14 highest paid Maryland lobbying firms grossed over $30M
An ice sculpture of the State House st the Red Red Wine bar in Annapolis in January 2017. A lobbying firm paid for the sculpture. The bar and its neighbors will host back to back political fundraisers next week just prior to the beginning of the legislative session, during which all fundraising for the lawmakers must stop. MarylandReporter.com photo
By Len Lazarick
Len@MarylandReporter.com
The 14 state lobbying firms that billed over $1 million in the past year grossed over $30 million representing literally hundreds of clients.
Not surprisingly, the 10 highest-paid lobbyists which we listed last month as each billing more than $1 million are also members of the top-grossing firms.
The highest-grossing firms, whose billings include all the expenses to run an Annapolis office, in order are:
Perry, White, Ross & Jacobson…….$4,534,051
Rifkin Weiner Livingston, LLC…… $3,678,804
Alexander & Cleaver, P.A. …………..$3,126,479
Manis Canning & Associates ……….$2,828,976
Harris Jones & Malone, LLC ……….$2,130,823
Gerard E. Evans, Ltd. …………………$2,089,899
Venable, LLP …………………………….$2,032,909
Capitol Strategies, LLC ……………….$1,822,016
Schwartz, Metz & Wise, P.A. ………..$1,803,027
Bruce Bereano ………………………….$1,675,303
S. Proctor & Associates, Inc. ………. $1,313,041
Cornerstone Government Affairs .. $1,067,153
Gordon Feinblatt LLC ………………..$1,022,775
DLA Piper LLP (US) …………………..$1,000,194
The State Ethics Commission assembles this data annually based on reports filed by the lobbyists and their firms. Here is a link to all the commission’s breakdowns.
Here is the commission’s list of all the registered lobbyists and their clients. Here is a list of organizations who hired lobbyists and the names of those hired.
The commission lists do not include earnings for scores of six-figure lobbyists who work directly for state and local governments and many nonprofit organizations. They do not have to register or file earnings reports.
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