I'm Shocked, Shocked I Tell You...

I'm just shocked that an AP analysis of the folks overseeing the legal action against BP finds fully half of the judges overseeing oil spill cases have connections to the oil industry...really...nobody could have guessed, etc.

More than half of the federal judges in districts where the bulk of Gulf oil spill-related lawsuits are pending have financial connections to the oil and gas industry, complicating the task of finding judges without conflicts to hear the cases, an Associated Press analysis of judicial financial disclosure reports shows.

Thirty-seven of the 64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast districts in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have links to oil, gas and related energy industries, including some who own stocks or bonds in BP PLC, Halliburton or Transocean — and others who regularly list receiving royalties from oil and gas production wells, according to the reports judges must file each year. The AP reviewed 2008 disclosure forms, the most recent available.

Gosh, it's almost like there's a pattern here of judges in Gulf Coast states having financial ties to the energy industry, and not just the industry but specifically BP, Halliburton, and Transocean. Not like anything untoward is going on here.

Some judges have close ties to the energy industry that aren't for financial gain, but could still raise questions of potential bias.

The judge BP wants to hear all of the spill-related cases, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes of Houston, for the past two years has been a "distinguished lecturer" focusing on ethical issues for the 35,000-member American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Hughes is not paid a fee but does receive reimbursements for travel, food and lodging, said association spokesman Larry Nation. Hughes has appeared at petroleum geologist meetings in several Texas cities, in New Orleans and also in Cape Town, South Africa. He is scheduled to give a lecture later this month in Calgary, Canada, the oil and gas capital of that country.

Now, why would BP want this particular judge to hear every single oil-spill related case, just because he goes flying around North America giving lectures on behalf of an oil-industry group?  Not like there's tens of billions of dollars at stake here or anything and BP's trying to get the friendliest possible judge to give them the smallest possible fine.

Right?