Capitol South, LLC is a lobbying and communications firm founded and run by animal rights activist and former press secretary to former U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY) Marty Irby. ¹

Capitol South has lobbied to support the passing of the Sunscreen Innovation Act, Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Reauthorization Act, and several animal welfare laws. ¹

Background

Capitol South, LLC is a lobbying and communications firm founded in 2023 by conservative lobbyist and animal rights activist Matt Irby, the former communications director, press secretary, and policy advisor to former U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY). ² As of 2024, Irby was listed as the only registered lobbyist for Capitol South. At that time, he also worked as a director and the board secretary at the Organization for Competitive Markets and sat on the campaign steering committees for U.S. Representatives Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Buddy Carter (R-GA). ³

As of April 2025, Capitol South LLC reported that its lobbying efforts had resulted in the passage of over 42 federal and state laws. It also advertised that it successfully lobbied for the passage of the debt ceiling increase in 2023, various House appropriations amendments to expand government agencies, and a list of regulations that were applied across multiple industries. ²

Clients

In 2024, Capitol South was hired by nine firms and reported receiving a total of $550,000 from nine clients. Its top receipts included $160,000 from Competitive Markets Action, $100,000 from Environmental Working Group, $70,000 from Moms for America, and $60,000 from Allen Meisler. ⁴

Activities

In September 2023, Capitol South CEO Marty Irby presented at the Annual National Food Policy Conference and expressed support for increased enforcement and development of antitrust policies for the agricultural sector. Capitol South LLC’s blog post on the event voiced support for policies that would regulate checkoff subsidy programs, ban recipients from engaging in lobbying, require subsidy disbursement data to be published, and audit spending. It also advocates policies that would ban board members managing checkoff subsidy programs from having a personal financial stake in an organization receiving checkoff subsidies and that would ban funding research that would be to the advantage of specific market participants. ^{5 6}

In October 2023, Capitol South published a blog post in support of H.R. 5747, the Crop Insurance Transparency Act, which would require the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to publicly disclose the names of producers and insurers who receive federal crop insurance subsidies and the amount they received. In the post, Capitol South CEO Marty Irby criticizes agriculture subsidies that go to “multi-millionaires” and argues that they do not benefit smallholder farmers. ⁷

In August 2023, Capitol South published a blog post expressing support for a group of Senators who sent a letter to then-Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and then-Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) opposing S. 2019 and H.R. 4417, known as the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act. The EATS Act would restrict states from imposing certain types of agricultural regulations, and Capitol South argued that it should be opposed because it would allow Chinese agricultural businesses to operate in America without having to be subjected to those regulations. It claims that without regulating agriculture, Chinese companies and other international companies would have an easier ability to increase their market share. ⁸

Leadership

Marty Irby is the president, CEO, and founder of Capitol South, LLC. He is a lobbyist and former communications director, press secretary, and policy advisor to Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY) who previously worked as a lobbyist and chief operating officer for FreedomWorks and as the chief lobbyist for Animal Wellness Action. ⁹

1. Stevens, Allondra. “Marty Irby Announces New Lobbying and Public Relations Firm, Capitol South LLC.” CAPITOL SOUTH, LLC, November 7, 2023. https://www.capitolsouthllc.com/press/marty-irby-announces-new-lobbying-and-public-relations-firm-capitol-south.
2. “History.” Capitol South, LLC. Accessed April 6, 2025. https://www.capitolsouthllc.com/history.
3.  “Capitol South Lobbyists.” OpenSecrets. Accessed April 6, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/firms/lobbyists?cycle=2024&id=F327908.
4. “Capitol South Lobbying Profile.” OpenSecrets. Accessed April 6, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/firms/summary?cycle=2024&id=F327908.
5. ^[1] Stevens, Allondra. “Capitol South CEO and U.S. Dept. of Justice Deputy Assistant AG Discuss Antitrust Issues at Consumer Federation of America Conference as Sen. Mike Lee Files New Checkoff Reform Amendment.” CAPITOL SOUTH, LLC, November 7, 2023. https://www.capitolsouthllc.com/press/leaders-from-doj-and-competitive-markets-orgs-highlight-antitrust-issues-at-consumer-federation-of-america-conference-as-sen-mike-lee-files-new-checkoff-reform-amendment.
6. “Amendment Text: S.Amdt.1097.” Congress.gov. Accessed April 7, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/amendment/118th-congress/senate-amendment/1097/text?s=a&r=97.
7. Stevens, Allondra. “Farm Groups Applaud Rep. Andy Ogles for Backing Crop Insurance Transparency Act.” CAPITOL SOUTH, LLC, November 25, 2023. https://www.capitolsouthllc.com/press/farm-groups-applaud-rep-andy-ogles-for-backing-crop-insurance-transparency-act.
8. Stevens, Allondra. “30 U.S. Senators Applauded by Farm Groups for Opposing Hinson-Marshall Eats Act.” CAPITOL SOUTH, LLC, November 18, 2023. https://www.capitolsouthllc.com/press/30-us-senators-applauded-by-farm-groups-for-opposing-hinson-marshall-eats-act.
9. “Team.” Capitol  South, LLC. Accessed April 6, 2025. https://www.capitolsouthllc.com/team.