Just some tidbits

Ok, so it took me (and  a few other folks) about a year to go through all the state regulator's lists of state lobbyists and compile them into one database.   Now that the lobbyistfinder.com site is up and running, I thought it appropriate to point out a few things that I noticed while going through the list:

1)  Quite possibly the most unexpected client on the list would be that of Mr. Steven Hubbard of Bellingham, WA.  He represents the American Association for Nude Recreation.  Now there's just too many good lines here, but I just wonder if they have a grassroots statehouse day?  If anyone knows Mr. Hubbard or his group, I just can't but wonder what kinds of issues does their lobbyist monitor?

2)  Illinois lobbyists must be on to something us laid-back country folk' in Indiana aren't.  I don't know, exactly how many specific school districts have lobbyists in Illinois, but it's quite a few (on our site, search state: IL and client: school and 18 names pop up.  Heaven help you if you search "education" in client name in any state!  For example, Mr. Jay Keller with the Capitol Consulting Group, represents several clients, but one of them is the Richland Grade School District 88A.  Jay, more power to you brother, but to this lobbyist, it seems kind of odd that a publicly funded school corporation would hire a lobbyist?  So what issues besides the budget does a grade school ask their lobbyist to cover?

3) Ok, so I know that people can become experts in a given field, but I just don't really understand this one.  Mr. Marc Joseph with the firm of Adams, Broadwell, Joseph & Cardoza in California has quite a few clients.  Many of these clients are union-oriented.  No problem there.  However, when I look at his client list, there are five different locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (1245, 18, 465, 47 and 659).  Now, again, I'm sure there's some reason I'm just not smart enough to figure out, but why would five locals each hire the same lobbyist?  Isn't there a state conglomeration of IBEW that could hire their lobbyist directly?  Maybe this happens and California just requires lobbyists to list clients like this, but just another thing I came across on the California lobbyist list that I didn't quite understand.

4)  The most clients I found was for Mr. Parks Huff of Sams, Larkin & Huff in Georgia.  I didn't even bother counting all the clients, but I would estimate its over 200 clients.  It appears as though it's a bunch of individuals and some development companies, so again, maybe Georgia just requires lobbyists to list things we aren't here in Indiana, but that is just a ton of clients...even if they're not paying a whole lot each, that's a pretty good group of clients!

5) Here's the number of lobbyists for each state on lobbyistfinder:

Alaska:  107 lobbyists

Alabama: 132 lobbyists

Arkansas: 173 lobbyists

Arizona:  316 lobbyists

California: 816 lobbyists

Colorado: 162 lobbyists

Connecticut: 289 lobbyists

Delaware: 62 lobbyists

Florida: 278 lobbyists

Georgia: 101 lobbyists

Hawaii:  138 lobbyists

Iowa: 14 lobbyists (though I think some got lost in the file transfer)

Idaho: 17 lobbyists

Illinois: 385 lobbyists

Indiana: 294 lobbyists

Kansas: 46 lobbyists

Kentucky: 243 lobbyists

Louisiana: 153 lobbyists

Massachusetts: 378 lobbyists

Maryland: 343 lobbyists

Maine: 73 lobbyists

Michigan: 1469 lobbyists (I'd hire one too if I lived up there!)

Minnesota: 1134 lobbyists

Missouri: 31 lobbyists

Mississippi:  228 lobbyists

Montana: 1 lobbyist (again, they got lost in the transfer)

North Carolina: 602 lobbyists

North Dakota:  49 lobbyists

Nebraska: 25 lobbyists

New Hampshire: 89 lobbyists

New Jersey: 467 lobbyists

New Mexico: 653 lobbyists

Nevada: 140 lobbyists

New York: 326 lobbyists

Ohio: 241 lobbyists

Oklahoma: 233 lobbyists

Oregon: 66 lobbyists

Pennsylvania: 326 lobbyists

Rhode Island: 36 lobbyists

South Carolina: 393 lobbyists

South Dakota: 7 lobbyists

Tennessee: 313 lobbyists

Texas: 531 lobbyists

Utah: 8 lobbyists (got lost in transfer)

Virginia: 207 lobbyists

Vermont: 127 lobbyists

Washington: 328 lobbyists

Wisconsin: 415 lobbyists

West Virginia: 129 lobbyists

Wyoming: 7 lobbyists (ditto)

If you are a lobbyist an you're not on our list, you can add your profile for free (as long as you're registered with your state's lobbying regulator).