Faced with controversy, the first instinct of many corporate executives apparently is to lie.
Only if that doesn't work will they resort to the truth - even if that would have been more effective and less expensive to begin with.
The most recent example of this phenomenon comes courtesy of oil industry executives who testified before a Senate subcommittee that their companies had not participated in Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, which has been shrouded in unnecessary and self-defeating secrecy ...