Top Annapolis Lobbying Firm Alexander & Cleaver Rocked By Defections

A leading Annapolis lobbying firm has been stunned by significant high-profile defections.

The full extent of the defections – and the reasons for them – could not be immediately determined Tuesday night. But the situation could turn acrimonious.

In a statement provided late Tuesday to Maryland Matters, the leaders of Alexander & Cleaver, a top-earning law and lobbying firm with an office on State Circle and in strategic locations across the state, confirmed that they learned earlier in the day, “without any prior notice or discussion, that some of our government relations employees may be leaving.”

In a brief conference call with Maryland Matters, neither Gary R. Alexander nor James A. Cleaver, the firm’s partners, would identify the lobbyists who are leaving. They said they were informed of the departures in an email Tuesday and were not given an explanation.

“We’re still checking around, to be honest with you,” Alexander said.

Multiple sources said at least three lobbyists are expected to leave the firm: Robert J. Garagiola, a former state Senate majority leader and unsuccessful congressional candidate; Hannah Powers Garagiola, a former top aide to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), who preceded her husband at the firm; and Moira Moynihan, a former campaign operative and House Appropriations Committee staffer in Annapolis.

Click here to read the rest of the article written by Josh Kurtz over at Maryland Matters