A NC Center for Public Policy Research report on the most influential lobbyists in the North Carolina General Assembly ranked North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) Director of Legislative Relations Chip Baggett number 16 in a field that includes 11 former state legislators and many representing health care interests. Baggett has placed in the top 20 in 2011 and 2013 and ranked 53 in the 2009 survey.

The NC Center for Public Policy Research, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization, conducted the survey of state legislators, lobbyists and capital news reporters over the last three months of 2013. At the end of the 2013 sessions, 768 lobbyists were registered with the Secretary of State, representing 1,049 different companies or organizations.

The Center’s calculations of the number of lobbyists count each lobbyist only once, even if they represent more than one client, and each lobbyist can only vote once in the survey. Sixty-three of the 120 House members (53 percent) responded to the Center’s survey, as did 33 of the 50 Senators (66 percent), 159 of the 438 lobbyists and lead legislative liaisons based in North Carolina (36 percent), and 6 of 36 capital news correspondents (17 percent).  The overall response rate was 40 percent.

The number one lobbyist for the 2013 ratings is former House Speaker Harold Brubaker, a Randolph County Republican who resigned his seat in 2012 to begin lobbying work. His clients include GlaxoSmithKline Inc. and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.