Michigan is one of 12 states plus DC, where lobbying firms can register instead of individual lobbyists, as per public records. Because these firms often employ many lobbyists, the tobacco industry might hide the true number and identities of its lobbyists in the state.

On the homepage map, you’ll see data for individual lobbyist registrations and total lobbying firm registrations in the tobacco industry (from the blue rows in the charts below). Since a single lobbyist or firm can represent multiple tobacco companies, we track both the total number of lobbyists/firms and total registrations.

The tan rows under each spreadsheet show the overall number of individual lobbyists and individual firms. The tan box at the top of the sheet combines these totals.

The blue rows under each spreadsheet display the lobbyist and lobbying firm registrations. The blue box at the top of the sheet shows their combined total. When a lobbyist or firm represents multiple tobacco companies, the blue total will be higher than the tan total.