Ken Cuccinelli Has the Solution to All Your Problems: Ken Cuccinelli

Ken Cuccinelli has quite the televangelist-style pyramid scheme going. He's always so close to stopping those evil moderates ... if only you'll give him a little more money, and ask your friends to do the same.

He was pitching the Cuccinelli brand Monday night at Virginia's Christendom College:

Programs like health care reform threaten to give the government, specifically Congress, the ability to order citizens to do anything it wants, including what kinds of food to eat and what kinds of cars to buy, Cuccinelli said.

Cuccinelli also warned of scientific discoveries and groundbreaking technology that threaten to undermine society's ethical foundations. He accused climate scientists, almost all of whom have asserted that human activity is the primary cause of a dangerous worldwide warming of temperatures, of contaminating their research with a political agenda.

"This kind of politicized science and world view drives their research," he said. He made no direct mention of a recent ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that halted his investigation into the work of climate scientist Michael E. Mann, a former member of the University of Virginia faculty.

Ken Cuccinelli lies like this as a political technique: Throw out lies in such volume & frequency that no one can ever hope to refute them all. And if reporters DO point out how much he's lying, Cuccinelli will just say they're part of the liberal media.

Cuccinelli uses the lies to connect with his Tea Party supporters. No matter what's in the news that day - health insurance reform, fuel efficiency standards, climate science - Cuccinelli frames it as part of the culture war. They're all out to get you, and the only one who can save you is, of course, Ken Cuccinelli:

Cuccinelli ended his speech with an appeal to students in the audience to volunteer for his campaign which, he said, will swing into full gear next year after this fall's elections.

Cuccinelli does this constantly and shamelessly - emails to supporters that detail some existential threat, followed by Cuccinelli asking for more money, more email subscribers, more volunteers, etc.

Progressives can be too quick to categorize people like Ken Cuccinelli, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin as nutty or crazy. That's completely wrong. They're using a tried and true method of building a following and milking that following for money & power. And by the time people realize they've been lied to, Sylvester McMonkey McBean has skipped town with their money.

Ken Cuccinelli's Quixotic War on Climate Science Finally Ends

How much damage has Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli done with his baseless legal attacks on climate science? The Washington Post editorial board surveys the damage done by Cuccinelli's climate witch hunt:

This month, after nearly two years of legal proceedings, the Virginia Supreme Court halted the attorney general’s investigation of Mr. Mann, who used to teach at the University of Virginia. Twisting a law designed to root out embezzlement of state funds and the like, the attorney general had demanded oceans of documents — including Mr. Mann’s e-mail correspondence — from U-Va. But, along with some technical legal problems with his demand, Mr. Cuccinelli didn’t offer any reasonable suspicion that Mr. Mann had committed anything resembling fraud — even as the attorney general proposed violating scientists’ sacrosanct freedom to conduct research without political pressure. Multiple independent reviews of Mr. Mann’s record have found that the professor did little more than participate in the normal push-and-pull of scientific inquiry. [...]

Now that the Supreme Court has shut Mr. Cuccinelli down, what’s left is a range of consequences that can only hurt the commonwealth. The university had to raise nearly $600,000 for legal fees — money the cash-strapped university should have been able to use for something productive. On top of that are the public resources of the attorney general’s office that Mr. Cuccinelli wasted. Scientists in Virginia now have reason to wonder whether they will suffer similar pressure if they publish research government officials don’t like. And, because of some of the Supreme Court’s legal findings, the powers of the attorney general to pursue actual fraud have been clipped.

Tea Party activists claim to stand for fiscal restraint - then waste huge piles of taxpayer money on political witch hunts. Tea Party activists claim to stand for freedom - then bully scientists whose research contradicts Tea Party political beliefs. Tea Party activists claim to stand for limited government - then work to pass laws mandating the invasion of women's bodies.

Fraud like Cuccinelli's is exactly what they demand. If GOP activists continue to let the Tea Party inmates run the asylum, we should only expect more of it.

Dominion's Energy Tyranny: Where's the Outrage from the Tea Party & Ken Cuccinelli?

Virginia's 2007 energy re-regulation bill was a terrible idea from the start. It was essentially written by Dominion Virginia Power and rubber-stamped into law by the Virginia General Assembly & Gov. Tim Kaine, who showed no interest in challenging one of Virginia's top sources of money in politics.

