By Michael Morton
The Parkside Group of Manhattan, which moved from Whitestone three years ago, took in the fifth-highest amount of revenue in 2004, with $1,671,900. Greenberg Traurig of Manhattan earned $1,995,870 and topped the list. The Lobbyist Annual Report 2004 was compiled by the City Clerk and released May 9 in a yearly effort to ensure government transparency.Between 1999 and 2004, total city lobbying revenue grew from $12.7 million to $33.6 million, with a dramatic increase between 2000 and 2001, the year term limits took effect for the first time in the City Council. During the transition, lobbying firms were hired by corporations, non-profits and labor organizations to “make sure their voices were not lost in the shuffle” and “navigate uncertain political waters,” said Evan Stavisky, a Parkside partner who is a former chief of staff for state Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin (D-Flushing) and the son of state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone).Parkside's other partners include former staffers for Queens County Democratic Party head Tom Manton, an ex-congressman, and former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. The company recently hired Barry Grodenchik after he lost a re-election bid to the Assembly in Flushing. The firm's clients in 2004 included the New York Jets, which are seeking to build a stadium on Manhattan's West Side and have turned down suggestions of a Queens site; Pathmark Stores, which unsuccessfully tried to build a supermarket in Fresh Meadows; and the Rockefeller Group Development Corp., which wants to develop Municipal Lot 1 in Flushing. Stavisky declined to say on which issues Parkside lobbied, but the report said the Jets paid the firm $15,000, Pathmark $40,000 and the Rockefeller Group $10,000. Other paid lobbyists from Queens listed in the report included former State Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Brown, who received more than $28,000 from Jamaica's Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center; former Woodside City Councilman Walter McCaffrey, who earned $15,000 from the Flushing Town Square Center; and former St. Albans City Councilman Archie Spigner, who received $36,000 from the Greater Jamaica Development Corp. Constantinople Consulting of Manhattan, which includes former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. of Astoria, raked in $552,000.Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
