New York City Lobbyists Take in $33.6 Million

New York City's registered lobbyists raked in $33.6 million last year, roughly a third more than what they took in the year before.

City records released yesterday further solidify the notion that both not-for-profit organizations and mega corporations are driving the cottage industry of lobbying powerbrokers in the five boroughs to new heights.

The annual report of lobbyists, which was released by the city clerk's office, shows that parties ranging from Madison Square Garden, to the Coalition for the Homeless, to Lincoln Center, to Mister Softee - the ice-cream vendor - are paying lobbyists to push their causes.

Mister Softee, whose executives testified in front of the City Council recently to address changes in a proposed overhaul of the noise code that would limit when its ice cream trucks could play jingles, paid $24,000 to a company called Yoswein New York Incorporated.

The top 10 moneymaking firms brought in $15.3 million in 2004, up from the $11 million they earned the previous year.

Greenberg Traurig LLP, a large and prominent national law firm, was the top earner, billing nearly $2 million in lobbying fees for the year. Its clients ran the gamut from real estate interests to the Jets, whose executives have been aggressively trying to win over key lawmakers to support their proposed West Side stadium. The company also represented the New York Speedway, which is looking to build a Nascar racetrack on Staten Island.

The Parkside Group, a company that once had strong ties the speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller, earned $1.6 million in lobbying fees in 2004 compared to the $1 million it generated in 2003. It also represented the Jets.

The Jets were not, however, the only entity with business before the city spreading money around to firms with ties to government entities.

Forest City Ratner, which has development projects all over the city and is trying to win approval to build a basketball arena for the Nets in Brooklyn, also hired several firms. An initial review of the report shows that Ratner shelled out at least $196,000 to three different lobbyists. Labor unions for a variety of different industries, which countless interests in city rulings spent millions on the issues they were fighting for as well.

Fees to lobbyists have been steadily increasing since 1999. That year they amounted to $12.5 million. In the years since that tally has increased to the tune of a few million dollars a year. The jump to $33.6 million in 2004, from $24.7 million in 2003, was the most significant spike to date.