TALLAHASSEE -- The web of influence and deceit portrayed in the federal indictment of Broward County fundraising powerhouse Alan Mendelsohn tells the story of how special-interest cash taints lawmaking in Florida's Capitol.

In four separate instances, Mendelsohn was hired by South Florida businesses that had different interests but the same belief: To win favorable legislation to protect profits, you have to pay big bucks to a political insider.

``Alan Mendelsohn is an extreme case,'' said Sen. Alex Villalobos, a Miami Republican. ``But there are probably other Alan Mendelsohns out there. There are sharks swimming in these dark waters.''

Mendelsohn, 51, has pleaded not guilty to 32 counts of defrauding the businesses and misusing the money to help bankroll a love nest for a mistress, a luxury car for himself and his kids' education.

The indictment does not name the four businesses Mendelsohn represented, but The Herald/Times has identified them as a dialysis lab, a viaticals company selling ``death futures,'' a casino and a credit counseling company. Nor does the indictment name a public official who allegedly received $87,000 in illegal payments funneled through the doctor's political attack committees and dummy corporations.

Mendelsohn, an eye doctor, became a consummate insider sought by lawmakers hungry for the campaign cash flowing from fundraisers at his Hollywood home, according to the indictment and those who knew him.

The cash and connections made him a force to be feared.

Villalobos survived a tough 2006 reelection campaign in which political attack committees, funded partly by Mendelsohn, flourished. He compared the attack committees to ``a third-party superpower with a nuke'' that detonates in local elections to further agendas in the Capitol.

Professional lobbyists didn't complain openly about Mendelsohn failing to register as a lobbyist. Many feared that legislative leaders -- supported by Mendelsohn -- would do nothing.

Mendelsohn, his family and his major political committee contributed at least $708,000 to more than 275 legislators, legislative candidates and state causes since 1996.

Mendelsohn's indictment is the second in just six months that sheds light into the sausage making of the Legislature. In April, a state grand jury charged former House Speaker Ray Sansom in an unrelated case for helping manipulate the state budget to help a contributor and a local college that got him a job. Sansom has pleaded not guilty.

None of the four businesses that hired Mendelsohn would comment. Here are details about their arrangements with him:

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Broward lobbyist Russ Klenet saw Mendelsohn as an ally.

For years, Klenet had represented End Stage Renal Disease Laboratories as it fought for legislation changing rules about the ownership of kidney dialysis labs. Sources and the indictment say Klenet introduced the company's owner, Dr. Mark Ginsburg, to Mendelsohn in 2002.

Klenet, who declined comment, also greatly increased the size of the lab's lobbying team to 20, signing up the wife of then-Senate President John McKay to lobby the House.

The Senate pressured the House to pass the legislation containing the company's language. The lab contributed $200,000 to Mendelsohn's committee, Alliance for Florida's Future, about three months later in August.

One of the lab's lobbyists, Scott Hopes, said he didn't know what Mendelsohn did for the lab. Hopes was hired onto the firm's team just a few months after he left a job with the state Agency for Health Care Administration, where he oversaw a report rivals criticized as too favorable to End Stage Renal Disease Labs.

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