Brian Darling

Brian Darling (born in Andover, Massachusetts, 1965) is the director of United States Senate relations for the Heritage Foundation and a Great American. He obtained national news media attention when forced to resign as legal counsel to Republican Senator Mel Martinez of Florida after admitting that he was the author of the "Schiavo memo."

[edit] Schiavo Memo

In March 2005, the Schiavo memo was a talking points memorandum that outlined a strategy for the Republicans to use the ongoing Terri Schiavo case as "a great political issue" that would appeal to the party's base (core supporters) and could be used against Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida, up for reelection in 2006, because Nelson had refused to co-sponsor Palm Sunday Compromise legislation which gave federal courts jurisdiction to review the Terri Schiavo case.^[1]

Senator Martinez, who claimed not to have read the memo, had inadvertently passed it to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democratic supporter of the legislation.^{[citation needed]} The existence of the memo was reported shortly thereafter on March 18, 2005, by ABC News and The Washington Post. Darling remained silent as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist denounced the memo, and as commentators from the Weekly Standard and other publications^{[citation needed]} questioned the memo's authenticity.^[2]^[3]

On April 6, 2005, Darling finally admitted to writing the memo, and resigned his position as legal counsel to Martinez. Martinez said he had not read the memo, and had inadvertently passed it to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democratic supporter of the Palm Sunday Compromise legislation which gave federal courts jurisdiction to review the Terri Schiavo case.^{[citation needed]}

Darling attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he launched the conservative Minuteman paper^[4] with fellow student Tony Rudy. Darling received his Juris Doctor from the New England School of Law. He was previously partner in a lobbying firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, advocating for gun rights, and particularly for the passage of legislation permitting airline pilots to carry handguns on the job.

Darling has also been General Counsel to New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith. In January 2000, he and Senator Smith visited Cuban refugee Elián González before proposing legislation to grant Gonzáles permanent residency. He was a member of the Bush-Cheney recount team in Florida during the 2000 presidential election controversy.

In 2005, Darling became director of United States Senate relations for the Heritage Foundation.