Richard Licht -- former state senator, lieutenant governor and unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate -- testifies last month before the Senate Finance Committee on legislation that would close some corporate tax loopholes in Rhode Island.

The lobbyists include Joseph W. Walsh, the well-connected former Senate majority whip and Warwick mayor; Richard Licht, the gregarious former state senator, lieutenant governor and unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate; and the state’s longest serving lobbyist, Peter McGinn, a Harvard law graduate who has been working with Rhode Island lawmakers since 1964.

Richard Licht will tell you his firm is among the best in the state.

“We’re good lawyers. We’re good advocates. We understand the process,” Licht says. “Can some lobbyists impact the results differently than another lobbyist would? Absolutely. And that is because they work harder. They may know the system better. They may have gained the trust.”

Licht, 59, may be the face of the firm, which he joined in 2002. And McGinn and Gayle Wolf, a former staffer for the Senate majority leader’s office, may compose the firm’s daily presence at the State House.

But the Tillinghast, Licht lobbyist best known to most lawmakers is likely Walsh, who did not participate in a recent interview at the company headquarters. He referred all questions to Licht.

Walsh does most of his lobbying work at the end of each legislative session when the most important budgetary decisions are made.

The firm is registered to represent 13 clients. The payment arrangements vary from the rate of $280 per hour for Licht’s services lobbying for the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority, to a flat fee of $30,000 per session for Wolf and Walsh to lobby for the Rhode Island Greyhound Owners Association.

Other clients include the Rhode Island Automobile Dealers Association ($21,000 per session to the firm), the Rhode Island Builders Association ($35,000 per session), and R.J. Reynolds ($10,000 per session).

Licht, a nephew of former Rhode Island Gov. Frank Licht, was a state senator from 1974 to 1984. He served as lieutenant governor from 1985 to 1989, before raising millions of dollars in two unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate.

But Licht says that his political connections don’t give Tillinghast, Licht a leg up.

“I think I’m a good lawyer and a good lobbyist, not because I have a political background,” he says. “The political background taught me how government works. So I understand how the person in the other chair is thinking.”

He continued: “Let’s face it. This is a small state. The speaker, the committee chairmen, they know on a first-name basis every single lobbyist, everybody who’s up there on a regular basis. They know us all. So it’s not like, ‘I don’t know that guy, but I know this guy.’

“Why we’re effective is because we developed the reputation for being candid, straightforward, and a problem solver.”