Despite all evidence to the contrary, American International Group really does care about its public image.

The insurance giant, which recently received its fourth round of taxpayer bailout cash, has at least four public-relations firms on its payroll, breakingviews.com reports.

The firms include Kekst and Company, Sard Verbinnen & Co., Hill & Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller. The company also has its own in-house PR team. Specific services and costs were not disclosed.

Of course, it’s common for large corporations to retain PR firms in order to manage complex lines of communications with regulators, legislators and journalists, especially at a time of crisis. What’s less clear is how a group of high-profile spinsters allowed AIG’s top brass to look so bad.

Just weeks after crying poor to Congress and receiving its first $85 billion bailout, AIG executives blew $440,000 on a week-long corporate retreat at the upscale St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, CA. The company has since been scolded for another lavish junket in Phoenix, among other perks.

This week, AIG posted a $61.7 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2008, the largest ever by a U.S. company. CEO Edward Liddy has blamed the company’s woes on former AIG boss Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. In response, Greenberg, who rejected a multimillion-dollar bonus last year but remains AIG’s biggest shareholder, is now suing his former employer for securities fraud.

Taxpayers, take heart — your money’s in good hands.