Uber backed a Nevada ballot question that would limit how much Nevada attorneys can charge in civil cases. Attorneys said that these limits would prevent them from taking on risky cases such as claims by victims of sexual assault against Uber and its drivers.
Faked petitions in St. Louis
In a dispute with the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission in St. Louis, Uber’s local general manager staged a media stunt in which Uber employees delivered nine boxes supposedly filled with “1,000 PETITIONS” (according to their labels), purportedly indicating citizen support for Uber. But the boxes were actually filled with water bottles.
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 151)
High lobbying expenses to sway lawmakers
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 149) describes Uber’s high lobbying expenses, including (at peak) tens of millions of dollars spent per year. At peak, Uber had almost 400 paid lobbyists across 44 states, exceeding the paid lobbying staffs of Amazon, Microsoft, and Walmart combined.
Lobbied against NY $0.50/ride fee to fund public transit
New York City taxis are obliged to collect a $0.50/ride fee which helps support public transit. But Uber lobbied against this fee applying to Uber rides, instead proposing that the city divert other public funds to support public transit.
Illegal lobbying by former Obama aide David Plouffe
David Plouffe, then Uber’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Strategy (formerly campaign manager for President Barack Obama) lobbied Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as to requirements for Uber’s operation in that city — but failed to register as a lobbyist as required by law until 90 business days later. In February 2017, Plouffe was fined $90,000 for the violation.
Guided by Plouffe, Emanuel advocated the policies that Uber favored. The Chicago Tribune explains: “When aldermen [Chicago legislators] pushing for the stronger rules, which included fingerprinting drivers, tried to use a parliamentary maneuver to delay the action, Emanuel threatened to adjourn the City Council meeting. In the end, the watered-down version Emanuel preferred remained intact.”
Plouffe’s email discussions with Emanuel were uncovered as part of a lawsuit as to Emanuel’s use of a personal email account to conduct government business. In settling that lawsuit, Emanuel turned over about 2,700 pages of government-related emails from his personal account. Plouffe’s email to Emanuel is dated November 20, 2015 – pages 127-129 in this archive.
Failed to disclose $6.3 million of lobbying expenses in NY
In June 2017, Uber was fined $98,000 for underreporting how much it spent on lobbying in New York, having failed to report $6.3 million of expenditure in its 2015-2016 registration.