Always follow the Koch money.
A two-year-old conservative outfit coyly named the “American Tradition Institute” has forced the University of Virginia to “cough up” thousands of emails through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit focusing on Michael Mann, a former U.Va. climatologist who has been hounded for more than a year for his research and positions on global warming.
The charge has been led by Virginia’s ultra-right-wing Atty. Gen. Kenneth Cuccinelli who has hit Mr. Jefferson’s University with “investigative demands’ for the emails of some 39 scientists around the world who may have communicated with Dr. Mann, who left U.Va. for Penn State several years ago. Cuccinelli, you see, doesn’t believe that humans have anything to do with global warming.
Never mind that Mann has been cleared repeatedly by his peers of any wrongdoing. U.Va. has tried to support academic freedom by blocking Cuccinelli’s politically motivated fishing trip.
Now comes the so-called “American Tradition Institute” with Prince William Del. Robert G. Marshall cheering them, to set up a lawsuit to get more than 34,000 emails also related to Michael Mann. A circuit court judge in Prince William County, a hotbed of conservatism, has gone along with the lawsuit and U.Va. has begun releasing the emails, some of which have to do with such weighty matters relating to the integrity of the scientific process as personal plans for Halloween parties.
So, who is the “American Tradition Institute” anyway? One place to look is who its “executive director” is. He is Paul Chesser, a journalist originally from Rhode Island who edited some community newspapers in North Carolina and is a conservative blogger and columnist.
Chesser is listed on the John Locke Foundation website as being a “special correspondent” for the Heartland Institute as well. The Intitute, a right-wing, Chicago-based think tank and advocacy group, has been massively funded by Koch brothers Charles and David who run a Wichita-based firm that is the second-largest privately held conglomerate in the U.S.
The ultra-conservative Kochs have bankrolled everything from Lincoln Center in New York to a host of far-right organizations. In a revealing article, The New Yorker outlined last year the Kochs’ well- organized plans to discredit President Barack Obama.
It isn’t certain if Chesser is funded directly by the Kochs or if the American Tradition Institute is. Contributions to non-profits like it are supposed to be available on demand to the public and often they are available online through guidestar.org. I somehow couldn’t find them online and haven’t had time yet to drive to downtown Washington to their offices and ask to see them.
There is enough, however, to wonder who this two-year-old outfit is. Plus, one wonders what Chesser’s qualifications are to play expert in climatology. He seems like a journalist such as myself.
So, before you read any more breathless blog postings about U.Va. having to “cough up” damning documents about climate change or Halloween parties, consider who is making the request and consider how much the university is going to have to pay to comply with these right-wing fishing trips.
Peter Galuszka
