Reaction to Mayor Reed’s Audio Recording, Allegation of Extortion Attempt
WAKA 8 hit the streets of Montgomery to get your reaction to the ongoing story involving the audio clips of Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and his allegation that a community leader used them as part of an extortion attempt.
As we have reported, the audio clips were posted to the internet. Reed could be heard using several profanities as he talked about the Black vote, white money, his thoughts on Maxwell Gunter Air Force Base and his ability to go on TV to bring investments to the city.
At a news conference Tuesday, Reed says the clips were manipulated. He says the person behind them is Charles Lee, who owns the That’s My Dog hot dog business and the That’s My Child charity for children.
Reed says the recordings were made without his knowledge in 2020 when he had turned to community leaders, including Lee, for help in keeping the city calm in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder when many other cities nationwide had erupted into violence.
But instead of helping, Reed says Lee wanted $30,000 and was attempting to extort the city. Reed says he had at first decided not to seek prosecution, but has now changed his mind once the recordings were released.
After the news conference, Lee spoke to WAKA 8 at Tuesday night’s Montgomery City Council meeting. He did not address council, but he told us he had heard none of these claims before.
With all of these developments, we wanted to know what the people of the city think and whether the matter should be turned over to the district attorney or whether everyone should simply move on.
Watch the video to see the comments we got from people downtown.
