BP made political contributions in direct violation of its own policies

[WAPO] But BP North America -- the energy giant's U.S. subsidiary -- has donated at least $4.8 million in corporate contributions in the past seven years to political groups, partisan organizations and campaigns engaged in federal and state elections, an analysis of campaign and tax records shows.

Its most generous corporate contributions -- totaling about $4 million -- have gone to two Republican-aligned political action groups working to defeat state ballot initiatives in California and Colorado that could have raised oil and gas industry taxes, according to an analysis of state campaign reports by the Center for Political Accountability. On the national scene, BP spent about $112,000 in corporate money to boost the coffers of Democratic and Republican party organizations seeking to elect candidates to higher office, primarily the Democratic Governors Association and the Republican State Leadership Committee.

When asked about this obvious contradiction, a BP spokesman denied violating their own corporate code stating that "The types of spending that we reported here fits within our policy".

Their policy mandates that BP is not allowed to give money directly to candidates running for office at the state and federal levels. Their policy does not apply to groups or organizations that do funnel  financial contributions directly to candidates. Nice.

BP's management is as sleazy as they come and their actions in dealing with the devastating man-made environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico should raise all sorts of alarms about this absolutely untrustworthy global behemoth.

"Anyone who believes these large corporations aren't deeply involved in political decisions at every level of government is kidding themselves," said Meredith McGehee. [WAPO]