The Stenger indictment says Cardinal Creative, which was paid $130,000 by the county port authority, was used as a conduit to pay $25,000 to someone identified as “JC” who was close to a public official.

“JC,” sources told the Post-Dispatch, is political operative John Cross, who they described as close to Congressman William “Lacy” Clay. Cross has worked for many local officials, including Reed, who paid his company $41,000 for field operations and outreach in his 2019 reelection as board president.

Reed said his call for the city to quit the Partnership had nothing to do with the payments to Cardinal Creative — which appear to be the only payments any Missouri campaign has made to the company.

He said Rallo was his contact at Cardinal Creative, and that the company made a “cold call” to his campaign. Their pricing was competitive for printing and mailing services, and he liked the idea of using a local company rather than one outside of the region. They “beat our number doing it in-house,” he said, adding they “came very highly recommended by one of the major printing companies.”