EDITORIAL:Three wise men

From City Hall to Sacramento to Santa Ana, Huntington Beach residents — especially those concerned with fiscal conservatism — can be confident that the results of the November election has left them in good hands with Tom Harman in the state Senate, Jim Silva in the state Assembly and John Moorlach in the county supervisor seat.

Harman, a former Surf City mayor and councilman himself, served ably in the state Assembly, albeit in the minority party. As a centrist Republican, he learned to work well with the Democrats, who control the Assembly, and he was able to push legislation through that improved safety standards on playground equipment and made it easier to dispose of personal property in wills.

Using that consensus building will serve Harman well as he moves to the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Former county Supervisor Jim Silva, who also began his political career on the Huntington Beach City Council, is now in Sacramento representing the city as a state Assemblyman.

A little history. As Silva stepped into his new seat as supervisor in 1994, the county had just learned it was in the midst of bankruptcy — the worst ever seen by a municipal government.

The bankruptcy, sparked by the mismanagement of county funds by former County Treasurer Robert Citron, was extremely difficult on Silva and his supervisor colleagues.

If that wasn’t enough, Silva was soon deep into a major donnybrook over the proposed creation of an airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Silva became the darling of airport supporters, many of whom were from Newport and Huntington Beach, as he fought for the creation of the facility. But he was also cast as a demon by the South County residents who successfully fought to kill the idea.

While Silva’s resume is certainly much longer, these battles will be a great help as he moves on to be a minority voice in the state Assembly.

Finally, there is John Moorlach.

No one was a bigger critic of Citron’s shady investment deals than John Moorlach. Problem is, no one really took him seriously — that is, until his warnings proved all too true.

Moorlach, however, was rewarded by county voters, who elected him to replace the ousted and disgraced Citron and become county treasurer.

In that role, Moorlach has been a trusted custodian of the public’s money, bringing the county back from financial disaster to solvency once again.

And now Moorlach, who successfully won election to Silva’s county supervisor seat, has a new warning to take heed of — the ever-inflating pensions of county employees.

To all three men, we wish you the best in your new jobs. We know that we all are better off having such fiscal conservatives watching over the taxpayers’ money.