AFP’s Lee Dury launches new lobbying firm, political committee

Lee Dury is stepping away from Americans for Prosperity but launching two new efforts of his own.

The outgoing AFP Florida policy operations director will launch his own lobbying firm, the Mezzanine Group, and a new political committee, Earn the Vote Action.

“As I talked to friends and professional colleagues about my ideas, based on initial excitement, support and advice, I decided now is the time to do it,” he said. “And if I do one, I might as well do both.”

The Mezzanine Group will focus on research and lobbying, leveraging quality relationships with state legislators. Dury will hold the title of founder and lead lobbyist.

Earn The Vote Action, meanwhile, will focus on recruiting and supporting candidates in local and municipal elections, and remain engaged after elections to hold locally elected officials accountable to their communities.

“In addition, we plan to identify a small set of statewide candidates for endorsement in 2024,” Dury said.

He serves now as Chairman and Treasurer of Earn the Vote Action.

Dury said he’s looking at 12 significant municipal elections set to unfold in 2023, and wants his committee supporting candidates in five or six of those. Then come 2024, he’d like to triple that.

Similarly, Dury expects to start with five or six clients and focus on one or two bills that are a priority for each customer. Hopefully, the interest and workload will grow quickly on that front as well.

While Dury has worked the past few years with one of Florida’s most influential center-right groups, he plans to bring his own centrist politics to his new ventures.

“I’m very free market-oriented — very pro-business and for limited taxation and letting businesses thrive on their own merit,” he said. “But I’m also very much about local control. What’s the point of a City or County Commission if everything is getting mandated and taken over by the state?”