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Welcome to Camp Lobbyist
By SCOTT KEELER
Published May 7, 2006
During the annual 60 day-legislative session that ended at midnight Friday, lobbyists representing interests across the state pack the fourth-floor rotunda of Florida's new Capitol building. They set up folding chairs in front of three large-screen television monitors just outside of the House and Senate chambers and watch the lawmakers working inside. As the session moves into its final days in the first week in May, this becomes home base for lobbyists moving about the Capitol, meeting with lawmakers and one another, trying to shape legislation to satisfy the needs of the clients who pay them. Bottled water containers and pizza boxes stack up around overflowing trash cans. Paper piles up beneath the chairs. The lobbyists communicate constantly, on cell phones and BlackBerries. They call clients, assistants, each other. Some end the session with victories for what they persuaded the Legislature to do, or for what they persuaded the Legislature not to do. Others lose. But they'll all be back next year.
[Last modified May 7, 2006, 07:07:38]
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