Five years later, as Virginia Sierra Club Vice Chair Ivy Main writes in the Washington Post, Virginia taxpayers are seeing huge costs and little benefit:

Yes, the Dominion family owns some wind farms, one just across the state line in West Virginia. But we aren’t getting a single electron of that energy, because Dominion sells it to other states that have much tougher standards for what counts as renewable energy. For us in Virginia, Dominion buys cheap certificates that no one else wants.

That’s a great deal for Dominion. According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, $1.7 million could buy enough of these certificates to satisfy Dominion’s 2010 RPS targets, qualifying the company to collect an extra $76 million over two years from its ratepayers.

Worse yet, Dominion is aggressively using its monopoly power to target any small businesses who try to sell clean energy to customers in Virginia:

The State Corporation Commission recently granted Dominion’s request to impose a “standby” charge of up to $60 per month on customers who install solar projects in the 10- to 20-kilowatt range (about twice the size of an average home’s usage). It’s enough to make these projects uneconomic and destroy the market for them. At a time when Dominion claims we need to build more power to meet demand, it is doing its best to keep small businesses from doing precisely that.

Even worse is its treatment of a Staunton-based solar company called Secure Futures, which has stepped up to the plate to put solar installations on university campuses, using a third-party power purchase agreement to ease financing. This summer, Dominion hit Secure Futures with “cease and desist” letters, claiming it can’t legally sell solar power to Washington and Lee University within Dominion’s exclusive service territory under Virginia law. Dominion, you understand, will not sell solar power to Washington and Lee, but it seems determined to make sure no one else does, either.

Where are Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli & his Tea Party friends as Dominion treads on the rights of small businesses and Virginia energy customers? Shouldn't they be screaming about activist judges and goverment stifling liberty? Or does Tea Party outrage not cover regulations that enrich its polluting benefactors?

Want to tell Dominion to create jobs and clean our air by investing in wind power? Sign the Virginia Sierra Club's petition to Dominion CEO Tom Farrell.

House Dem to Cuccinelli: Produce Evidence or Correct Your Testimony

Did Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli cherry-pick politicized data in his Congressional testimony attacking clean air regulations last week? After Cuccinelli went beyond even the most fire-and-brimstone industry predictions, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee is pressing for answers:

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the panel, blasted Cuccinelli in a letter Tuesday for not including in his testimony citations that explain where he got his figures.

“Your claims appear to contradict reputable studies and analyses that predict only minor increases in electricity prices and net job gains,” Cummings wrote in the letter. “Even more peculiar is that your claims also appear to exaggerate even the potential negative impacts predicted by industry studies on which you presumably rely.”

Cummings called on Cuccinelli to correct his testimony if he is unable to back up his figures with reputable studies.

Cuccinelli has only himself to blame for the heightened scrutiny of his testimony, admitting to Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) that he's never bothered to study the economic impacts of the Clean Air Act. Given Cuccinelli's history of quoting the discredited "studies" of Edward Wegman, it will be extremely interesting to see where he got his information in this case.

Ken Cuccinelli Unfamiliar With Impacts Of Clean Air Act

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who's used your tax dollars to fight new clean air protections under his presumption that they would destroy our economy, testified before Congress yesterday that he's never bothered to look at the economic impacts of the sweeping 1990 update to the Clean Air Act:

GOP Leaders Act Like Pro Wrestling Referees On Energy

"There must be this whole school where they teach you to just kind of run around and not notice anything. They sit you down, show you a film of the rubout scene from The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and if you don't see anything illegal going on, you're hired."

- Jerry Seinfeld on pro wrestling referees

The Energy Star program helps make sure your appliances use less electricity to do the same job, saving millions of Americans money. The U.S. House Republican Study Committee budget plan cries foul, targeting the program for a $52 million budget cut.

But the $36.5 billion dollars in subsidies the federal budget doles out over the next decade to oil & gas companies, which are already making massive profits off rising gas prices? The GOP doesn't see anything wrong with that - Big Oil's pork is protected by that House GOP budget blueprint.

