Drew Wilson
Smith Bryan & Myers banked nearly $1.2 million in pay during the second quarter, new compensation reports show.
The reports show $705,000 in earnings lobbying the Legislature and another $460,000 lobbying the Governor and Cabinet for a total haul of $1.17 million.
Florida lobbyists and lobbying firms report their pay in ranges covering $10,000 increments. Florida Politics uses the middle number of each range to estimate quarterly pay.
Lobbying firms also disclose their overall pay in broad ranges. Smith Bryan & Myers reports between $500,000 and $1 million in legislative receipts and between $250,000 and $500,000 in executive pay. Based on those figures, the firm’s earnings floor is $750,000, with its maximum payday coming in at $1.5 million.
The team of Matt Bryan, David Daniel, Thomas Griffin, Jeff Hartley, Lisa Hurley, Jim Naff and Teye Reeves collected those fees across 81 clients spanning several different industries.
The legislative compensation report featured a half-dozen clients in the $25,000 bracket, including the Florida Bar, the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association, Johnson & Johnson Services and Southern Fidelity Insurance Company.
Two dozen contracts followed in the $15,000 pay range with the balance marked down as paying $5,000 apiece.
Notable names on the list include the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the University of Florida Foundation, CoreCivic and Duke Energy. SBM also repped a long list of local and municipal governments, including Alachua County and the cities of Naples, Palatka and Pembroke Pines, among others.
The firm’s executive compensation report featured an identical list of principals, though the contract sizes shifted down a rung from the legislative report.
Twelve clients showed up in the $10,000 to $20,000 pay range, including Christian Prison Ministries, The College Board, Employer Direct Healthcare, the Florida Hospital Association and NTT Data.
Overall, Smith Bryan & Myers’ second-quarter earnings reports were on par with those filed before the coronavirus pandemic hit the Sunshine State — the firm earned just $30,000 less in Q2 2020 than it did during the same quarter last year. The reports also keep the firm on track to match or exceed its $4.6 million haul for all of 2019.
When lobbyists and their firms sign lobbying agreements with each client, they are required to report all earnings with the state on a quarterly basis.
Firms faced an Aug. 14 deadline to file compensation reports for the period covering April 1 through June 31. Compensation reports for the third quarter of 2020 are due to the state on Nov. 14.
