Phil Ammann
As part of an effort to boost its advocacy in Tallahassee, the Broward County Commission chose its lobbying lineup for 2015 – a six-member team that includes three firms new to the county in the past few years.
Each of the firms selected are a veritable who’s who of Florida lobbying houses: Adams St. Advocates, Ron Book, Anfield Consulting, Trip Scott, Southern Strategy Group and Ballard Partners.
Only Trip Scott and Book – who hails from the Broward region – were retained from the county’s former contracts, which ended Sept. 30.
On Tuesday, the County met with nine firms vying to represent Broward during the 2015 Legislative Session, a list culled from 16 companies that initially applied to the request for proposals.
Prior to the selection process, the board moved to increase the County’s lobbying budget from $240,000 to $367,000, acknowledging that they had been paying lobbyists less than other municipalities in similar circumstances.
Commissioners also agreed to increase the number of firms to contract from five to six, under the proposal that a larger team can better cover the issues and challenges facing Broward.
Narrowing the field to nine firms, the commissioners then quizzed each one with a series questions on experience and priorities. The commission then ranked the firms, with the top six making the cut.
The remaining contenders were Smith Bryan and Myers, Colodny and Fass, and Foley and Lardner.
