Pacific Institute ‘deeply concerned’ about Gleick’s deception to obtain confidential documents from rightwing thinktank
Suzanne Goldenberg
US environment correspondent
The Guardian [UK]
22 February 2012
The career and reputation of the scientist behind the Heartland Institute exposé was in jeopardy on Wednesday night, after his employers said they were reviewing his use of deception to obtain confidential documents.
The review, by the board of directors of the Pacific Institute, was the most serious potential repercussion to date of the admission by Peter Gleick that he had lied to obtain fundraising documents and a donor list from Heartland, the rightwing thinktank devoted to discrediting climate change.
A statement on the website of the Pacific Institute, which Gleick founded and now heads, said the board was “deeply concerned” about the ruse carried out against Heartland.
“Neither the board nor the staff of the Pacific Institute knew of, played any role in, or condones these events,” the board said.
Gleick was not the only potential career casualty of the Heartland affair. Earlier on Wednesday, a Democratic member of Congress called for an investigation into whether a Department of the Interior employee, Indur Goklany, had broken the rules by taking a salary from Heartland at the same time he was working for the federal government. The payments were revealed in Heartland documents released by Gleick.
The statement from the Pacific Institute comes just 24 hours after the board reaffirmed its support for Gleick. “Dr Gleick has been and continues to be an integral part of our team,” the earlier statement said.
But since then a number of its funders have expressed displeasure at Gleick’s deception, the Guardian has learned…
…Gleick has faced increasing criticism since then from fellow scientists, who contend that his techniques were a betrayal of the rigorous method and transparency that are at the heart of science…
The article continues at The Guardian.
Related: UK Daily Mail: ‘Fakegate’ – the new nadir of the climate change swindle
Curry: ‘Gleick’s ‘integrity’ seems to have nothing to do with scientific integrity, but rather loyalty to and consistency with what I have called the UNFCCC/IPCC ideology. It is fine for people (and scientists) have political ideologies. The problem comes in when you use politics to defend your science, and you use science to demand policies’
Curry: ‘There is the common theme of climate scientists compromising personal and professional ethics, integrity, and responsibility, all in the interests of a ’cause’
These articles all H/T ClimateDepot where Marc Morano probably has every article printed about Gleick since this story broke.
