Larry Puccio

Puccio spent nearly a decade at Manchin's side while he was secretary of state and governor. He registered to lobby at the federal level for the first time barely a month after Democrats reclaimed the Senate last year — which turned the ability to sway Manchin (or at least figure out what's on his mind) into a highly marketable skill. Disclosure filings show Puccio and a partner have lobbied the Senate almost exclusively. While Puccio's lobbying fees are relatively affordable by K Street standards, he's still managed to cash in. He pulled in more than $310,000 last year, according to disclosure reports, in addition to his earnings from his extensive state-level lobbying business in West Virginia. Manchin, 74, and Puccio, 66, have known each other since Puccio was 13 or 14, as Manchin once said. They both come from Italian American families in West Virginia’s coal-heavy Marion County, and as Manchin became a political force in the state, Puccio rose with him. Puccio stepped down in 2010 to become a lobbyist in the state, Manchin helped install him as the state party chairman and later tapped him to run Manchin’s leadership PAC. The Appalachian Natural Gas Operators Coalition last year paid Puccio and his partner, Angel Moore, $180,000 to lobby the Senate and the Energy Department on ‘proposed taxes and fees related to energy production,’ according to disclosure filings.