With this article, your Editors begin publishing occasional articles on next year's elections. In so doing, our goal is to provide objective information for more informed decision-making at the ballot box.

Our local state senator, Tom Harmon, was the first Republican to formally announce that he is seeking the Republican nomination for California Attorney General in the 2010 primary election. West Orange County is represented in Sacramento by Harmon in the senate and Jim Silva in the Assembly. Both politicians are conservative Republicans and have taken staunch anti-tax positions as legislators.

Your Editors visited Harmon's campaign web site, but were disappointed by the lack of many significant positions on issues in which the next AG could play a major role. There were, of course, plenty of the typical meaningless political platitudes. The closest we could find to a tangible relevant position was that as AG, he would "defend the California death penalty law." It has been reported that Harmon has criticized the present AG for opposing Prop 8, the gay marriage ban, and for his enforcement of the state's carbon emission standards.

Thomas George Harman (born May 30, 1941, in Pasadena, California, is a lawyer whose Republican roots go all the way back to 1968, when he joined the Long Beach law firm of Lucas (future California Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas) & Deukmejian, (future California Governor George Deukmejian). He was first elected to office in 1996 when he joined the Huntington Beach City Council.

He was elected to the maximum 3 terms in the state assembly and then to the state senate in 2006. State senate terms are limited to 2, so he would be eligible to run again for state senate. Jim Silva replaced Harmon as our West Orange County Assembly Representative in 2006. In June 2006, Harman won 67.8% of the vote to be elected to the State Senate to fill the 35th District seat, vacated when John Campbell became a member of the United States House of Representatives.

The California Attorney General is elected to a four-year term, with a maximum of two terms. The election is held at the same statewide election as the Governor and other major statewide offices. The current Attorney General is Jerry Brown, a former Governor of California and the son of Pat Brown, who was also Attorney General and Governor. Jerry Brown is widely expected to run again for Governor in 2010, but is eligible to run again for AG, so he is keeping that option open as well.

The last Republican to hold the AG post was Dan Lungren, 1991-1999.

According to the state Constitution and the California Government Code, the Attorney General, as the state’s chief law officer, ensures that the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced. The AG also Heads the California Department of Justice, which is responsible for providing state legal services and support for local law enforcement. The AG Acts as the chief counsel in state litigation and Oversees law enforcement agencies, including county District Attorneys and Sheriffs.