Chad Heinrich, the new state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, was a farm boy who dreamed of being a bureaucrat.

Nick Ponder, the new legislative director at the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, said his goal is to reintroduce the organization to the Capitol community.

A founding director at lobbying firm Veridus LLC and one of the most respected in her profession, Wendy Briggs has built a reputation as relentless, tireless, dependable and tough as nails – qualities that have served her clients well.

The Central Arizona Project has paid more than $2.5 million for lobbyists in Arizona and Washington D.C. over the past five years, an analysis of the agency’s lobbying contracts shows.

While the foundation receives high marks from charity watchdog organizations for directing above-average portions of revenue to program services, experts in nonprofits say there are some oddities contained in ASU Foundation’s tax filings.

Veridus lobbyist Marilyn Rodriguez spent the past six weeks teaching a first-of-its-kind class at Arizona State University: An inside look at the world of lobbying.

After years of research and lobbying at the Capitol, including stints working for the Senate, Maricopa County, the County Supervisors Association and the Arizona Board of Regents, Beth Lewallen branched out in late 2014 to start her own independent consulting firm.

Drugmakers that produce opioid painkillers and allied advocacy groups have spent more than $880 million on campaign contributions and lobbying over the past decade as they worked to influence state and federal policies, including tens of thousands of dollars in Arizona.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission insists that it isn’t subject to Gov. Doug Ducey’s recent executive order banning state entities from hiring contract lobbyists, setting the stage for what may be the next installment of the ongoing battle raging over the extent of the commission’s authority.

Several months after attributing the defeat of a key piece of legislation to “special interests,” Gov. Doug Ducey ordered the termination of state entities’ contracts with outside lobbyists, a move that was both praised as a good-government reform and criticized ...