Aaron Deslatte, 
Orlando Sentinel, 
January 18, 2010; 10:13 am

TALLAHASSEE

Last summer, when it looked like Rick Scott’s largely out-of-state campaign team was going to ensure he never made it to an event on time, Lanny Wiles was there to save the day.
At one point in Scott’s week-long bus tour around the state, the campaign staffers with the GPS-driven smart phones were driving Scott, his family and the traveling campaign staff and reporters in circles around downtown Orlando, trying to find the Orange County Convention Center where Scott was already late for an endorsement interview with the Florida home builders association.

It was Lanny who ran to the front of the bus and demanded they start heading south on Interstate 4, phones be damned. A veteran of five presidential campaigns and a Jacksonville resident (whose wife happened to be Scott’s campaign manager)  Lanny Wiles’ job was literally to keep the buses running on time and those on them in good spirits. He would go on to save the campaign from numerous other minor and major annoyances.

Now Lanny is going to work for super-lobbyist Al Cardenas, according to a press release, where he will presumably be tasked with transitioning clients to the new realities of the Scott administration.

“Lanny Wiles has been a household name in national Republican campaigns since I first met him in Ronald Reagan’s successful effort in 1980,” Cardenas said in a press release.  “Lanny’s efforts this cycle was a critical component of Florida Governor Rick Scott’s electoral success.  Lanny is well respected in the highest circles of local, state and national politics and I have been proud to call him a friend for three decades.”

“I am thrilled to serve as Senior Counselor to one of Florida’s most respected and influential lobbying firms,” said Wiles.  “Al Cardenas and I have worked together in a number of political efforts over the years and I look forward to offering strategic and tactical advocacy counsel to the firm’s clients.”