“This really isn’t a story,” said Reed, who has also twice run unsuccessfully for mayor.

Reed filed for re-election on Nov. 26, and signed an affidavit declaring under penalties of perjury that he was not delinquent in the payment of “any personal property taxes, real property taxes on any real property located within the City of St. Louis.”

Technically, the taxes on the Durango were not delinquent when Reed filed. Taxes for 2018 were due by Dec. 31, about a month after he filed for re-election. But as of Wednesday, the taxes were more than five weeks late. Reed said that he donated the SUV to a veterans group, and it was auctioned off by that group for charity. Since he no longer owned it, there was some confusion about who should pay the taxes, Shepard said.

The city had sued Reed the previous two years for delinquent taxes on the Durango. Those back taxes are paid in full. It’s the same Durango that was twice stolen.

In July 2012, the SUV, including about $30,000 in campaign checks in the glove compartment, was taken from outside his house on Russell Boulevard, in Compton Heights, and recovered a short time later. In November 2014, the vehicle was stolen a second time, and again recovered.