Lobbyists' Football

Another influence peddler with deep San Diego roots is reporting a good year thus far. Sacramento-based California Strategies and Advocacy was founded by Bob White, the onetime social director of San Diego State fraternities who became top operative for San Diego mayor Pete Wilson and moved up the power ladder even further as his boss became a U.S. senator and California governor. According to the firm’s latest disclosure with the California secretary of state’s office, filed in April, California Strategies grossed a total of $346,917 during the first three months of 2012. Clients included the Los Angeles Turf Club and its affiliate Pacific Racing Association; oil-equipment giant Halliburton Company; New York Life Insurance Company; and the National Football League, which has forked over a total of $54,003.61 in retainers and fees to White’s operation during this legislative session. The legislative topic of interest to the concussion-prone NFL, the filing says, was “workers’ compensation.”