Peter Schorsch
With thousands of votes cast in the first three rounds of competition, TallyMadness – an online voting competition to determine Florida’s “best” lobbyist – is now down to the Elite Eight.
The final eight lobbyists vying to be the Champion of TallyMadness are: Jeff Johnston, Fred Karlinsky, Hayden Dempsey, Andrea Reilly, Darrick McGhee, Heather Turnbull, Lori Killinger, and Jon Costello.
Amazingly, there is one #16 seed, two #15 seeds, and one #14 seed still alive in the competition.
#3 seed Karlinsky of Greenberg Traurig, having knocked off reigning champ Mark Delegal of Holland & Knight, is the highest ranked competitor among the Elite Eight. He’s facing off against Corcoran & Johnston’s Jeff Johnston for a spot in the Final Four.
Another GT lobbyist, Hayden Dempsey, is aiming for the Final Four, however, as of Tuesday morning, he trails one of the Cinderellas of this year’s competition, Smith Bryan & Myers’ Andrea Reilly.
The Final Four is guaranteed to see at least one underdog make the Final Four, as #16 seed McGee of Johnson & Blanton is facing off against #14 seed Turnbull of The Rubin Group. The pressure is certainly on McGhee as he hopes to join his colleague, Jon Johnson, as a TallyMadness champion.
In the fourth bracket, two veterans are squaring off: #5 seed Lori Killinger and #15 seed Jon Costello. Some are speculating that Costello has hired Brian Burgess of The Capitolist to sit at his desk all day and vote for him. Florida Politics will look into these allegations.
Voting to determine who will be part of the Final Four of TallyMadness ends at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21.
One comment
Pam
March 20, 2018 at 12:59 pm
Terrible to make a game out of lobbyists controlling our legislators instead of our legislators listening to their constituents and doing what the residents/voters want….
Hopefully, voters will be aware of those legislators, such as Mike La Rosa, who are under the influence of Lori Killinger. Residents do not want unfettered short-term rentals – mini-hotels built by investors that destroy communities.
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