After more than two weeks and more than a million votes cast, Mark Delegal is the 2015 TallyMadness Champion. He takes home a year’s worth of bragging rights and the prestigious Steve Madden award for his prodigious efforts.
He joins a pantheon of TallyMadness immortals, such as last year’s winner Jon Johnson, who graciously offered his congratulations.
“I am excited to hear that Mark has joined me as a proud recipient of the Steve Madden award. It’s a chance to remember our late friend Steve, who was an outstanding and tireless advocate. Mark Delegal shares those same qualities and is a standout among our peers. My congratulations to him!”
Delegal’s bid must have been keeping the paralegals at Holland & Knight busy indeed over the past three days: He received the lion’s share of more than 96,000 ballots submitted in the championship round of this year’s online competition to determine Tallahassee’s “best” lobbyist.
Those who know him say the key to his TallyMadness success is the same as his success as a professional advocate: hard work and strategic execution.
“Mark is a machine,” Capitol-scene staple and fellow influencer Mac Stipanovich told SaintPetersBlog. “No one more is more committed to his clients’ interests or works harder to further them. When all is lost, he is hopeful. When victory is at hand, he is worried. Just being around him is exhausting.”
Tabulating his votes was exhausting, too. Over the course of his dominant run Delegal was an irrepressible vote-getter as he took out Goliath after Goliath.
Formidable foes Albert Balido, Marty Fiorentino, Andy Palmer, Brian Ballard and Ron Book were toppled consecutively as Delegal racked up more than a quarter of a million votes from March 26 until Thursday night.
Delegal represents several heavyweight clients across a spectrum of subject matters, including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Brewers’ Guild, Safety Net Hospital Alliance, State Farm and the City of West Palm Beach.
Befitting the reputation of his white-shoe firm at H&K, Delegal is also a Martindale Hubbell AV-rated attorney, as capable of advocating in the courtroom as he is on the Capitol’s Fourth Floor.
Congratulations to Mark Delegal and all of the competitors who were chosen to play by this year’s selection committee.
