Jax Labs doing the dance

The Jackson Laboratory's executives kept busy this past week appointing JoAnne Ruh from the Nevada Cancer Institute in Las Vegas as its new chief information officer, hiring another Tallahassee lobbyist, and keeping its $100 million state funding request door open.

One executive, Vice President of Advancement Mike Hyde, even managed to take in the Sarasota cultural scene by attending a ballet there Saturday night.

The Bar Harbor, Maine-based nonprofit biomedical research lab looks to leverage its expansion into Sarasota County with $100 million from the state, $100 million from the county, and $100 million from philanthropic sources.

But the real dance was under way in Tallahassee, where the lab secured the services of Gary Rutledge, a lobbyist with Rutledge Ecenia & Purnell, PA., who's listed as a lobbyist for some 20 companies, municipalities, trade groups and pari-mutuels such as dog tracks and horse tracks.

Rutledge should be a familiar name to several Gulf Coast enterprises he represents, including the St. Petersburg Kennel Club, Sarasota Kennel Club, Youth Services International, in Sarasota, and the Tampa-based Florida Animal Control Association.

Previously, Jax Labs retained the services of Jason Unger and Michael Huey of the GrayRobinson law firm's Tallahassee office.

So far, it appears the lab may be moving legislators in the direction its lobbyists want them to go.

Last week, the House Select Committee on Government Reorganization, passed a committee bill consolidating a number of economic development trust funds into one bigger pot of money: the State Economic Enhancement and Development Trust Fund (SEED).

How much money goes into the fund remains uncertain — as does a potential portion for Jackson Lab — but it will make it easier for the state to dole out economic development dollars.