Drew Wilson
Liberty Partners of Tallahassee started the year off strong with an estimated $460,000 in lobbying revenues last quarter.
New lobbying compensation reports show the firm earned $250,000 lobbying the Legislature and another $210,000 lobbying the Governor and Cabinet.
Florida lobbyists report their earnings for each contract in ranges covering $10,000. Florida Politics uses the middle number of each range to estimate quarterly earnings.
Lobbyists also report total earnings in broad ranges. The reports show the firm earned no less than $350,000 last quarter. If Liberty Partners’ contracts tilted toward the high end of their reported ranges, the firm could have earned as much as $640,000.
Whether the true tally was on the low or high end of that range, the new reports indicate rapid growth at the firm. In Q3 2020, Liberty Partners reported median earnings of $260,000.
Firm president Jennifer Green and lobbyists Melanie Bostick, Ethan Merchant and Timothy Parson represented about 30 clients last quarter, with 28 showing up on the legislative report and 27 mostly overlapping clients retaining the firm for executive branch work.
The legislative report featured eight clients at the $15,000 level. They included national names such as Expedia and Uber, as well as local interests such as the City of Defuniak Springs.
Thirteen other clients showed up at the $5,000 level. They also ran the gamut, from the municipal governments for Milton and Freeport to the multinational telecom company AT&T.
Expedia topped the executive branch report with $25,000 in payments last quarter. Outside of Expedia moving up a bracket, the names and pecking order were the same as the legislative report.
Some other well-known clients on each report: The Florida Chamber of Commerce, HomeAway and VRBO.
Florida lobbyists and lobbying firms faced a May 15 deadline to turn in compensation reports covering Jan. 1 through March 31. Second-quarter compensation reports are due to the state on Aug. 14.
