A clarion call by a group of professors demanding that climate dissenters be prosecuted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act backfired spectacularly last week when the Republican-controlled House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology launched an investigation into the group’s organization, the Institute of Global Environment and Society. IGES President Jagadish Shukla is now trying to stave off possible ethics violations — namely, using taxpayer dollars to attack opposing viewpoints, a move that perplexed even some Democrats. Emphasis on some. Others, like Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, the ranking Democrat on the committee, pretend to cherish freedom of speech while simultaneously ignoring the allegations against IGES. Johnson suggested the probe is unjustified and paints IGES as the victim. “[S]ince the letter [ordering Shukla to retain information for investigative purposes] contains no specific allegations, I am puzzled as to the Chairman’s intent in writing it,” she said. Still, asserted Johnson, “To be clear about my own position, I would resist any attempt to stifle the constitutionally protected right of any citizen, including the nation’s scientists, to engage in free speech without interference.” But that’s exactly what the group’s letter demands. A letter that has since been taken offline because it was “inadvertently” made public to begin with.

Which brings us to this nugget by The Washington Free Beacon: “Aides to a dozen Democratic governors and the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial advocacy arm circulated talking points and political messaging memos on EPA’s new power plant regulations that laid out ways to ‘sow doubts about our opponents [sic] motives,’ in the words of one of those memos.” For example, the Beacon explains, “The memo suggested blaming rate hikes on power companies themselves despite acknowledging the widespread view that EPA regulations would raise electricity rates. ‘Big power companies are using pollution limits as an excuse to raise rates — and we shouldn’t let them get away with it,’ suggested one talking point.” IGES’s motives couldn’t be clearer, yet Rep. Johnson nevertheless defended the organization while claiming, with a straight face no less, that she “would resist any attempt to stifle the constitutionally protected right of any citizen, including the nation’s scientists, to engage in free speech without interference.” But what both these stories reveal is that there is a concerted effort among Democrats to not just criminalize dissenting views but lie about who’s responsible for the policies’ collateral damage. No wonder folks like Shukla didn’t want any of this made public. It reveals who’s really engaged in racketeering.