Who Is Lobbying For Who This Legislative Session

Today is the first day of the legislative session so here is a fun breakdown of the latest lobbyist registration reports.

A caveat before we begin, this breakdown is based on lobbyist registration reports filed with Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC). As we found out with our Friday in the Sun column last week, lobbyists can be prone to making mistakes on their reports. For instance, sometimes they list annual pay as monthly pay. If any such errors are noticed by those mentioned below, please email us at [email protected] and we will make the correction here.

Also important to note that these numbers are as of today’s filings. Clearly some groups and their lobbyists haven’t filed their reports yet, so that will change things as well.

With that said, let’s start with the biggest of the big time schmoozers in Juneau. Here are the lobbyists reporting at least $500,000 in contracts this year:

The Power $500K

Lobbyist		Income	Notable Clients
Kent	Dawson	$996,500	Pew Charitable Trusts ($120K), City of Seward ($96.5K), Usibelli Coal ($84K)
Jerry	Mackie	$602,000	Alyeska Pipeline Service Company ($60K), CIRI ($60K), Holland America Line $60K)
Ashley	Reed	$582,000	Armstrong Oil and Gas ($90K), Enstar ($60K), GCI ($50K)
Theodore	Popely	$574,000	RAI Services Company ($75K), Health Care Cost Management Corp ($60K), Bristol Bay Native Corporation ($60K)
Robert	Evans	$563,000	Pfeffer Development LLC ($75K), Neeser Construction ($100K), Blood Bank of Alaska ($75K)
Raymond	Matiashowski	$540,000	Xerox ($78K), ACS ($78K), Microsoft ($60K)

Then there are the single largest annual contracts. Mike Tibbles is now ahead of Kent Dawson in this race.

Largest Annual Contracts

Lobbyist		Employer	Contract Type	Amount
Michael	Tibbles	Alaska Cruise Association / CLIA Alaska	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$140,000
Kent	Dawson	The Pew Charitable Trusts	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$120,000
Charles	Miller	Alaska National Insurance Company	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$105,000
Robert	Evans	Neeser Construction Inc.	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$100,008
Kent	Dawson	City of Seward	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$96,500

Lobbyists can also list their contracts on a monthly salary basis. This is where we sometimes run into problems as they can accidentally list annual numbers as monthly numbers. Interestingly on this list is Royce Weller who is subcontracting for lobbyist Ashley Reed.

Monthly Contracts

Lobbyist		Employer	Contract Type	Amount
Kevin	Jardell	ExxonMobil Corporation	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$14,600
Bruce	Baker	North Slope Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$10,417
Ashley	Reed	Armstrong Oil & Gas, Inc.	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$7,500
Bruce	Baker	Northwest Arctic Borough School District	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$7,000
Royce	Weller	Ashley Reed & Associates	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$6,750
John	Harris	Matanuska Susitna Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$6,700

Here are the largest salaries for in-house employees who have lobbying as part of their job descriptions:

In-House Lobbyists

Lobbyist		Employer	Contract Type	Amount
Rebecca	Hultberg	Alaska State Hospital & Nursing Home Association	Salaried Employee: Annual Wage	$184,000
Trish	McDaid O’Neill	AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP	Salaried Employee: Annual Wage	$170,000
Georgette	Dzwilewski	Indivior Inc.	Salaried Employee: Annual Wage	$160,000

Governments aren’t just good at doling out money, they like to ask for it too. All told, governments in Alaska will spend at least $1.17 million in lobbying this year. That doesn’t count the significant Anchorage lobbying contract we hear will be announced later this week.

Here are governments and government agencies paying someone to lobby the state government to get them government money to fund their government.

State or Local Governments

Lobbyist		Government Unit	Contract Type	Amount
Bruce	Baker	North Slope Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$10,417
Bruce	Baker	Northwest Arctic Bor Schl Dist	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$7,000
Kent	Dawson	City of Seward	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$96,500
Kent	Dawson	City of Galena	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$40,000
Kent	Dawson	Galena City School District 2	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$51,000
Mark	Hickey	City of Sand Point	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$10,000
Mark	Hickey	City of Akutan	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$40,000
Mark	Hickey	Lake and Peninsula Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$55,000
Mark	Hickey	Aleutians East Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$42,000
Mark	Hickey	Kodiak Island Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$45,000
Mark	Hickey	City of King Cove	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$41,000
Kevin	Jardell	City and Borough of Juneau	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$55,000
Kristopher	Knauss	City of Whittier	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$5,500
Wendy	Lindskoog	Alaska Railroad Corporation	Employee: Annual Wage	$25,190
Raymond	Matiashowski	Ketchikan Gateway Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$48,000
Raymond	Matiashowski	City of Ketchikan	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$42,000
Raymond	Matiashowski	City and Borough of Wrangell	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$36,000
Raymond	Matiashowski	Petersburg Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$42,000
John	Ringstad	Fairbanks North Star Bor Schl Dist	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$36,000
Joseph	STONE, Jr.	City of Dillingham	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$2,500
Timothy	Sullivan	Alaska Railroad Corporation	Employee: Annual Wage	$26,000
William	Thomas Jr	Haines Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$45,000
John	Walsh	Bering Strait School District	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$22,000
John	Walsh	Bristol Bay Borough	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$40,000
John	Walsh	Municipality of Skagway	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$47,500

Here are the contracts for some of the labor unions, although you’ll notice the absence of several notables including the IBEW and AFL-CIO:

Unions

Lobbyist		Labor Unit	Contract Type	Amount
Tom	Brice	Alaska District Council of Laborers	Salaried Employee: Monthly Wage	$6,900
Mark	Hickey	NEA-Alaska	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$60,000
Theodore	Popely	Anchorage Police Department Employees Assoc.	Contract Lobbyist: Monthly Fee	$3,000
Paul	Grossi	Alaska State Pipe Trades UA Local 375	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$17,000

Most lobbying contracts are for boring things like the Port of Anchorage expansion or new school construction…BORING (Though there’s a lot of money behind boring topics). Then there are a few that are interesting and fun. Wendy Chamberlain nailed down a contract to lobby for something called “Yoga Alliance” and Denali Daniels gets to push on behalf of Alaska Rolfers.

Ashley Reed on the other hand gets to chat with lawmakers both on behalf of GCI and GCI’s newly formed group to push their ideas on a state fiscal plan “Alaska’s Future Inc”. Way to double up, Ashley.

Then there is Jeffry Cook, who will be carrying the flag of every liberal’s favorite villains the Koch brothers.

Fun/ Interesting

Lobbyist		Employer	Contract Type	Amount
Wendy	Chamberlain	Yoga Alliance	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$30,000
Denali	Daniels	Alaska Rolfers	Salaried Employee: Annual Wage	$1,900
Jeffry	Cook	Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC and its Affiliates	Contract Lobbyist: Hourly Fee	$100
Ashley	Reed	Alaska’s Future Inc	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$30,000
Ashley	Reed	GCI	Contract Lobbyist: Annual Fee	$50,000

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The Legislature is now officially in session. Game on, lobbyists!