Staff Reports
The first round of TallyMadness is over.
The online competition started Thursday afternoon, pitting 64 in-house lobbyists against each other in a March Madness-style competition to decide who is the “best” lobbyist in Florida.
Among the Round 1 standouts was Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants lobbyist Justin Thames, who made it all the way to the championship game last year before losing out to Corinne Mixon of Rutledge Ecenia. This year he started off by knocking out Comcast lobbyist Brian Musselwhite.
In the match between John Holley of Florida Power & Light Company and Anthony DiMarco of the Florida Bankers Association, it was Holley who prevailed. And Florida School Boards Association lobbyist BillieAnn Gay defeated Anheuser-Busch lobbyist Jonathan Rees as she seeks match — and possibly improve upon — her Final Four run in 2020.
To nobody’s surprise, Anthem Lobbyist Stephanie Smith dispatched Edward Labrador. Again, sorry, Edward, maybe next year you’ll get a better slot in the opening round.
Some other highlights from Round 1: AFP state director Skylar Zander lost to Danielle Scroggins in a close one; Stephanie Kopelousos of the Governor’s office defeated David Pizzi of Florida Blue; the Florida Trucking Association’s Alix Miller sent the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers’ Jason Harrell packing; and Albie Kaminsky of Charter Communications dunked on Jared Ross of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions.
Round 2 starts today and runs through 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Florida Politics readers will decide who makes it to the Sweet 16 by voting online — the winners will be announced in Friday’s Sunburn.
