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Don Beason's biggest contract was with Catawba County.

According to a review of his client list this year, the once-top lobbyist was paid nearly $33,000 to represent a county of 151,000 people having a water dispute with its neighbors.

That's almost four times what Progress Energy paid him, almost eight times the size of his IBM contract and more than 11 times what he earned from AT&T.

Only one other corporate client, Sigma Corp., came close with its $27,000 contract. 

As a public entity, Catawba could not pay Beason with a second contract — ostensibly for something other than lobbying — that it did not have to report to the Secretary of State. 

So its contract is likely close to what Beason actually charges. That means his major corporate clients, including Progress Energy, IBM, AT&T, Colonial Life Insurance and  BB&T, likely paid him the rest with secondary contracts. (At least one did so in a prior year.)

In fact, BB&T's $3,290.38 payments from Jan. 1 to June 30 are exactly one-tenth the $32,903.80 he earned from Catawba in that same time frame.

Don Beason's son, Mark, worked closely with him.

According to filings with the Secretary of State's office, Mark Beason made $61,130 from 10 clients he shared with his father, including BB&T, Cingular Wireless and the N.C. Railroad Co., in the first six months of the year.

The single largest contracts were with Sigma Corp., a New Jersey pipe fitting company, for $27,000, and Colonial Life Insurance, for $12,000. Both paid Don Beason the same amounts.

In addition, Mark Beason made $31,750 from four other clients. The N.C. Railway Association paid him $15,000, the N.C. Community Health Center Association paid $13,000 and the N.C. Pawn Brokers Association paid $3,750.

Valley Development is also listed as a client, but it has not filed any payment reports.

In all, Mark Beason earned $92,880 in the first six months of the year.