The telling silence of Martin-Shulte and the Science and Public Policy Institute

onSep 11, 2007 @ 09:50 PDT

Last week I wrote a piece about the people and organizations involved in the latest attack on the work of Dr. Naomi Oreseks. They were: Dr. Klaus-Martin Shulte, Christopher Monckton and Rob Ferguson, who was formerly employed by the oil-industry backed “think” tank, the Frontiers of Freedom. Ferguson now runs his own think tank called the “Science and Public Policy Institute.”

After exhausting resources on the internet, I had a few important questions left outstanding, so I sent emails to Ferguson and Martin-Shulte almost a week ago with no response as of yet.

Here are the questions I sent Ferguson:

1. How did Lord Monckton receive a copy of Shulte’s work so far in advance of it being published?
2. Is Shulte employed by the Science and Policy Institute, or has he received any financial compensation from your organization?
3. If there is no financial relationship between your organization and Shulte, how is it that your organization is privy to such things as the report in advance of its publication and Shulte’s follow-up “open letters” to Dr. Oreskes?

And here are the questions I sent Shulte:

I am wondering if you could clear up the following questions that I have outstanding:

1. How did Lord Monckton receive a copy of your work so far in advance of it being published?
2. Are employed by the Science and Policy Institute, or have you received any financial compensation from the Science and Policy Institute?
3. If there is no financial relationship between you and the Science and Policy Institute, how is it that they are privy to such things as your report in advance of its publication and your follow-up “open letters” to Dr. Oreskes?

I think I’ll just keep sending them these questions until they answer them, and you can too. Here’s Shulte’s email address that I found on the internet: Klaus-Martin.Schulte [at] kch.nhs.uk

And here’s Rob Ferguson’s: bferguson [at] sppinstitute.org

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.