In the lobby

With election results now in hand, members of the city’s lobbying corps can adjust their strategies as needed. And despite the threatened economic recession and housing crash, there’s plenty of business, judging from recent disclosure filings at the City Clerk’s Office. On May 8, for instance, Reeves & Associates signed on with Brown Field International Business Park, the group that’s negotiating with the City for exclusive rights to redevelop 369 acres of the aging 880-acre City-owned airport.

On May 12, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, the big L.A. law firm that doubles as a lobbying shop, won the business of Don Bren’s Irvine Company, which has gobbled up downtown office buildings for its giant real estate portfolio. On the same date, Sheppard Mullin bid adieu to Reynolds Communities, Inc., as well as Sunroad Enterprises, builder of the controversial over-height office building near Montgomery Field. (Hecht Solberg Robinson Goldberg & Bagley, another law firm doubling as lobbyists, reported it had picked up a Sunroad contract on March 25.) Southwest Strategies, the lobbying firm founded by former Evening Tribune reporter Alan Ziegaus, also parted company with a builder, Wakeland Housing and Development, on April 30. Wertz McDade Wallace Moot & Brower, the downtown law firm run by former Roger Hedgecock aide Mike McDade, picked up H.G. Fenton Company, the big local landowner, on April 29. Allen Matkins Leck Gamble, another lobbying powerhouse, signed up Irving Bookspan, Diane Korsh, Matthew Reno, Malcolm Stallings, Currie Partners, Gray Development Group, and LBA Realty on April 29. Paola Avila registered to represent Otay Mesa Property LP and Otay Mesa Ventures, LLC, on April 29. California Strategies, the Sacramento-based lobbying shop operated by ex–Pete Wilson honcho Bob White, took on Lyon Capital Ventures and the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority on April 30.