Drew Wilson
The team at Rubin Turnbull & Associates is three for three on $2 million quarters this year, new compensation reports show.
The firm led by Bill Rubin and Heather Turnbull filed reports showing it earned at least $1 million lobbying the Legislature and another $1 million lobbying the executive branch. That is the top bracket for firm-level ranges, meaning Rubin Turnbull & Associates could have earned more.
“We are very pleased with the growth of our firm as we continue to build our legislative and executive branch business, as well as establishing a major local practice in Miami-Dade, Broward, and now Palm Beach and Tampa Bay,” Turnbull said.
Florida Politics estimates how much firms earn based on the middle number of the per-client ranges they list on their compensation reports. Contracts are reported in $10,000 increments. Compensation reports also include firm-level ranges, which can give outsiders a rough idea of their minimum and maximum earnings.
In addition to the named partners, the firm’s third-quarter team included Melissa Akeson, Jacqui Carmona, Erica Chanti, Kevin Comerer, Jodi Bock Davidson, Christopher Finkbeiner, Zachary Hubbard, Matthew Sacco and Sharonda Wright-Placide.
They represented 82 legislative clients and 86 executive branch clients during the three months ending Sept. 30.
HCA Healthcare was the most lucrative contract overall. The Nashville-based company, which operates hospitals and other health care facilities throughout Florida, was listed as paying $112,000 overall — $56,000 for legislative lobbying and the same amount for executive lobbying.
Four clients followed at the $70,000 level: Carnival Corporation, Florida Crystals, Orchid Cove Health Group and The Richman Group of Florida. Those contracts were split evenly between the two compensation reports.
Rubin Turnbull reported a couple of other big-ticket contracts on its executive report. Its top client on that side of the Capitol complex was Nomi Health, which runs more than a dozen health care centers in South Florida and received $46 million in state contracts last year for COVID-19 testing. The company didn’t have a legislative lobbying contact with the firm.
AECOM Technical Services was also an executive-only client near the top of the sheet. The company, a subsidiary of the Fortune 500 infrastructure consulting firm, paid $45,000 in retainers during the July-through-September reporting period.
The $25,000-per-quarter cohort was comprised of major health care interests, including Aetna, Molina Healthcare and Wellpath. They were joined by telecommunications giant Charter, South Florida gaming venue The Big Easy Casino, public employee union AFSCME Florida and aerospace research and design company Astra.
The reports featured dozens of other contracts at the $5,000 and $15,000 levels. They included several major educational institutions, both public and private, such as Florida Tech, Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University, the University of Miami, the University of South Florida and the University of North Florida.
Based on per-client ranges, Rubin Turnbull & Associates could have earned as much as $2.8 million in Q3. Rubin Turnbull’s median earnings estimate of $2.06 million follows a $2.14 million Q1 and $2 million Q2, putting the firm on track to clear $8 million for the year.
Florida lobbyists and lobbying firms faced a Nov. 14 deadline to file compensation reports for the period covering July 1 through Sept. 30. Compensation reports for the fourth quarter are due to the state on Feb. 14.
