Fighting Back - The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars - page 163

The initial outcry came from politicians within Virginia. State delegate Mark Herring (D-
Loudoun) was among the first to speak out: “On its face this seems to be a serious abuse of the power
of the Attorney General. This is Virginia, since when do we investigate professors when we disagree
with them?” 27 He was followed by U.S. House Representative Jim Moran (D-VA), who told
Cuccinelli: “History will neither reflect kindly on those who reject science in the pursuit of short-
term economic and political gain, nor will it look kindly on your attempt to tarnish the good name of
Professor Michael Mann.” 28
Word soon spread through the mass media. USA Today labeled Cuccinelli's actions a witch hunt
against climate scientists. 29 Slate magazine quoted H. L. Mencken from the 1920s Scopes Monkey
Trial: “This old buzzard, having failed to raise the mob against its rulers, now prepares to raise it
against its teachers.” 30 The Washington Post, in the first of five editorials 31 on the subject over the
next six months, wrote: “Ken Cuccinelli II (R) had declared war on reality. Now he has declared war
on the freedom of academic inquiry as well.” The editorial implored the University of Virginia to
“have the spine to repudiate Mr. Cuccinelli's abuse of the legal code.”
Figure 15.1: Cuccinelli's Witch Hunt
Cuccinelli is twice lampooned by the Washington Post's award-winning cartoonist Tom Toles. [ Washington Post , May 14, 2010, and
October 6, 2010. TOLES © 2010 The Washington Post. Reprinted with permission of UNIVERSAL UCLICK. All rights reserved.]
Numerous newspaper editorial boards across Virginia, including some of the state's most
conservative papers that had endorsed Cuccinelli's run for office, also denounced Cuccinelli's
attack. 32 The editorial board of one such paper summarized Cuccinelli's message to Virginia
scientists as “Don't venture down this path of inquiry or you'll pay with your reputation and
career.” 33 Perhaps it is simply because of the deeply chilling nature of that message that Cuccinelli's
actions were so widely denounced by public policy groups, including the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU), the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and even the
conservative Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). The University of Virginia soon
began to show signs of fight itself. On May 5, the Faculty Senate issued a formal denunciation of
Cuccinelli's investigation: “His action and the potential threat of legal prosecution of scientific
endeavor that has satisfied peer-review standards send a chilling message to scientists engaged in
basic research involving Earth's climate and indeed to scholars in any discipline. Such actions
directly threaten academic freedom and, thus, our ability to generate the knowledge upon which