Drew Wilson
The team at Colodny Fass earned an estimated $2.2 million last year, newly filed lobbying compensation reports show.
The firm recorded $1.31 million in pay for its work in the Legislature. Colodny added another $880,000 to its coffers lobbying the Governor and Cabinet.
Lobbying firms report their pay from each client in $10,000 ranges. Florida Politics tallies the middle number of those ranges to estimate quarterly compensation.
Firms also list overall ranges on their quarterly reports. Colodny’s filings indicate it earned no less than $1.4 million last year. If the firm’s clients paid top dollar in their reported range, 2019 income could have hit $3 million.
Lobbyists Katie Webb, Jodi Bock Davidson, Sandy Fay, Nicole Graganella, Claude Mueller, and Nate Strickland collected those fees across more than 50 lobbying contracts, many of which broke the six-figure mark.
At $110,000, Florida Peninsula Insurance Company was their most lucrative client in the Legislature. The homeowners’ insurance outfit was followed by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, HCA Healthcare, WellCare Health Plans, each of which paid $100,000 in legislative lobbying retainers last year.
Topping the executive branch ledger were Ascendant Holdings and FedNat Insurance Company, both at the $100,000 level. Florida Peninsula Insurance Company occupied the next rung with another $70,000 in compensation, making it Colodny’s top-paying client overall last year.
Insurance companies peppered the list at all pay levels. A sampling of the others: Capitol Preferred Insurance Company, the Florida Property & Casualty Association, Southern Fidelity Property & Casualty and Government Employees Insurance Company, better known as GEICO.
The firm had clients outside the insurance industry, too, including household names such as Disney and Uber. Duke Energy, Trulieve, Dosal Tobacco and the Broward Teachers Union also turned to Colodny for lobbying help last year.
Colodny’s 2019 tally was spread fairly evenly across the year, with all four quarters netting the firm $500,000 or more.
Florida lobbyists and lobbying firms faced a Feb. 14 deadline to file compensation reports for the period covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. Compensation reports for the first quarter of 2020 are due to the state in mid-April.
