I begin with a confession.
Years ago I was mailed a coupon from a gas conglomerate and, I’m ashamed to say, I may have cashed it in.
According to some activists, that makes me a shill. You see, these days, accepting corporate funding automatically means you’re bought and paid for, a lackey, lining your pockets with hush money doled out by corporate America.
Conflict of interest can be real, of course, but blanket condemnation of anyone funded by sources you find unsavory is one of the most intellectually lazy smears available – an easy way to avoid real debate.
The most recent slur of this variety began when Stanley Lewandowski, general manager of the Intermountain Rural Electric Association, or IREA, raised $150,000 to help fund the work of Patrick Michaels, a skeptic of global-warming hysteria.
Lewandowski tells me he owes it to customers to look at all the facts before the hysteria reaches the legislature.
“This is going to end up in a legislative area, and I want to make sure I’m on the right page. Michaels is a well-qualified guy, he doesn’t cross the line,” Lewandowski explains. He assures me the IREA board of directors unanimously approved the hiring of Michaels as a consultant.
Good for the IREA board. The causes and extent of global warming – which almost every scientist agrees is happening – as well as what can be done about it are still very much up for debate.
“They know there is much more information on global-climate change than is being presented to the public. And they want to see other sides,” explains Michaels, who wishes people would take “a dispassionate” look at the facts.
Good luck.
“It’s outrageous. It’s an abuse of authority,” railed Ron Binz, Colorado’s former state utility consumer advocate. “… Stan Lewandowski is basically spending other people’s money.”
But wait: Binz is also a consultant. I called Binz to ask him: What’s the difference between Michaels taking money from IREA or Binz taking money from IREA when he was director of a political campaign to fight deregulation?
It’s different. It’s all about scale, explains Binz, who believes Michaels is a “political combatant.”
Apparently, the fine line between right and wrong is not always discernible to the average human.
“I think the whole thing is odd, because most university faculty members consult – at least ones that are competent at what they do,” Michaels said. “If this is going to upset everyone, then we’ll have to look at everyone.”
Wishful thinking. The real impetus behind this smear is that Michaels is difficult to dismiss. He is the climatologist for the state of Virginia, a research professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, past president of the American Association of State Climatologists and author of numerous books.
He’s also a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute. And man, do environmentalists hate the libertarian Cato Institute.
Environmental activist Laurie David – best known for being the spouse of comedian Larry David, which has given her prodigious powers of scientific expertise – is a walking special interest. Laurie David contributed thousands to left-wing causes and candidates in recent years. That’s her right, for sure.
Problem is, she’s not so crazy about freedom of speech when it comes to others. David, in a letter to the University of Virginia, wants Michaels to be forced to resign for his opinion.
She wrote: “Is it your policy to allow your science professors to openly solicit, and then accept, industry funds to promote a viewpoint that is in conflict with the vast worldwide scientific community?”
First off, what happened to academic freedom? Is she asserting we fire academics with “conflicting” views? More importantly, Lewandowski assures me that Michaels wasn’t “soliciting” for funds.
But even if he had, there is nothing wrong with funding scientific study or your business. Attack the science, not the man’s principles.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
