Interest in expanding gambling in Florida helped push Capital City Consulting to become one of the handful of Tallahassee lobbying firms to crack the $2 million mark in the first quarter of 2014.
In Q1 2014, Capital City filed estimated maximum earnings of $1,485,929 in legislative fees and $769,928 for executive advocacy for a total of up to $2,255,857. Its six-member lobbying team includes top names like Nicholas Iarossi, Gerald Wester, Ronald LaFace and Ashley Mayer, covering 81 legislative and 78 executive clients.
Capital City’s highest paying customer in Q1 was the Las Vegas Sands Corp, which paid the firm legislative lobbying fees of $79,000, followed by Florida Association of Ticket Brokers with $57,000. Both companies had high profile issues facing the legislature — expanded gambling in South Florida and the push to rewrite ticket laws in the state, making selling fraudulent tickets a second-degree misdemeanor.
Also paying up to $49,999 in Q1 were health insurance giant Aetna, Inc., and the United Services Automobile Association, while the Palm Beach County Sheriff Office and the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform ponied up to $39,999 in legislative lobbying fees.
On the executive side, the top Capital City client in Q1 was eye-care health provider Superior Vision Services, Inc., with up to $29,999 in executive advocacy. Health care data analytics company Benefit Informatics, leading food service distributor Cheney Brothers, Inc and the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute each spent up to $19,999 in the first three months of the year.
