Mention the words corporate lobbyists, and images of middle-age men in expensive suits wining and dining lawmakers over steak dinners in dark-lit rooms may come to mind.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Amy Ross, left, Steve Morgan, John Dick, Joe Kuklis, Aaron Grau, and Michele Schmidt are part of are part of the growing South Side lobbying firm, GSP Consulting, which specializes in representing the high tech and nonprofit groups. Click photo for larger image.

But that is so old economy. In the new economy, people such as Joe Kuklis and Amy Ross prefer open-collar shirts and tailored slacks as they make their pitch over haute hors d'oeuvres.

Kuklis and Ross are partners in a young and growing South Side lobbying firm, GSP Consulting, that specializes in representing the high-tech and nonprofit crowd -- a group that is somewhat new to wheeling and dealing with government types. And like their clients, the firm's executives say they represent a new way of doing business.

"We bill ourselves as the anti-lobbyists," said John Dick, who founded the 15-person firm with Kuklis in 2001. "I think name dropping is tacky.''

The appeal of the more casual, self-described "anti-lobbyists'' appears to be working. The 4-year-old firm now has more than 80 clients, as well as offices in Tampa, Fla., Philadelphia and Cleveland. This week, it opened its fifth office, in Ann Arbor, Mich., to help a tech advocacy group there push for development and favorable laws.

An office in New Orleans is in the works.

"They pioneered the marketplace for lobbying services for technology companies," said Brian Kennedy, director of government relations for the Pittsburgh Technology Council. "They did that by educating tech companies about some of the important roles government can play in their business strategy."

It helps that GSP's founders had some understanding of the inner workings in Harrisburg and on Capitol Hill, as well as powerful connections in both places. The pair are former staffers to U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, one of the more powerful Republican senators in Washington.

GSP works to identify and grab a chunk of the grants, low-interest loans and research and development dollars doled out each year on the federal, state and local level. Many companies, particularly start-ups that are mired in the uphill climb of getting off the ground, don't know what kind of government assistance it out there to help them.

While their formula is not new -- lobbyists for generations have used access and knowledge of the political process to gain an upper hand for their clients -- GSP insists that its approach is different. Its growth strategy relies on zeroing in on places where the tech industry is growing, and then targeting potential clients.

As they have with their other outposts, Dick and Kuklis find a staffer familiar with the territory and presuade him or her to join their cause. They have visions of some day becoming the Deloitte & Touche of lobbying. "All you need is a cell phone and a desk," Kuklis said.

Their method is obviously reaping results. The Louisiana Technology Council, one of the firm's newest clients, said it chose GSP after considering a number of larger law and lobbying firms.

A cheaper price helped, but the council also appreciated GSP's extensive knowledge of how to navigate the government marketplace. "They didn't charge as much as a big Washington firm," said Mark Lewis, the Louisiana tech council's chief executive officer. "And they have an 85 percent success rate in getting funding -- they know what it takes."

Kuklis and Dick said chutzpah, savvy and an intricate knowledge of how government works used to be their selling point. Now, "we actually have a track record," Dick said, citing such clients as McKesson Automation and Forest City Enterprises.

But Kuklis and Dick shy away from taking all the credit. Their knack, they say, is for knowing whom to hire.

"I really do believe that there are four or five people [at GSP] who are better lobbyists than I am," said Dick, naming his partner Kuklis, whose gracious, pragmatic style he described as his alter ego; former Miss America and health care lobbyist Nicole Johnson Baker; and Steve Morgan, a former Allegheny County director of economic development.

The primarily Republican group even boasts a Democrat, former U.S. Rep. John Murtha's staffer, Scott Harshman.

"We're not ideologues," said Dick, who with Kuklis, refused to be included in the photo for this story. "Joe and I didn't start this company for the personal glory."

Seriousness aside, they even know how to have a little fun.

Their offices, in the Landmarks Building across the Smithfield Bridge, could be likened to "Melrose Place" -- good-looking, 30-somethings scurrying about in their renovated offices. No one is older than 37, and high jinks are common.

A visitor one morning encountered a fake charred skeleton upon entering the conference room. "The CEOs we represent are often our own age -- they identify with us ---they don't want to be represented by some 50-year-old gray haired white guy from a lobbying firm," said Kuklis.

"Everyone plays their own role," added Ross, GSP's third principal who heads up their nonprofit practice. "That's the benefit of having such a diverse team -- you always have someone you can ask."