New York state's top 10 lobbyists of 2016

Not so long ago, a New York lobbyist made headlines for helping out a client by putting in a call to the head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The payment? Half a million dollars.

These days the lobbying business is just as lucrative – more so, in fact. Since that famous $500,000 phone call, lobbying spending in the state has more than doubled, from $120 million in 2003 to $243 million last year.

But New York’s top lobbyists will tell you that to be successful in today’s environment, it takes much more than a long list of contacts and close relationships with the state’s power brokers.

In this special section, City & State reached out to the state’s most highly compensated lobbying firms last year and asked what makes them so successful.

For other insights from – and about – the state’s top 10 lobbyists, read on.

Note: Rankings are determined by total compensation.