Lobbyists play such a crucial role in the appropriations process that they sometimes recommend to a group how much money to request.

That's what happened when Informed Families of Dade County contacted Tallahassee lobbyist Labasky last year in April, as the session convened.

"We wanted to get a legislative appropriation to expand our program. We can't spend our time in Tallahassee, " said executive director Lees Baldwin.

Labasky agreed in writing to try to get the group money:

"Regarding my services for this session, my consulting fee will be 10 percent of the total appropriations obtained for Informed Families of Dade. My personal recommendation is that we request $250,000 this year, as this is the tightest budget year the state has had for some time."

Labasky was successful. The group paid her out of discretionary funds.

Miami lawyer Ron Book, considered by many to be one of the most successful lobbyists in appropriations, said he never has taken a fee from a state grant.

"I have always believed -- and always made it a condition of representation -- that there would be a bad perception if you got your fee out of government monies. It's wrong, " Book said. "I believe there is a section of the law that implies it's illegal."

Last session, the House Committee on Ethics and Elections tackled the issue of lobbyists' contingency fees. Chairman Norm Ostrau, D-Plantation, said he thinks high contingency fees leave a bad impression "that someone is buying their way through legislation."

The committee did not address payments directly from appropriations.

"We should take an absolutely strong look at that, " Ostrau said.

Rep. Ron Glickman, D-Tampa, had introduced the bill to ban contingency fees. He said that large contingency fees give lobbyists the incentive to offer kickbacks.

Glickman also was troubled about state money being used to pay lobbyists.

"That's not what we're supposed to be using state money for, " he said. "For a part of an appropriation to be siphoned off to pay for a lobbyist, that's sad."

He said he did not think nonprofit groups should have to hire lobbyists to get appropriations. That job, he said, should fall on the legislators themselves.

A lobbyists' success often rides on access to the legislators who have power.

Book and Sisser, for instance, are close friends with Senate President Gwen Margolis, the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Last year, after the session, Book sent Margolis 10 dozen lavender roses. It was his way of congratulating her for the presidency -- and thanking her for his clients' appropriations.

Gomez is close with Dade's Hispanic delegation. He vacationed in Europe for several weeks this summer with Rep. Luis Morse, R-Miami, who as the chairman of Dade's Cuban- American Caucus helped several of Gomez's clients get appropriations.

"He paid his way. I paid my way, " Morse said. "He is a good friend of mine. If somebody is a friend of mine from way before I'm a legislator, I don't think under any ethical rule or law that anyone can tell me not to continue a friendship."

Morse said he sponsored some of Gomez's appropriations because they were projects in his district. CAMACOL, the Latin American Chamber of Commerce, for instance, received a $300,000 state grant with Morse's help for a trade and exhibition center. The chamber paid Gomez $30,000.

Lobbyists also try to have cozy relationships with the staff members who actually write the budget.

Toni Riordan, a lobbyist for the Miami Film Festival, charged the festival $222.34 in 1988.

The expense: Dinner for the House appropriations staff.

Secretary of State Jim Smith, whose office administers grants to arts and cultural groups, doesn't think it's right that nonprofit groups pay top dollar to lobbyists, then seek limited state money.

If they can afford to pay a lobbyist, he argues, then they don't need the state money.

"We have a serious question if they use grant money to pay a lobbyist, " Smith said. "We feel we do an adequate job of lobbying the Legislature."

Smith now requires applicants to list how much money they plan to spend on lobbying.

The Discovery Center, a museum in Fort Lauderdale, said it doesn't need a lobbyist. It got $427,000 in the 1990 budget.

Explained Hilary Winiger, who is in charge of grants and government support for the museum:

"Tom Gustafson sits on our board. I think that's how things get rolling."