How to read a lobbying disclosure filing
The LD-2 quarterly report is the atom of the public record. Here is every field, and what it actually tells you.
The parties
Every filing names a registrant (the firm or organization doing the advocacy) and a client (who they do it for). When an organization advocates for itself, it appears as both, which is how you spot in-house teams.
The money
Outside firms report income from the client for the quarter, rounded to the nearest ten thousand dollars. Organizations filing for themselves report expenses instead. A filing with no amount usually means activity fell below the reporting threshold for the quarter.
The work
Each filing lists one or more activity blocks: a general issue area from the official list of 79 codes, a free-text description of what was actually done, the houses of Congress and federal agencies contacted, and the individual professionals who did the work. The descriptions vary from a bill number to a paragraph; the specific ones are gold.
The people
Each professional listed may disclose covered positions, the government jobs they held in the twenty years before registering. This is where career history comes from, in their own words, under a legal duty of accuracy.
The lifecycle
A registration (LD-1) opens a client relationship, quarterly LD-2 reports track it, amendments correct it, and a termination filing closes it. Terminations are signal: they mark budgets ending, strategies changing, or relationships moving to another firm.
Put it to work
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