It's a similar story here in Virginia. While Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli jokes about global warming, he sees nothing wrong with blowing billions on job-burning coal plants. And it's no surprise that Cuccinelli's top donor, the Republican State Leadership Committee, is fueled by oil, with Devon Energy & Exxon Mobil among its leading contributors.

And let's not forget George Allen, whose willingness to look the other way for Big Oil's benefit makes George W. Bush look as fair-minded as Judge Mills Lane by comparison. Allen refuses to even admit America has a problem with imported oil, saying Bush was wrong to call out our addiction. Of course, it's not the glare off his designer boots that's blinding him - George Allen has been on Big Oil's payroll for years.

But now President Obama has laid out an energy policy that sounds like it was designed by rank & file Republicans - calling for development of not just clean energy but natural gas, nuclear & even coal, if it can clean up its act. Can GOP leadership keep running around pretending to not notice gas creeping back to $4 a gallon?

Time For Ken Cuccinelli To Mann Up & Apologize

Remember Edward Wegman, the George Mason University statistician whose climate denial was repeatedly cited by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli? The one who was under investigation on charges of plagiarism & inaccuracy?

The GMU investigation is still dragging on, but USA Today asked several scientists to review the allegations. Their analysis was damning:

The plagiarism experts queried by USA TODAY disagree after viewing the Wegman report:

• "Actually fairly shocking," says Cornell physicist Paul Ginsparg by e-mail. "My own preliminary appraisal would be 'guilty as charged.'" 

• "If I was a peer reviewer of this report and I was to observe the paragraphs they have taken, then I would be obligated to report them," says Garner of Virginia Tech, who heads a copying detection effort. "There are a lot of things in the report that rise to the level of inappropriate."  

• "The plagiarism is fairly obvious when you compare things side-by-side," says Ohio State's Robert Coleman, who chairs OSU's misconduct committee.

If Ken Cuccinelli was a man, he'd apologize. To Michael Mann, the respected climate scientist whose work Cuccinelli has quixotically targeted. To Virginia taxpayers, for wasting their money on a political witch hunt. And to his own supporters for feeding them a steady stream of complete horseshit.

But Ken Cuccinelli doesn't have a shred of honor or dignity in his body. I expect him to continue to ignore reality & continue flaunting the truth.

For all of Republicans' ranting against fraud & abuse, Ken Cuccinelli has no problem using your tax dollars to campaign for Sarah Palin's affection on the 2012 Crazy Train Ticket.

Cuccinelli Fine With Fraud If It Backs His Political Views

The people who squawk the loudest about "scientific integrity" & "sound science" often have absolutely no problem with outright scientific fraud, as long as it supports their pre-existing political opinions.

Just take the example of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (and speaking volumes by their silence, Gov. Bob McDonnell & Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling). Rather than accept the simple, straightforward, proven proposition that the planet is warming & manmade emissions are to blame, Cuccinelli instead conjures a world ruled by a vast conspiracy by thousands of unrelated climate scientists, including former University of Virginia Professor Michael Mann.

But even the little actual proof Cuccinelli claims to cite is now in doubt:

A leading skeptic of climate change science whose work was cited last week by Virginia Attorney Gen. Ken Cuccinelli is himself under investigation on charges that his work contained plagiarism and inaccuracies, a George Mason University spokesman confirmed Friday.

What's Edward Wegman accused of? As DeSmogBlog reports:

Wegman, who was chair of the National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS) Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics, was tapped in '06 by Republican representatives Joe Barton and Ed Whitfield to assemble a so-called "expert panel" to critique the famous hockey stick, a graph illustrating a thousand-year temperature record as reconstructed by climate scientists Michael Mann, Raymond Bradley and Malcolm Hughes. But Silicon Valley entrepreneur John Mashey has since demonstrated that, rather than convene a group of experts, Wegman tapped a couple of grad students and together they produced a report that was generously plagiarized from Bradley's own work and then twisted - or just misrepresented - to appear to undermine the hockey stick and its creators.

Will the loss of credibility of a prominent climate denier prompt the slightest change in the stances of McDonnell, Bolling & Cuccinelli? I'm skeptical.

Will New Evidence Convince Cuccinelli to Drop War on Climate Science?

One of the things you always hear from science deniers like Ken Cuccinelli is that if only there were more research on global warming, it would align with their political opinion that climate change is (depending on the day):

• Not happening
• Happening but not our fault
• Happening & our fault, but oh, it's not so bad
• Sunspots! Martian warming! Fartgate, follow the smell!

