BP's Secret Request Line

Guess you can't put it past a company that Photoshops a picture to make its employees look busy. Now Mother Jones' Josh Harkinson has discovered that the beleaguered oil company, until last week, was operating a secret phone line for California politicians to use when requesting box seats to concerts, NBA and hockey games, and any event happening at the Arco Arena in Sacramento. The company responsible for the biggest oil disaster in history gave away more than 1,200 free tickets to lawmakers in the past five years and close to $300,000 worth of tickets in the last decade. The message, which can be heard online, gave clear instructions for how to secure the tickets without running afoul of limits on political gifts. The line went silent only in the past week, after Mother Jones began reporting the story.