Drew Wilson
Capital City Consulting notched nearly $7 million in the fourth quarter and the No. 3 spot on Florida Politics’ lobby firm rankings along with it.
New lobbying compensation reports show CCC collected $6.87 million during the closing quarter of 2024. Legislative lobbying revenues surpassed $3.55 million last quarter, and executive branch income also topped the $3 million mark by $220,000.
Florida Politics estimates lobbying pay based on the middle number of the per-client ranges firms listed on their compensation reports. Contracts are reported in $10,000 increments up to $50,000. Using median estimates, Capital City Consulting still has an iron grip on the No. 3 spot in Florida Politics’ Lobby Firm Rankings — there’s nearly $4 million in daylight between CCC and the No. 4 firm in Q4.
CCC’s legislative compensation report listed more than 250 clients, several of which paid sums exceeding the cap on range reporting, meaning the listed amounts are concrete and not estimates. That set included USAA at $68,000, Advocating for Seniors at $63,000, CVS Health at $56,000, Neal Land Development Group at $56,000 and Lennar Homes at $54,000.
Beyond the top moneymakers, CCC’s report included several well-known corporations and associations, such as AT&T, BlackRock, Paypal, Adobe, Chick-fil-A, Yamaha and 3M. The world’s largest airline, Delta, and one of just a dozen or so companies to achieve a trillion-dollar-plus market cap, Amazon, also rely on Capital City Consulting to handle their affairs in Tallahassee.
On the executive side, CCC’s most lucrative contract was a $77,000 deal to represent Horne LLP, a major professional services firm. Other contracts crossing the $50,000 threshold included PCI Gaming at $60,000 and Fox Corporation at an even $50,000.
Gaming is one of the firm’s specialties — Iarossi is a past winner of INFLUENCE Magazine’s “Gaming Lobbyist of the Year” award as well as the 2021 “Lobbyist of the Year” award — and its client roster includes a handful of other gambling enterprises such as bestbet Jacksonville and Melbourne Greyhound Park.
In addition to Iarossi and LaFace, Capital City Consulting’s fourth-quarter team included Anthony Carvalho, Justin Day, Cory Dowd, Megan Fay, Kaley Flynn, Kenneth Granger, Maicel Green, Ashley Kalifeh, Andrew Ketchel, Drew Meiner, Joseph Mongiovi, Jared Rosenstein, Scott Ross and Chris Schoonover.
Of note, Capital City Consulting also has a robust local lobbying presence following its acquisition two years ago of Miami-based Prodigy Public Affairs, now known as CCC Miami. The new compensation reports only cover state-level lobbying revenues — pay received for lobbying county and municipal governments is not included.
Capital City Consulting’s Q4 haul makes for a full year of reports in the $7 million neighborhood. The firm’s growth has accelerated rapidly over the past two years, surpassing $25 million in earnings for 2023, just one year after it broke the $20 million mark. This year saw CCC raise the bar yet again with total revenues $26.83 million, a total that includes $14 million in legislative lobbying revenues and $12.83 million in executive branch pay.
Florida lobbyists and lobbying firms faced a mid-February deadline to file compensation reports for the period covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. Compensation reports for the first quarter are due to the state on May 15.
