Going Alone: Lobbyists See High Risk, High Reward in Solo Firms

Lobbyists usually run in herds at bipartisan firms, but a slice of K Street takes a lone-wolf approach to the influence game.

Those who opt to go it alone say it makes for a leaner, more nimble operation, reduces potential client conflicts, and gives them control over how they operate the business. In good times, a single-lobbyist enterprise can rake in big money that the rainmaker doesn’t have to share. But risks abound.

More than 50 solo shops reported revenue of $1 million or more last year, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis of federal lobbying disclosures, accounting for nearly $80 million in fees.

“We tend to be scrappy,” said Missy Edwards, who opened her shop, Missy Edwards Strategies, in 2010, and last year disclosed $1.3 million in fees from Truckload Carriers Association, Shein Technology, and other clients.

Edwards said she left a bipartisan firm for the more entrepreneurial approach of owning her company. With ties to Senate Republicans, she said, business has been stable over time, with the pace this year more relentless as clients work to influence tax, tariff, and other debates.

Other one-person shops have seen business fall off.

Solo lobbying firms are more vulnerable to the whims of elections, and often rise or fall on which policy fights are hot at the moment. The presidential transition and flip in control of the Senate can ripple into K Street bottom lines, with one-person firms especially susceptible.

Ricchetti Inc.

The one-man lobby shop Ricchetti Inc. offers a stark example.

The firm, run by Jeff Ricchetti, brother of Biden White House insider Steve Ricchetti, hauled in $2.4 million in federal lobbying income last year making it one of the top solo shops with Amazon.com and General Motors on the client roster.

Business now isn’t so robust at the firm, lobbying disclosures show.

Ricchetti Inc. filed terminations for GM, Amazon, and a handful of other clients at the end of last year or early this year, records show. Jeff Ricchetti did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Amazon, GM and other former clients declined comment, while others did not respond to requests for comment.

The Ricchetti firm wasn’t the only top single-person shop to see a downshift in the business with the end of the Biden administration and the arrival of Trump 2.0.

Putala Strategies, another one-person firm with ties to former President Joe Biden, also filed multiple client terminations. Christopher Putala, who worked for Biden in the Senate, did not respond to requests for comment.

Among the other biggest solo practices last year were W Strategies LLC, Viking Navigation LLC, Colton Street Group, and VantageKnight Inc. Most have GOP ties; all declined comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

Outside ‘Comfort Zone’

For some lone lobbyists, it’s a long-term business plan, while others use it as a temporary gig or a launching pad to build a larger firm.

Arshi Siddiqui, once an aide to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said she went outside her “comfort zone” to launch Bellwether Government Affairs late last year. She registered her first federal clients in March, including Cigna Group and Comcast Corp., lobbying disclosures show.

She doesn’t intend to stay a one-person operation but said the “hustle and creativity” of launching a shop have made her a better advocate as she eyes an expansion.

“Starting something off solo is probably easier than it’s ever been before because of technology,” said Siddiqui, who previously worked at Akin, one of the city’s largest, bipartisan firms.

She used online tools to help file her articles of incorporation, for example.

“As a Democrat who launched a firm at a time of unified Republican control in Washington, it’s really allowed me to be very deliberate in how to grow and position the firm,” she said. “Even in this climate, there are bipartisan opportunities to move the dial.”

On the other side of the aisle, Scott Raab, who spent years working as the top policy aide then-Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who isn’t running for re-election. Raab said his goal is to build up his practice with six to eight clients.

“I would like to stay solo,” Raab said. “It’s easy to say with a Republican Senate, House, and White House.”