After CREW calls him out, top corporate lobbyist files disclosures

It was a simple question.  Why hasn’t top corporate lobbyist Scott Reed filed ANY lobbying reports in 2015?  He hasn’t answered the question we asked last Thursday, but he did have a response.  Specifically, on Friday, he finally filed his long overdue 2015 First Quarter lobbying report.  And his Second Quarter Report.  And his Third Quarter Report.  And even his Fourth Quarter Report from last year.

Of course, he still hasn’t filed any of the lobbying contribution disclosures from the last two years that he is legally required to file, but it’s been a busy couple weeks for Reed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior political strategist and former Dole for President campaign manager.  Two weeks ago we filed a criminal complaint against him and some of his associates from a notorious dark money group, alleging that they may have violated federal law by making false statements to the government, obstructing a federal investigation and pocketing more than $1 million dollars that had been set aside to be spent on ads.  And the U.S. Attorney’s office could bring criminal or civil charges against him for failing to file his lobbying disclosures.

So who were the clients that paid Reed more than half a million dollars that he apparently didn’t want anyone to know about?  Some pretty familiar names, like Motorola (more than $55,000), US Airways ($115,000) and Bridgestone Firestone (more than $40,000).  They’re joined by manufacturing giant United Technologies Corporation (more than $140,000), which is one of the top ten recipients of government contracts, and home mortgage company 1st Alliance Lending ($150,000), among others.

Filing these overdue reports is a necessary first step, but now we’ve got more questions.  We still want to know why he didn’t file any disclosures without us publicly calling him out.  And we want to know why he continues to refuse to file lobbying contribution disclosures, and to whom he gave money.  But now we also want to know if these major corporations like Motorola, US Air, UTC and Bridgestone Firestone knew that hundreds of thousands of their lobbying dollars were undisclosed in what appear to us to be multiple violations of federal law.