Lobbying outlays bounce back in 4th quarter

Lobbying spending by the nation’s most prominent political influencers largely rebounded during last year’s fourth quarter, in part reflecting aggressive special interest campaigns concerning health, trade, employment, energy, telecom and technology issues, a POLITICO analysis of new federal disclosures indicates.

Companies and organizations such as Google, Verizon, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Southern Co., Business Roundtable, National Association of Realtors, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and CTIA-The Wireless Association all posted larger lobbying numbers than they did during both the preceding quarter and the same period one year before. Upstart influence operations run by companies such as Facebook, meanwhile, also reported markedly increased federal lobbying investments. In all, 17 of the nation’s top 50 biggest-spending lobbying entities, as calculated by the Center for Responsive Politics based on third-quarter federal lobbying spending, exceeded their fourth-quarter 2010 and third-quarter 2011 output. Another 24 entities saw their spending in last year’s fourth quarter jump compared with one of the two periods. And more than three-fifths of these top 50 entities spent more for all of 2011 than they did in 2010, according to POLITICO’s analysis.