Drew Wilson
New compensation reports show the two-person team at Capitol Alliance Group collected $330,000 in lobbying fees last quarter.
Lobbyists Jeff Sharkey and Taylor Patrick Biehl represented 61 clients for the quarter, collecting $250,000 in pay from their legislative clients and an additional $155,000 for executive branch lobbying.
Florida Politics estimates lobbying pay based on the middle number of the per-client ranges firms list on their compensation reports. Contracts are reported in $10,000 increments up to $50,000.
The firm’s legislative compensation report showed six contracts at the $15,000 level. Those clients included the City of St Petersburg, the Leon County Board of County Commissioners, the Medical Marijuana Business Association of Florida, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Wendover Housing Partners and Willis Towers Watson.
The same set of clients also paid $15,000 for executive branch lobbying, sending the firm a total of $30,000 each between the two reports.
The remainder of CAG’s paid contracts showed up at the $5,000 level.
They included several companies and associations dealing with emerging industries, such as the Florida Blockchain Alliance and Florida Hemp Association.
The firm is also a go-to for several companies associated with billionaire businessman and future Twitter owner Elon Musk. In addition to the aforementioned SpaceX, the firm collected $20,000 from Tesla last quarter.
They also represented The Boring Company, though it was marked down as an unpaid contract. The company has been in talks with some South Florida municipalities to build tunnels and loops, including Fort Lauderdale, which has entered into an agreement with TBC to build a tunnel between downtown and the beach.
Capitol Alliance Group’s reports show the firm earned between $250,000 and $500,000 in legislative lobbying pay and between $100,000 and $250,000 in executive branch lobbying pay. That means the firm earned no less than $350,000 in Q1. At the top end, the firm could have earned as much as $540,000.
Florida lobbyists and lobbying firms faced a May 15 deadline to file compensation reports for the period covering Jan. 1 through March 31. Compensation reports for the second quarter are due to the state on Aug. 14.