But the problem with that is, the more scientists look into climate change, the more they find the planet is warming, manmade carbon emissions are to blame, and we need to switch to clean energy sources as soon as possible to avert catastrophic impacts.

So now that two new independent studies have both come to the conclusion that current global warming is unprecedented in magnitude, speed & cause, do you think Ken Cuccinelli will consider his demand for more research fulfilled, drop his attacks on the Clean Air Act & support more wind farms & energy efficiency in Virginia?

Yeah, me neither.

Breaking: Cuccinelli Loses Another Battle in War on Science

A judge has set aside Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's subpoena of climate science documents from the University of Virginia:

Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. ruled (PDF) that Cuccinelli can investigate whether fraud has occured in university grants, as the attorney general had contended, but ruled that Cuccinelli's subpoena failed to state a "reason to believe" that Mann had committed fraud.

The ruling is a major blow for Cuccinelli, a global warming skeptic who had maintained he was investigating whether Mann committed fraud in seeking government money for research that showed the earth has experienced a rapid, recent warming. Mann, now at Penn State University, worked at U-Va. until 2005.

According to Peatross, the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, under which the civil investigative demand was issued, requires that the attorney general include an "objective basis" to believe fraud has been committed. Peatross indicates that the attorney general must state the reason so that it can be reviewed by a court, which Cuccinelli's failed to do.

Under the McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli administration, Virginia has threatened to become a new national leader in the war on science. Judge Peatross' ruling is a major step towards steering Virginia back to the path of facts & reason ahead of corporatist ideology.

Cuccinelli v. Climate Science Goes to Court

Kindler has more details at Blue Virginia. Couldn't agree more with his conclusion that "hopefully, Judge Peatross will rule in favor of academic freedom and against the arbitrary use of state force to decide scientific questions with political answers."

Virginians: McDonnell/Bolling/Cuccinelli Wrong on Climate & Energy

How else to read this new poll (PDF) from Christopher Newport University?

First, let's establish one thing: Virginia's government is doing nothing to address global warming. That's not me talking -- that's what a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality spokesman told the Newport News Daily Press. No, wait -- that's not quite right. Virginia is actively trying to obstruct action on global warming thanks to the war on science led by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli & supported by Gov. Bob McDonnell & Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling.

Meanwhile, last month was the hottest March on record globally & broke a record for lack of cold locally. That's after 2009 was the 2nd-hottest year on record & the 2000s were the hottest decade on record. Oh, and remember the "oil crisis" in the 1970s? We import twice as much oil today as we did then.

The poll shows Virginians explicitly reject the McDonnell/Bolling/Cuccinelli clean energy & climate obstruction in three key areas:

• Virginians want state government to act, not obstruct. 78% agree "Virginia’s government has to create policies that could address the issue of climate change and improve the state’s environment."
• It doesn't matter if they don't buy the science. 91% agree "regardless of whether there is or isn’t climate change, it is still in Virginia’s best interest to develop new sources of energy that are cleaner, reliable, affordable, and safer."
• Virginians are willing to pay a little more for clean energy. 81% agree "slightly higher energy costs today are worth the investment if they lead to energy that is cleaner, reliable, affordable, and safer down the road."

Oh, and the winter snowstorms that the Virginia GOP & Ken Cuccinelli said were proof global warming isn't happening? Only 5% of Virginia voters agree. Instead, 28% say the freakishly strong storms made them more concerned about climate change.

Overall? Only 38% give Virginia's environment an A or a B. That's down sharply from 45% just last year.

I'd say there was a huge opportunity for Virginia Democrats to go after McDonnell/Bolling/Cuccinelli & establish clear contrast in the eyes of voters. But from state-level candidates like Tim Kaine, Creigh Deeds & Jody Wagner to Senators Mark Warner & Jim Webb, Virginia Democrats seem to prefer instead to listen to Republican positions promoting polluting fuels & say "me, too!"

To get clear contrast, you have to go to the regional level -- House members like Tom Perriello, Jim Moran & Gerry Connolly, State Senators like Chap Peterson & Donald McEachin, or Delegates like Albert Pollard, Scott Surovell, Adam Ebbin & David Englin.

