Bishop Hill RICO repercussions
Nov 16, 2015 Climate: Sceptics The RICO affair, in which a group of green-minded academics tried to get the full force of the law used against those who disagree with them, continues to have repercussions. This is the latest.
CEI Files FOIA Lawsuit Against George Mason University for Denying Existence of Records Related to RICO-20 Letter
George Mason University (GMU) faculty claimed "no records" existed in response to a Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) FOIA request regarding the involvement of Professor Ed Maibach in the RICO-20 campaign seeking prosecution of opponents of his view of climate policy. Yet, CEI has evidence of such records. This prompted CEI to sue GMU over the FOIA dispute, which aims to inform the public about the role of Maibach in organizing the campaign led by GMU Professor Jagadish Shukla calling for prosecution of their political opponents.
Emails the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) obtained under the Washington State and Florida open records acts show Professor Maibach, a taxpayer-funded instructor of “how to mobilize populations to adopt behaviors and support public policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” used his University title, position and email account in the RICO-20 effort. Numerous records provided by other state universities notwithstanding, GMU informed CEI that Prof. Maibach insisted he had no records responsive to the same request to that school.
The full press release is here.
Reader Comments (12)
At which point they ceased to be scientists and became political activists.
You'd think a university would know that email records exist at both ends...
Could CEI do a follow up about GMU's output on global warming deliberately ignoring/concealing evidence to the contrary?
I'm not getting too excited.
These things (pro-AGW) have a habit of being swept under the carpet.
jamesp, who said university climate activists had any intelligence? They will probably claim political asylum, even though there are better asylums at protecting others from the harm they wish to inflict.
Are there any legal 'consequences' for GMU, having lied, under US Law? It seems that CEI have caused GMU to jump into the path of an incoming bus, without even trying, let alone pushing.
It appears that my alma mater (Univ. of Washington), which contributed two UW professors to the signers of the letter, at least partially redeemed itself by properly responding to the FOIA request with the email from Maibach at GMU. That was the break CEI needed to go after the main instigators (GMU, Shukla, etc.)
Lance Wallace, so Univ of Washington lawyers are better informed than those from GMU.
Does any education occur at GMU, or is it just an academic hole that requires money to fill?
Not a very sensible move that. We now have two major scandals brewing.
Mike Haseler
They'll probably end up cancelling each other out, Sod's Law being what it is.
MikeHaseler & Mike Jackson, at least it will give some GMU academics some practice at doing work. They may find a genuine use for such skills in the near future.
Well done the CEI. We really could do with more of this kind of hitting back at the anointed ones. What else can get through to them?