Top-earning lobbyist from legislative session makes history

The Maryland flag flies at half-staff over the State House in Annapolis on June 3, 2024. File photo by Bryan P. Sears.

The top-earning State House lobbyist from the last half year — a period that covers the most recent General Assembly session — is making history.

According to newly released records from the Maryland State Ethics Commission, which regulates registered lobbyists in the state, Lisa Harris Jones from the firm Harris Jones Malone was the top earner from Nov. 1, 2023, to April 30 of this year.

Harris Jones becomes the first woman and the first person of color to top the earnings list for registered lobbyists in Maryland. She reported billing $2,666,850 for the six-month period. That includes the legislative session, which ran from Jan. 10 to April 8, where a substantial amount of her work took place.

Harris Jones has been among the top five compensated State House lobbyists in Annapolis for more than a decade . But for this reporting period, at least, she vaulted the white men who are the usual leaders — Gerard E. Evans, Timothy Perry and Bruce C. Bereano — to take the top spot. Harris Jones’ clients this session included data centers, building contractors, insurers and financial firms, gaming interests, the Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore Gas and Electric, and blue chip national corporations like Microsoft, McDonald’s, Home Depot and Walmart.

Evans, who has been lobbying for three decades, finished second in earnings from Nov. 1 to April 30, the Ethics Commission list shows, taking in $2,592,333.33. Perry was third, reporting $2,068,045.98 in earnings, and Bereano, who decades ago became the first Annapolis lobbyist ever to earn $1 million in a year, was fourth with $1,828,430 in this cycle.

Four other registered lobbyists disclosed earning more than $1 million during the six-month reporting period: Frank Boston III ($1,740,400); Michael Johansen ($1,447,645.15); G.S. (Steve) Proctor ($1,250,949.98) and Delora Ifekauche ($1,006,513.34). Of those four, all but Johansen are Black.

Another dozen registered lobbyists reported earning $500,000 or more from Nov. 1 to April 30.

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