Bereano tops earnings

Md. Jockey Club spent $320K in past six months

Bereano, a lobbyist for almost 30 years, edged out Joel D. Rozner of Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver LLC by about $5,000. In total, 61 lobbyists reported grossing more than $100,000 each between Nov. 1 and April 30. The top 10 lobbyists raked in more than $6.5 million, $1.5 million more than the same group collected in the first half of 2005.

‘‘I have never personally thought in all my many years of lobbying that those numbers indicate who is the best lobbyist and who is not the best lobbyist,” said Bereano, who also topped the earnings list in 2003. ‘‘I let others judge my talents and abilities. ... If my clients are happy and satisfied with my services, if they think I’ve represented them to the fullest extent, whether they’ve won or lost, that judgment means the most to me.”

Bereano, the capital’s first $1 million-a-year lobbyist, was convicted in 1994 of skimming money from clients to make campaign contributions. He was sentenced to five months in a halfway house, five months of home detention, three years’ probation and a $30,000 fine.

That’s when Bereano said he ‘‘hit rock bottom,” earning less than $125,000.

Despite several ethical flaps since then — the State Ethics Commission issued a 10-month suspension of Bereano’s lobbying license in 2003 for entering into an illegal contingency fee contract that the Court of Appeals sent back to the Ethics Commission in March, and he was fired by his biggest client, Comcast, after scheduling a cruise for legislators around Alcatraz during the 2003 National Conference of State Legislatures’ conference in San Francisco — Bereano has restored his lobbying practice.

‘‘Through hard work and effort, I’ve been able to rebuild and re-establish myself,” he said.

Bereano jumped to No. 1 from fifth place in the 2007 midyear report, when he collected about $572,000. He added the Maryland Bankers Association, Pleasure Cove Marina in Pasadena, the Maryland Association of Locksmiths, Maryland Dairy Farmers and Producers and a handful of other smaller clients to his stable this year.

Rozner fell one spot to No. 2 from last year’s midyear ranking. J. William Pitcher, D. Robert Enten and Gary R. Alexander, who has been the highest-earning full-year lobbyist for the past six cycles of records kept by the Ethics Commission, round out the top five.

Bereano and Gerard E. Evans, who ranked eighth in this year’s midyear report, have not suffered from Gov. Martin O’Malley’s pledge in 2006 to not do business with convicted felons. Evans, who was convicted of 11 counts of federal mail and wire fraud in 2000, moved up from No. 13 last year, taking in $593,000 — $210,000 more than for the same period last year.

African-American and women lobbyists also continued to make gains.

Gregory S. Proctor Jr. cracked the top 10 with just more than $500,000. His firm absorbed Carolyn T. Bonnett’s CTB Government Relations LLC late last year, which brought together the highest-grossing African-American lobbyist with the third-highest-grossing woman activist, according to last year’s figures. African-American Frank D. Boston III and Ivan V. Lanier placed at No. 12 and No. 13, respectively, each earning more than $400,000 since November.

Three women — Robin F. Shaivitz, Pamela M. Kasemeyer and Lisa Harris Jones — placed in the top 25, demonstrating a growing emergence of women in a male-dominated industry.

‘‘I think the General Assembly has been more accepting of women in the role of lobbyists, and because of that, you’ll see more of us doing well,” said Harris Jones, whose clients include Penn National Gaming Inc. and Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. ‘‘There’s some great women lobbyists down there.”

Meanwhile, Pepco Holdings Inc. led the list of spenders for the first half of 2008, paying more than $670,000 on lobbying services, about $264,000 more than the next-highest spender, the Maryland Retailers Association.

Gambling interests spent about $870,000 combined in the past six months, while the hastily formed Maryland Computer Services Association reported spending $75,000 on its successful quest to repeal the 6 percent sales tax on computer services.