Every filing period on record, as reported. One column per filed period — a period with no column is a period with no filing, not a zero.
Basis · Amendments and terminations supersede the original report for the same registrant, client and period, so a revised quarter is counted once at its latest filed value. Registration-only filings carry no activity money and are excluded from these totals.
Who lobbies for them
Every outside firm that has filed on this client's behalf, by fees reported.
Issue areas declared on the filings, ranked by how many filings name each one.
Budget/Appropriations
BUD
41 filings
$2.1M on those filings
Firearms/Guns/Ammunition
FIR
35 filings
$2M on those filings
Natural Resources
Bills named in the filings
The 15 most-cited of 23 bill references, extracted from the activity descriptions.
H.R. 788115th CongressTarget Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act8 filingsthrough 2018
S. 649113th CongressSafe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 20138 filingsthrough 2014
H.R. 510111th CongressNamed in the filings; no matching bill record on file.
Who did the lobbying
Every lobbyist named on this client's filings.
Max SandlinMercury Public Affairs, LLCCovered position: US Representative 1997-200541 filingsthrough 2019
Michael McsherryMercury Public Affairs, LLCCovered position: US Dept. of Labor, HUD36 filingsthrough 2019
Greg LanklerThorn Run PartnersCovered position: Professional Staff, House Appropriations Committee; Legislative Director, Rep. C.W. Bill Young28 filingsthrough 2026
Greg LanklerMercury Public Affairs, LLCCovered position: House Appropriations Committee (2001-2011);Legislative Director, Rep. Bill Young (1990-2001)
The filings
The 20 most recent of 74 filings. Every figure above is built from these records.
This record groups every filed spelling of the client's name into one entity, so "MERCK & CO., INC." and "MERCK & CO INC" read as the same company. The grouping is the client's normalized name — organizations that file under genuinely different names appear separately. Handle: national-shooting-sports-foundation-inc.
Reading this · LD-2 reports a hired firm's fee and a registrant's reported expenses on separate lines and never both on one filing, so the two lists above are different quantities and are ranked separately rather than against each other. Firm names link to their own record as the firms chapter lands.
NAT
16 filings
$800K on those filings
Taxation/Internal Revenue Code
TAX
9 filings
$270K on those filings
Environment/Superfund
ENV
4 filings
$120K on those filings
Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice
LAW
3 filings
$180K on those filings
Banking
BAN
3 filings
$180K on those filings
Veterans
VET
1 filing
$40K on those filings
Trade (domestic/foreign)
TRD
1 filing
$30K on those filings
Manufacturing
MAN
1 filing
$30K on those filings
Note · A filing names one to several issue areas and reports a single dollar figure for the period, so the same money appears beside every issue that filing declares. The dollar column is therefore spend on filings that named this issue — it is not a split of the total, and these figures sum above it. Filing counts do not double-count.
7 filings
through 2010
H.R. 367115th CongressHearing Protection Act of 20176 filingsthrough 2018
S. 477114th CongressFirearms Manufacturers and Dealers Protection Act of 20153 filingsthrough 2015
How these are found · Bill references are extracted from the free-text activity description each filing writes, then matched to the Congress in session that filing year. A reference we can't match to a bill on file is still shown, unlinked — we cite what the filing said rather than guess at what it meant. Naming a bill is not a position on it: LD-2 records that a client lobbied on the bill, never which side.
27 filingsthrough 2019
Bg WrightThorn Run PartnersCovered position: Professional Staff, U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations; Professional Staff, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations22 filingsthrough 2026
Charles McdowellCheckmate Government Relations7 filingsthrough 2026
CHRISTOPHER LACIVITA jrCheckmate Government Relations7 filingsthrough 2026
Brett ThompsonMercury Public Affairs, LLCCovered position: LD, Sen. J. Talent6 filingsthrough 2010
Dallas SweezyMercury Public Affairs, LLCCovered position: Dir, CMS; Dir, Dept of Ag; LD, Dept. of Labor6 filingsthrough 2010
Jesse AppletonMercury Public Affairs, LLCCovered position: LA, Sen. J. Talent; Sr. Advisor, US Treasury6 filingsthrough 2010
Frederick VaughanCheckmate Government RelationsCovered position: Principal Deputy Asst. Secretary, Treasury Dept.; Deputy Asst. Secretary, Treasury Dept.; Senior Counsel, House Financial Services Cmte.; Associate Director, The White House; Confidential Asst., Office of Management & Budget; Writer, The White House5 filingsthrough 2025
Paul SweetMercury Public Affairs, LLC4 filingsthrough 2010
Jeffrey L TaylorMercury Public Affairs, LLCCovered position: COS, Rep D McIntosh; LA, Sen. Humphrey; HHS4 filingsthrough 2010
William O'DwyerCheckmate Government RelationsCovered position: Senior Advisor, USDA3 filingsthrough 2025
Tyler ThreadgillMercury Public Affairs, LLC3 filingsthrough 2016
Rodney CapelMercury Public Affairs, LLC2 filingsthrough 2010
Jennifer KaufmanMercury Public Affairs, LLCCovered position: Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), U.S. Senate (2007 - 2009) ; Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), U.S. House of Representatives (2014 - 2016)1 filingthrough 2019
Covered positions · 13 of 18 lobbyists named on these filings disclosed a prior government post. The text is reproduced exactly as filed.
