Back in September, we reported that Honolulu rail planners were going to pay a D.C. firm more than $300,000 for lobbying. Now it looks like Infraconsult had the highest D.C. lobbyist expenditures among Hawaii-based companies. according to the Hawaii Reporter. 

Citing 2011 U.S. Senate lobbyist disclosure forms, Jim Dooley at the Hawaii Reporter writes:

As has been the case in recent years, Honolulu’s rapid transit agency, HART, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs laid out the biggest bucks to woo political support and budget appropriations from Congress and the executive branch.

Infraconsult paid $320,000 to Washington lobbyist Williams & Jensen for its work promoting the HART project. The same amount was spent on 2010 lobbying, which is principally handled by Washington insider Denis Dwyer.

OHA’s lobbying effort, which ballooned to $680,000 in 2005 and has totaled $3.6 million since 1999, dwindled to $160,000 last year as prospects for Congressional approval of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act have dimmed.