The top 10 lobbyists, ranked by their spending, had many successes in the two-year 2007-2008 legislative session. Here's a look at what they got for their money:

1. WESTERN STATES PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION ($10.59 million)

The lobbying arm of the oil industry successfully blocked efforts to implement a new oil tax. A 2007 association report says that of the year's 52 priority bills, only three it opposed passed the Legislature. Two of those three were vetoed. "They haven't been able to move forward a positive agenda, but they have some ability to stop things, like fees on their products," said V. John White, an environmental lobbyist.

2. CALIFORNIA STATE COUNCIL OF SERVICE EMPLOYEES (SEIU) ($10.29 million)

Blocked most opposed bills early in the legislative process. In 2008, only three of 25 sponsored bills were signed into law. "We're not really passing much these days in the horrible economy," said executive director Courtni Pugh. About 70 percent to 80 percent of the group's $10 million-plus budget went for communications with the union's 700,000 rank-and-file members, she said.

3. BROMINE SCIENCE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM (CITIZENS FOR FIRE SAFETY)* ($9.13 million)

Blocked Assembly Bill 706, which would have banned brominated and chlorinated fire-retardants in furniture that consumer groups say are toxic. Almost all spending went toward that one bill. "The environmental community has done this hysterical emotional appeal about how this stuff kills people," said spokesman Seth Jacobsen. "We had to balance it."

4. CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION ($7.98 million)

Of the 85 bills CTA opposed or "disapproved," only six became law. In the recent budget package, schools took a large cut (which the union opposed), but a ballot measure was added specifically to ease their concerns and promise future repayment. Class-size reduction funds also were saved. "They have a lot of respect for us," President David Sanchez said.

5. BLUE CROSS OF CALIFORNIA ($6.22 million)

Opposed health overhauls backed by Democrats and by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Neither passed. Two other priorities were stopping legislation to require insurance for maternity services and limiting "rescission" (the practice of disenrolling people from the insurance rolls, often after they get sick). Schwarzenegger vetoed both bills.

6. CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION ($5.96 million)

Opposed six bills - all were blocked or vetoed. Two of the group's three sponsored pieces of legislation were signed. But the hospitals' top priorities - an on-time budget and health care reform - failed to materialize. "It makes it difficult if there is a group affected by the bill that opposes it," spokeswoman Jan Emerson said.

7. AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL ($5.72 million)

Stopped all but one of the roughly dozen proposed chemical bans targeting ingredients in items from microwave popcorn to some plastic baby bottles. At the end of 2008, Schwarzenegger signed an initiative to create a more systematic approach to targeting potentially harmful chemicals. "We're out of this emotionally driven legislative debate about product safety," said industry lobbyist Tim Shestek.

8. CALIFORNIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ($5.64 million)

Twenty-one of 22 "job killer" bills the chamber opposed most strongly were vetoed when they reached the governor's desk. Dozens more were stopped in the Legislature. New taxes, long opposed by the chamber, were adopted to close the budget gap in early 2009. But they were the across-the-board taxes - instead of industry-specific levies - that the chamber supported given the deficit's size. "We didn't want to see the government blow up," President Allan Zaremberg said.

9. MORONGO BAND OF MISSION INDIANS ($4.39 million)

Fought for a gambling deal that let the tribe add up to 5,500 lucrative slot machines. Launched $3 million-plus PR offensive and hired multiple contract lobbying firms during the 2007 legislative fight. One Democrat accused the tribe of "bullying," but the bill passed, as did four others allowing tribal gambling expansion. Spent millions more defending the expansion in a winning 2008 ballot campaign.

10. AT&T ($4.22 million)

Blocked legislation that would have let land-line phone users unlist their phone number at no charge. "They pushed very, very hard," said the bill's author, former Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who estimated that at the debate's peak one telecom lobbyist was assigned per state senator. AT&T declined comment, but others said it was a relatively slow two years. "They spread the gospel of deregulation throughout the Legislature even when there aren't bills directly challenging it," said Lenny Goldberg, a consumer lobbyist often at odds with telecom companies.

METHODOLOGY: The groups above were the top 10 private lobbying spenders in the two-year 2007-08 legislative session. Included are all funds tagged as advocacy money in financial filings made with the state. Not included is campaign spending. Priority bills were identified through legislative records, interviews with lawmakers, lobbyists, and documents produced by the groups themselves. Western States Petroleum Association, Morongo tribe and AT&T declined to participate.

* The Bromine Science Environmental Forum organized itself as Californians for Fire Safety in 2007 and then created a new group, Citizens for Fire Safety in 2008. The total in the chart above is the combined spending of those groups.

Source: Bee research

ROBERT DORRELL, SHANE GOLDMACHER sgoldmacher@sacbee.com

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