Drew Wilson
Louis Betz and Travis Mitchell received $130,000 in lobbying compensation between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 to finish out the year with an estimated $520,000 in earnings.
Louis Betz & Associates had 25 legislative branch clients and 11 executive branch clients last quarter.
Top principals included Waste Management Inc of Florida, which paid $30,000 for executive and legislative lobbying, followed by red-light camera company American Traffic Solutions, Tampa Taxi Coalition and Ygrene Energy Fund Florida, each of which paid $15,000 for representation in the Legislature.
Lobbyists are required to submit reports detailing their client roster and compensation for legislative and executive lobbying each quarter.
Reports for the last three months of 2017 were due to the state on Feb. 14.
Those reports list compensation from principals in ranges covering $10,000 increments. Florida Politics uses the middle number of each range to estimate compensation.
The fourth quarter numbers for the two-person shop make for $520,000 in earnings last year.
Top clients across all four quarters were mostly mirrored the Q4 list, with Waste Management leading the pack at $95,000 paid last year.
American Traffic Solutions paid $15,000 a quarter for a total of $60,000 last year, as did Tampa Taxi Coalition and Ygrene Energy Fund Florida.
Several other clients clocked in at the $40,000 level for the year after writing a pair of checks clocking in at $5,000 each for legislative and executive representation each quarter.
Those clients include the City of Temple Terrace, Crisis Center of Tampa Bay and the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority.
At the $30,000 level was Mindshare Technologies, which split its payments down the middle for executive and legislative lobbying, followed by a trio of groups that paid $20,000 for only legislative representation last year: Covanta Energy, Energy Systems Group and MOSI.
Link-Systems International paid $15,000, including $10,000 for legislative work and $5,000 for executive, followed by Costa Creative at $10,000 for the year and Designated Gaming Services and Metrotech Net at $5,000 apiece.
