A state judge in Albemarle County has dismissed the "civil investigative demand" that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli had sent to the University of Virginia in an attempt to get paperwork related to a former professor's climate change research, the Richmond Times-Dispatch is reporting..
Cuccinelli, a climate change skeptic, has been investigating climate change researcher Michael Mann, attempting to build a case that the professor committed fraud by accepting grant money to pursue his research.
The judge threw out the "demand" because, he wrote, Cuccinelli did not have adequate proof that the school had any relevant documents or materials and because Cuccinelli did not sufficiently state "the nature of the conduct" that he believes would constitute fraud.
Read the RTD news alert here.
Update: Cuccinelli's office just released this statement, under a headline saying the AG is "pleased with aspects" of the ruling:
“While this was not an outright ruling in our favor, I am pleased that the judge has agreed with my office on several key legal points and has given us a framework for issuing a new civil investigative demand to get the information necessary to continue our investigation into whether or not fraud has been committed against the commonwealth,” said Cuccinelli.
Judge Paul M. Peatross, Jr., in his ruling stated that, “...the University of Virginia is a proper subject for a CID, and the Attorney General may investigate grants made with Commonwealth of Virginia funds to professors such as Dr. Mann.”
“We are going to issue a new CID that conforms to the judge’s ruling. We will also take time to fully examine the decision and all of the available options before deciding whether or not to also appeal aspects of the ruling,” the attorney general said.
No fraud suit is currently pending. The attorney general’s office is only investigating to see if there is sufficient evidence to warrant further action. It is investigating whether a false claim was presented to the university to secure payment under government-funded grants.
The attorney general is the sole official charged with enforcing Virginia’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act. The materials requested by the original CIDs are all property belonging to the Commonwealth of Virginia. The CIDs did not seek the production of any private property.
Hoochie-Coochie is an absolute embarrassment to this Commonwealth, and he continues to squander taxpayer dollars to further his own myopic agenda. This guy truly is a nut-burger.
Posted by: Smoke N. Mirrors | Monday, August 30, 2010 at 02:01 PM