Va. governor asks climate skeptic to avoid state climatologist title
Patrick Michaels is a noted skeptic about global warming, cited frequently in the mainstream press and funded amply by fossil-fuel interests. He goes by the title of “Virginia state climatologist.” That makes the commonwealth of Virginia uncomfortable, apparently, and it seems determined to distance itself from the increasingly wackadoo skeptical position. The governor’s office has said that Michaels does not represent the state; in fact he belongs to the University of Virginia, where he oversees the local office of the American Association of State Climatologists. The university responded that, hey, Gov. John Dalton appointed the guy in 1980, so whaddya gonna do? The governor’s office responded that the state code “does not provide for the governor to appoint a state climatologist,” and please, luvagod, could he at least refer to himself as the “AASC-designated state climatologist”? The university then replied, “no, he’s yours, double no takebacks, no do-overs!” (OK, we made up that last bit.) Sounds like a certain skeptical somebody needs to read Virginia’s Just Not That Into You.
