Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal pushed the fiction that Obama's Oil Spew Commission is loaded with anti-oil and anti-drilling activists. Opinion editors couldn't find a DEF 14A or a University of Alaska donor report? Both reveal significant BP connections to Obama's Oil Spew Commission. Here's what Murdoch's team missed:
ConocoPhillips 2010 proxy statement shows Commission co-chair William Reilly controlling over $2 million in stock. ConocoPhillips is a joint venture partner with BP in the massive Tiber field in the Gulf of Mexico. Stock holdings don't go away during a temporary leave of absence.
BP donated over $3 million to Chancellor Fran Ulmer's University of Alaska. BP and ConocoPhillips donated over $30 million to the University over the last decade. Fran's boss sat on BP America's external advisory council.
HoumaToday highlighted Fran Ulmer's visit. Their article stated:
Some have criticized the panel for including too many representatives from the environmental community critical of the oil industry.The reporter noted Ulmer's Alaska ties, but failed to drill deeper. I understand a local paper not having the investigative muscle, but the WSJ? They missed direct and indirect conflicts of interest. Who declares those anymore? That's so last century.
