Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

The Buzz: Florida politics

Mel's memo writer returns to lobbying

By Times staff writers
Published May 22, 2005

It's back to lobbying for the former staffer for Republican Sen. Mel Martinez who wrote the controversial memo lauding the political advantages of intervening in the Terri Schiavo case.

Brian Darling, who resigned as Martinez's counsel after admitting he wrote the memo, has started a solo lobbying practice.

Darling is helping victims of terrorists acts hurt in the first Gulf War seek compensation from terrorist nations through Sprenger and Lang, a law firm that represents plaintiffs in class action lawsuits.

He is still looking for a full-time job, but hasn't tried to find work with another senator.

"I have been looking," he said Friday. "But I haven't landed anything yet."

He wouldn't talk about the memo except to say he hasn't seen Florida's freshman senator since he resigned in April and doesn't talk to his staff. But he said he frequently goes to the Capitol to work or visit friends.

Because Martinez is a former employer, Darling is not allowed to lobby him for a year.

BUTTERWORTH BASHING: Democrats are thrilled at the prospect of former state Attorney General Bob Butterworth running for another term, but Republicans say they are too.

"That's good news for the Republican nominee," said former House Speaker John Thrasher."When you try to dust off old folks, that is good for us. He couldn't even win his home Senate district the last time he ran."

Butterworth was one of the state's most popular politicians as attorney general from 1986 to 2002. But after term limits pushed him out of office, he lost a state Senate race to Republican Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach.

"The shine may be off that apple," Republican lobbyist J.M. "Mac" Stipanovich said of Butterworth.

CFO SINK?: Alex Sink, former Bank of America honcho and wife of gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride, hadn't been seriously looking at running for chief financial officer until folks in Washington started urging her to run for Rep. Mike Bilirakis' congressional seat. The right candidate, those Democratic strategists concluded, could win that Republican-leaning district where state Rep. Gus Bilirakis is poised to succeed his father.

But the more her interest was piqued in a congressional run, she recounted Friday, the more she realized she should take a hard look at CFO.

"I'm just seriously considering it. I need to do the due diligence," she said, explaining that she's looking at how her life would be affected and precisely what's involved in the job. She expects to make up her mind in about five weeks.

MIFFED AT MADDOX: Democratic activists and elected officials had mixed reactions to revelations last week that former state Democratic chairman Scott Maddox had quietly moonlighted as an advocate for a controversial Leon County development while leading the party.

One leading Democrat who was none too pleased: state Sen. Rod Smith, one of Maddox's rivals for the Democratic nomination. "I don't think that was consistent with people's understanding of what he would be doing," Smith said. "If there was going to be outside employment, there should have been full disclosure."

POLITICAL PAIR: It seems Bob Graham and Rep. Jim Davis have more in common than mutual respect and a fondness for delving into complex policy issues. Not only did Graham recently throw his endorsement to the Tampa gubernatorial candidate, but the Davis campaign has hired Graham's former media consultant, the Washington firm Squier Knapp Dunn.

The firm's clients have included Kerry-Edwards, Gore-Lieberman, Clinton-Gore, Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana and John Breaux of Louisiana, and Govs. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois and Anne Richards of Texas.

Adam C. Smith, Anita Kumar and Lucy Morgan contributed to this week's Buzz.

[Last modified May 22, 2005, 01:06:16]