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'Biggest winner' of session, Richard Corcoran, paid $20k to the guy who named him biggest winner

 
Published May 25, 2017

In the final days of the 2017 legislative session, as Tallahassee obsessed over whether a budget deal might happen or implode like Frank Artiles' political career, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran decided he could use some friendly P.R. Corcoran's political committee, Florida Roundtable, paid $20,000 to Extensive Enterprises, the St. Petersburg-based media firm that works for several big lobbying shops and runs the FloridaPolitics web site.

"Simply advertising for our policy," Corcoran said of the April 25 payment that amounted to more than half of the reported income Extensive Enterprises had earned from candidates and political committees this year.

"When allocations come down, it has to be recognized - again - the masterful play by @RichardCorcoran," the company's president, Peter Schorsch, gushed on Twitter the same day Corcoran made the payment.

After the session finally ended, Schorsch crowned Corcoran the biggest winner: "He's the master of the House. No, make that the Capitol....Light up another Montecristo: This ride is just gettin' started."

Schorsch said Corcoran has paid for advertising on his site in previous years, though a fraction of this year's payment.

"That his campaign did so near the end of Session was, probably, because our company solicited a renewal," he said.

"As for his advertising being connected to me declaring him the 'biggest winner' of the Session, his achievements speak for themselves. I also called him a p---y at one point, so, all in all, it was a mixed bag," said Schorsch, who declined to identify lobbying firms that pay for his services.

"I do not disclose which private clients engage me to consult."