Trusting in his experience

A Republican in the state Senate has a rough job, but Huntington Beach Assemblyman Tom Harman thinks nearly six years in the Legislature have prepared him for it.

Harman is running against Dana Point City Councilwoman Diane Harkey ? a fellow Republican ? and Democrat Larry Caballero, a teacher from La Palma, in a Tuesday special election for the 35th District Senate seat. The district includes 513,768 voters in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and all or part of 12 other Orange County cities.

With Republicans making up nearly half of the registered voters in the district, the real battle is between Harkey, a relative unknown with broad backing from GOP officials, and Harman, a three-term assemblyman who is popular in his hometown and will be termed out this fall.

After six years on the Huntington Beach City Council, Harman ? a former attorney ? was elected to the Assembly in 2000. Since then, he’s built relationships with other legislators that would serve him well in the Senate, he said ? a political rookie, on the other hand, would have to start from scratch.

“I already know every single one of the senators on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “This is a business of relationships.”

As a state officeholder, Harman also has a record he’s proud of: He said as a councilman he helped streamline city government; in 2004 he wrote a bill to protect buyers from illegal condo conversions after a scandal in his city; and he endeared himself to environmentalists in 2003 by helping the state acquire the Bolsa Chica mesa.

His environmental legislation has won him support from some Democrats, including Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Debbie Cook. She said he’s been “very responsive to all the citizens” and has addressed the clean water and coastal issues that are important in her city.

Cook said she votes for a candidate as a whole rather than a single issue or a party, and she thinks partisan politics have made California weaker.

“I’m looking for people who can look past partisanship, and I think Tom is one of those people,” she said.

But that flexibility has left Harman open to charges of being liberal ? a bad word in this conservative district ? and he’s had to defend some parts of his record even as he’s touted others.

Some of his GOP colleagues have attacked him for supporting a so-called diaper tax in 2003 ? it would have charged a fee on diapers to keep them out of landfills; and they accuse him of trying to weaken the protections of Proposition 13, which caps the inflation of property taxes at 2% a year.

“Tom Harman has shown his willingness over the years to be quicker to raise taxes than what we’d expect a Republican from Orange County to be,” said Newport Beach Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has endorsed Harkey.

DeVore added that voters are likely to question recent mailers supporting Harman that were paid for by employee unions. Political committees can take sides without directly giving candidates money; candidates legally can’t be involved with such independent expenditures.

Harman said independent groups are spending nearly as much on Harkey’s behalf.

In the Senate race Harman has tried to position himself as tough on taxes and on illegal immigration. He said the Orange County Republican establishment has been gunning for him since he won the primary for his Assembly seat in 2000.

Harkey’s widespread backing by GOP officials doesn’t concern him, Harman said. He has endorsements from other Republican state legislators, though none from Orange County.

“I don’t think it’ll hurt me,” Harman said. “I don’t think the typical voter is particularly impressed by endorsements one way or the other.”