C O R N E R S T O N E S
K E L LY
M A L L E T T E
E
ven for an audience of schoolchildren, Kelly Mallette makes her case in PowerPoint and an unbreakable chain of evidence. Is anyone’s parent a nurse? A few hands go up. “I say, ‘Well, they have the Nurses Association, and the association has a lobbyist.’” Maybe some parents are doctors,
134
|
INFLUENCE Spring 2021
lawyers or pharmacists with lobbyists working on their behalf. You like Disney World, right? Do you enjoy visiting a state park? They have lobbyists too. Ditto for any state universities you might be attending. Nearly every aspect of daily life is somehow affected by legislation, she tells the students after proving the point conclusively.
“The issues dealt with in Tallahassee are closer than you think,” she said. “I guess that’s the point for regular people.” Despite the popularity of her career day presentation, Mallette is a parent, not a teacher. She is also one-third of the workforce of Ronald L. Book, a perennial top-five earner among Florida lobbying firms, routinely beating out companies several times its size. “She is definitely one of those humble people who lets Ron shine,” said Heather Turnbull, a partner at Rubin, Turnbull and Associates and a longtime friend. “But everyone in The Process, from elected officials and their staff to those of us in the lobbying corps know she is basically the one doing the daily work.” As government affairs director, Mallette prides herself on being part of a three-person team with special skills and overlapping strengths. There is Ron Book himself, the founder and CEO, a mentor to many and one-man terminal of South Florida connections. Consultant Rana Brown can find the one line on page 3,744 that, on reflection, alters the meaning of the bill. “We all work to make sure all three of us are informed enough on everything so we can really be interchangeable,” Mallette said. “We like the way we do things. It all just kind of works.” A Miami-Dade County native, she got her first whiff of politics competing on her high school debate team. After college she worked as an aide to Sen. Ron Silver, then the Legislature’s longest-serving member and the influential chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Occasionally she helped draft amendments, a task that today would be handled exclusively by fulltime staffers. She still lives in her native Biscayne Village, where she served on the City Council and where she and her husband, Juan Fonseca, have two children. Book hired her 19 years ago and commuting became a necessity. “Juan keeps the trains running while I’m in Tallahassee,” Mallette said. “But he always does it with a happy heart,