George,

My friend, Tom McCrystal, says that I owe an apology to those who visit George Loper’s website because of what he considers my unsubstantiated opinions about Cuccinelli's smarts and extent of information about global warming research. I’m guilty of flippancy, not ad hominem. I should have put more emphasis on how Cuccinelli could be sufficiently “informed” to go after aged research grants associated with a scientist that might meet his notion of “fraud."

If Cuccinelli is smart enough to sue the U.S. government on the basis that the Obama health bill violates the Constitution, and smart enough to sue the U.S. EPA on the basis that it is acting illegally in limiting air pollutants, and smart enough to opine to Virginia universities that they have no authority to halt discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, then why wouldn’t he be smart enough to demand all the information related to grant applications from a UVA environmental science professor? Because this issue is a weird extension of a Virginia statute to discover transactions that are hardly visible to the general public as are the other issues.

Tom is right though. I have no direct knowledge of any interaction between Pat Michaels ( the former UVA climate scientist) and the Attorney General's political operatives or the Attorney General’s legal staff. It is speculation on my part, but speculation based on a careful reading of Pat Michael’s most recent book (cited in my posting) where he asserts that some American governors (including Governor Kaine) and some university faculty have conspired to “gag” him and other scientists. Pat Michaels may even be opposed to Cuccinelli’s bizarre request, because he has appealed to academic freedom in his own case. In my opinion, Michaels was being attacked because of his research funding and his views on global warming. But Governor Kaine's resolution of the "state climatologist" issue was not a challenge to Pat's views, only to his title.

If either Mr. Cuccinelli or Pat Michaels wants to disclaim any communications interactions on this matter, I would take their word for it and admit my error. There are other possibilities, but somebody had to be providing rather arcane and inside information and have a chip on their shoulder to trigger this specific, ill-advised information request.

Rich Collins (Electronic mail May 22, 2010)