The Virginia House of Delegates blocked an attempt last week by Democratic lawmakers to remove the attorney general's power to issue subpoenas for academic research at state universities.
The proposed bill came as a response to the ongoing investigation launched by the office of Attorney General and University alumnus Ken Cuccinelli, demanding the University surrender papers and e-mails related to the work of Michael Mann, climate scientist and former University professor in the department of environmental sciences.
Cuccinelli has filed multiple civil investigative demands to review Mann's e-mails and documents. The attorney general is accusing Mann of using manipulated or deceitful data pertaining to climate change to obtain taxpayer-funded research grants, and hopes to acquire documents that will enable him to prosecute Mann under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, Colloquially dubbed Climategate, an internet leak in 2009 released thousands of stolen documents from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit that implied a manipulation of data in support of the global warming hypothesis.
Some members of the academic community say they are outraged by the House's action.
"What we have here is a political actor seeking to intimidate scholars," Law Prof. Richard Schragger said, "That is quite dangerous to the entire concept of academic freedom."
Some Democrats in the General Assembly have responded to the issue by arguing the investigation has taken place only because of the political implications of Mann's research. Bill 831 was introduced as a revision to FATA to prevent the attorney general from issuing subpoenas for academic research and inquiry.
"I wonder if someone who was supporting a conservative-backed theory would face this kind of scrutiny," said the bill's patron, Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax. "Political partisanship should not be a matter in academic research. The attorney general shouldn't be able to threaten or intimidate."
The office of the attorney general, however, maintains the nature and scientific conclusions of the study are not at question and argue state university employees who apply for public funding ought to be subject to the same scrutiny as any other government official.
"The attorney general's office is investigating whether a false claim was presented to the university, nothing more and nothing less," Cuccinelli's spokesperson Brian Gottstein said in an e-mail. "The attorney general's office is not investigating Dr. Mann's scientific conclusions."
Gottstein added the proposed bill would have sought to exempt University employees from public scrutiny, creating "two classes of citizens: universities and their employees ... and everyone else."
Howard Epstein, associate professor of environmental sciences, said he agrees that University employees should not be exempt from legal action in cases of misconduct, but he doesn't believe this is one of those situations.
"It's an incredibly convoluted issue," Epstein said. "Academic freedom should not protect scholars from committing wrongdoings and fraud, but the investigation into Mike Mann is not really about that. If it were, you wouldn't see that bill proposed. It's a political maneuver in response to a political maneuver."
Pennsylvania State University, where Mann now teaches, released a report in 2009 after reviewing his academic conduct concluding, "Dr. Michael E. Mann did not engage in, nor did he participate in, directly or indirectly, any actions that seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community."
Cuccinelli said he will continue to pursue the issue, while opposing members of the Assembly have expressed skepticism that Cuccinelli's political agenda regarding climate change is separable from the legal aggression.
"We should be about scientific inquiry, not a political litmus test the attorney general wants to place on someone's research," said Del. David Toscano, D-Charlottesville. "He wants to dispute the science of thousands of researchers across the world that believe based on their research the climate is changing because of human activity. This is about politics, not fraud"
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