ELEC released their lobbying expenditure report for 2023 this morning, including the annual ranking of the top ten Statehouse lobbying firms.  Nine of ten firms were on the top ten list in 2022 (denoted by asterisk). They are as follows:

Princeton Public Affairs Group Inc*: $11,512,203

Public Strategies Impact LLC*: $ 7,696,173

CLB Partners Inc*: $ 6,248,390

MBI Gluckshaw*: $ 4,038,560

The Zita Group LLC*: $ 3,950,001

Gibbons PC*: $ 3,653,929

McCarter & English LLP*: $ 2,660,920

Capital Impact Group*: $ 2,409,141

Optimus Partners LLC*: $ 2,334,100

River Crossing Strategy Group: $ 2,330,250

Receipts- Top Ten: $46,833,667

Receipts- Total: $72,232,831

Top Ten as Percent of Total 65%

In the report, ELEC noted that: ‘the number of lobbyists fell from 914 to 892 in 2023. While the drop was just 2.4 percent, the total is the lowest since 2005, when an estimated 613 registered lobbyists roamed the state Capitol. The largest number of registered lobbyists was 1,043 in 2008. While fewer lobbyists are doing business in Trenton, they are representing a record high number of clients2,341 in 2023, an increase of 3.8 percent. It was the fifth straight year that the number of clients reached a new high.

A new record low was also set as the amount spent on “benefit passing”- gifts like meals, trips or other things of value- fell to $1,145 from $2,349. The all-time spending record was set 31 years ago at $163,375. Since then, the total has steadily diminished to a fraction of that amount. Receipts paid to governmental affairs agents rose to $72.2 million- an increase of 3 percent. The percentage of fees received by the top ten remained about 65 percent of all fees paid to governmental affairs agents.’