Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney nets $685K in Q3

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s diverse client sheet helped the 10-member firm rake in an estimated $685,000 last quarter according to newly filed lobbying compensation reports.

The Q3 team of Ivette O’Doski, Keith Arnold, Brett Bacot, Marnie George, Michael Harrell, Paul Hawkes, Jim Magill, Kimberly McGlynn, Timothy Stanfield and Mac Stipanovich juggled the needs of 53 legislative clients and 54 executive ones during the July through September reporting period.

The sweetest deal: U.S. Sugar. The Clewiston-based ag interest spent between $30,000 and $40,000 for legislative work and another $10,000 to $20,000 for advocacy before the Governor and Cabinet, for a median contract estimate of $50,000.

Insurance company State Farm may have paid the same amount if it maxed out on its deal. The lobby shop marked them down for up to $40,000 on the legislative report and up to $10,000 on the executive report.

Marsy’s Law for All could also be in the $50K club, though it’s split favored the executive branch. The national org was the chief backer of Amendment 6, which will add a “crime victims bill of rights” to the state constitution. It was approved by Florida voters in the Nov. 6 election — no recount needed.

Those top-tier contracts were followed by a duo paying $20,000 to $40,000 across the two reports: Gateway Health Plan and Vertical Bridge Holdings.

Further down their legislative client sheet, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney reported 16 clients in the $10,000 to $20,000 range and 14 chipping in up to $10,000 a pop. The exec sheet featured a quintet in the up-to-$20K bracket and an additional 32 contracts that could have hit five figures.

Using median figures for those reported ranges, the firm brought in an estimated $400,000 plying the Legislature and $285,000 working the Governor and Cabinet. If their principals paid top dollar, the Q3 haul could have topped a cool million.

The figures posted on each report’s bottom line indicate legislative and executive earnings each totaled somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000, meaning the minimum Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney could have earned last quarter is $500,000.

With a quarter left to play, the firm has brought in around $2.19 million for the year.

Q3’s median estimate is only a minor dip compared to Q2, when the team reel in an estimated $720,000. In the first quarter of the year, which included the entirety of the 2018 Legislative Session, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney netted an estimated $785,000.

Florida lobbyists are required to report new clients when they’re added to the roster, while earnings reports are due every three months. Reports list compensation per client in ranges covering $10,000 intervals up to $50,000, after which a firm must report exact amounts.

Third quarter reports were due from all lobbying firms by the close of business on Nov. 14. Fourth quarter reports are due in mid-February 2019.