Harman eyes attorney general seat

Sen. Tom Harman is considering running to be California’s next attorney general in 2010.

The longtime Huntington Beach civil lawyer and Republican says he disagrees with some of the Democratic incumbent Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s policies and is exploring a campaign to win his job. It would be a tough match-up for Harman, some Democrats and Republicans say, as few people in California have the name recognition of Brown, who was a two-term governor, a secretary of state and a big-city mayor among other things in his long political career.

But it’s widely speculated that Brown will run for governor in 2010 and leave the attorney general’s seat available. Of course, Brown’s decision, some political observers say, could depend on whether Sen. Dianne Feinstein runs for governor as termed-out Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger runs for the U.S. Senate.

Still, Harman, who has pulled papers to run for attorney general but has not officially announced a bid, would be faced with an electorate that has many more Democrats than Republicans. But Orange County Republican leader Scott Baugh points to two-term Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as an example of how the right Republicans can win statewide elections.

Harman also thinks he would be helped by the fact that there will be no presidential election and that a Democrat will be in the White House.

“I’m optimistic. Some pundits think that in two years the Republicans will experience a resurgence and historically that has, in fact, happened,” Harman said.

Harman has been in public office for more than a decade now, having served six years as a Huntington Beach City Councilman, six years in the Assembly, and he is embarking on his second term as a state senator.

He criticizes Brown for aggressively enforcing environmental laws, especially under Assembly Bill 32, which calls for the state to limit carbon emissions. Harman says that even before plans had been made to implement that law, Brown was suing and threatening to sue counties such as San Bernardino for trying to pass general plans that did not address ways to limit carbon emissions.

By doing this, Brown blocked development and growth that would improve the health of the economy in rough economic times, according to Harman, and if he continues such stringent policies things could get worse.

“It’s going to have some very dramatic effects on the California economy and business,” Harman said.

Brown’s spokesman, Scott Gerber, defended the lawsuit because it resolved the dispute in a mutually beneficial way as San Bernardino County agreed to work to inventory greenhouse gas sources and develop a plan to limit them.

“I think the attorney general thinks more not less needs to be done to address global warming,” Gerber said.

Although not familiar with the lawsuit against San Bernardino, Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Barbaro pointed out that the Inland Empire would benefit from curbing pollution.

“Of all the areas in California, San Bernardino and Riverside are the top two counties that need to address carbon emissions issues. Their air is a mess,” Barbaro said.

For most of his tenure in the California legislature, Harman has served as the top Republican on the judiciary committee and serves as Minority Whip.

He said he’s more interested in the attorney general job instead of trying to get a congressional seat because in a national office it takes a long time to establish seniority and put yourself in a position of real power, not to mention the five-hour airplane commute to Washington D.C.