As Virginia Democrats plot strategy for 2010, 2011 & beyond, can they develop a statewide strategy for taking advantage of this opening -- the gaping canyon between voters' support for a new direction on clean energy & climate action and GOP candidates' obstruction to progress & shilling for polluting fuels? 

Virginia Attorney General Predicts All Americans to Die

The government will tax every building at $125,000 per year until no one has any money to buy food, at which point everyone will die out and there will be no people left.

I'm pretty sure that's what Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is saying here, although it's really hard to sort it all out -- and I say that as someone who works on environment & energy issues every day:

I think Cuccinelli starts with new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on mountaintop removal coal mining, confuses that with lies about a clean energy & climate bill that would actually create 1.7 million jobs & smushes it all together with lying about EPA global warming regulations under the Clean Air Act to say they'll apply not to industrial polluters emitting at least 25,000 tons of CO2 a year but instead to any building Ken Cuccinelli points to. I have no idea where he got $125,000 -- I think he made up a big scary number on the spot.

In other words, Ken Cuccinelli lies so much, even Ken Cuccinelli can't keep straight what Ken Cuccinelli is lying about at any given moment.

Cross-posted from BlueVirginia.us

Why Can't Virginia's Attorney General Talk About Global Warming Without Lying?

You really have to wonder -- if Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's legal case against climate action is really as watertight as he claims, why can't he talk about it without lying repeatedly?

In an interview with the Roanoke Free Press, Cuccinelli repeats an old Republican lie about the results of an MIT study on the costs of clean energy & climate legislation. Strangely, Cuccinelli repeats the lie even though the MIT professor behind the study asked Republicans to stop lying about his research over a year ago.

How much would a bill like the American Clean Energy & Security Act that passed the House last year cost the average family? According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, about a postage stamp a day -- $175 a year. And low-income families would actually save $40 a year thanks to energy rebates. Pretty cheap for a bill that would create 1.7 million new jobs & curb the worst effects of global warming.

Showing that he must get his climate news from Rush Limbaugh, Cuccinelli also cites illegally hacked climate scientist emails as proof the Environmental Protection Agency should throw out decades of scientific research. Does Cuccinelli know the Associated Press had a team of 5 reporters comb through every word of those emails & found "none of the emails" changed the fact that "global warming is man-made and a threat"? Or is he happy to keep ignoring reality & instead live in a science-denying bubble?

Virginia Becoming a New National Leader in War on Science

While the Bush-Cheney Era has closed, we have a new leadership team for the war on science. Welcome to the McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli Era:

Richmond- Today, Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia, petitioned the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to convene a proceeding for the reconsideration of the "Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Finding for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act"(Endangerment Finding) published by the EPA on December 15th, 2009.

The petition asks that the EPA reconvene the regulatory proceeding, provide the public with the opportunity to comment on newly available information, and provide such information to the Science Advisory Board for its review and comment.

A petition for judicial review of the endangerment finding was also filed today in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Virginia is the first state to file such petitions.

Of course, the Environmental Protection Agency has already held public hearings, taken public comment, and conducted thorough scientific reviews. The Clean Air Act itself was passed by a Democratic Congress, signed by a Republican president, and its carbon regulations were validated by the Supreme Court.

But this isn't about debate & discussion -- this is about denial & delay. Cuccinelli wants to open a new carbon loophole in the Clean Air Act so America's worst polluters can keep dumping carbon into our atmosphere and not have to pay the price. Disgusting.

Keep in mind Cuccinelli is using the office of Virginia's Attorney General, funded by your tax dollars and in a time of budget crisis, to fight for some of the world's most profitable companies, like Exxon Mobil. Those polluters are spending plenty on their own to try to keep America addicted to dirty fuels -- Exxon Mobil alone spent $27 million on lobbying last year.

Virginia faces major threats if we refuse to tackle our climate crisis. Investment in clean energy could create tens of thousands of jobs in Virginia (PDF). It's a win-win. But instead of working to move Virginia forward, Ken Cuccinelli is keeping his head buried in the sand.

What's next for the McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli Era? A challenge to evolution? Fighting back against those dastardly doctors who say cigarettes kill?

Cross-posted from Blue Virginia