from review.
The conservative attorney general is no stranger to high-profile legal proceedings. Earlier this month, Judge Henry E. Hudson said he would allow Virginia’s lawsuit over the federal health care legislation to go forward, and Cuccinelli said in a legal opinion that state law enforcement officials can ask the legal status of anyone stopped or arrested.
