A vote for Harkey is a vote for progress

Last week, several members of the “Huntington Beach NIMBY Club” offered various reasons why we should not support Dana Point City Councilwoman Diane Harkey for the 35th District state Senate seat over state Assemblyman Tom Harman (“Senate race has a local flavor,” Feb. 2).

Reasons ranged from “she has no experience and is rich and evil” to “vote for the hometown boy, as he’s the hometown boy.”

Neither argument is convincing. Harman came from the same group of anti-progressive NIMBYs who have fought building on the Bolsa Chica mesa, fought Wal-Mart, fought Pacific City and are still fighting any and all progress in Huntington, including the construction of the Poseidon desalination plant in Southeast Huntington Beach. .

He comes from a group more focused on themselves -- and stopping all progress and development -- than serving the voters/residents, business owners and homeowners of the 35th District.

Harkey, on the other hand, has been endorsed by so many respected groups and individuals -- as opposed to Harman, who has been endorsed primarily by his fellow anti-development, pro-swamp Bolsa Chicans -- that the answer to this choice seems clear.

Let Harman keep his Assembly seat. But for the 35th District state Senate seat, let’s elect a person who is not owned by environmental interest groups, or by anti-capitalism/anti-progress personalities.

Vote for Diane Harkey on April 11.

TOM POLKOW

Huntington Beach

Harman has served Huntington well

I read with surprise Councilman Don Hansen’s comments in the article about the state Senate race (“Senate race has a local flavor,” Feb. 2). During the time I was on the council (2000-2004) and during the year I spent as mayor, I found Assemblyman Tom Harman to be extraordinarily responsive both to the city and its residents. Having served on the Huntington Beach City Council himself, the Assemblyman has an excellent understanding of our local issues. In addition, while serving for more than five years in the Assembly, he has developed a keen understanding of how the legislative process works, and has developed the necessary relationships to be an effective representative of his constituents. For example, he was instrumental in obtaining the state funding for the purchase of over 100 acres of the Bolsa Chica mesa. This kind of experience is sorely lacking in his opponent, a first-term councilwoman from Dana Point. As a newly elected state Senator, he will use his knowledge and experience to represent all of his constituents in the effective manner he has demonstrated as an assemblyman.

CONNIE BOARDMAN

Huntington Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Boardman is a former mayor of Huntington Beach.

Evaluate Harman on his performance

The article by Dave Brooks (“Senate race has a local flavor,” Feb. 2) did a fairly good job of setting up the two main opponents in the race for the 35th state Senate seat, Tom Harman and Diane Harkey. It certainly provided more information on Harkey that any of her campaign mailers have given us to date.

However, the article did not cover many of the details that voters need to consider in this contest.

First, Harman has more than name recognition going for him. He has a distinguished career in public service going back to his days as a member of the Huntington Beach City Council. He has an admirable record of accomplishment in the state Assembly. In other words, he can be evaluated by the voters on his past performance.

Since Harkey has served in elected office for about a year (she was elected to the Dana Point City Council in November 2004), she has no real record to run on and only words behind her. She is relying on hitting hot-button issues like illegal immigration and eminent domain without drawing any distinctions between her positions and Harman’s. In other words, she is just shadow-boxing.

Harkey’s laundry list of endorsements contains the usual suspects from the right wing of the Republican Party. Harkey should realize that endorsements from entrenched incumbents or past politicians don’t mean that much in Huntington Beach. Dana Rohrabacher, Scott Baugh and Jim Silva lobbied extensively for Measure E (the districting initiative), and the initiative was beaten badly by a 2-1 margin.

It should also be noted that Don Hansen, Harkey’s lone supporter on the Huntington Beach City Council to date (and protege of the above politicians), also went “all-in” supporting Measure E. No wonder certain members of the conservative GOP establishment are disillusioned with Tom Harman, a vigorous opponent of Measure E and a critic of those who sought to strong-arm their way into political control here.

Second, voters need to consider what either candidate will do for them and how they will be represented in the state Senate. Again, Harman brings years of experience and a glowing record of constituent service in elected office to the campaign. Harkey brings little experience to the table and, worse, no clout of her own to Sacramento. She would be at the mercy of the patrons who helped elect her to get anything done. If Harkey was recruited to be a conservative cipher in Sacramento, that does not bode well for the vast majority of constituents in this district.

The main value of this race is that it allows district constituents to express their views and elicit positions and points of view from the candidates. As a recent editorial (“Senate election: chance to make a real choice,” Forum, Jan. 26) states, we have the unusual luxury of a real choice for our next state Senator. We should take full advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the candidates over the next two months.

TIM GEDDES

Huntington Beach