Commentary: Why Keith Curry is the right choice for Assembly

As a retired Assembly member and senator in the California Legislature, I know firsthand what it takes to be a successful legislator and the type of person who will be an effective leader in coastal Orange County. I know both candidates for the 74th Assembly District, and I urge you to support Keith Curry for the state Assembly.

From years of personal observation in Sacramento, I know that rigid ideologues, those who vote “no” before even listening to the facts, and those who are more concerned with their own careers than with their service to the community, do not make good representatives. Unfortunately, Curry’s opponent fits that description.

Curry is running for office for the right reasons, to give back to his community and to use his 40 years of public policy and business experience to craft solutions that work.

Throughout his career in Washington, D.C., working with President Reagan, building a resume as a successful businessman and job creator and serving as mayor and council member, chairman of the Orange County Parks Commission and director of the Center for Public Policy and professor at Concordia University in Irvine, Curry has demonstrated the ability to build consensus, to dissect difficult financial decisions and to bring people together around solutions that work.

Curry’s record of success goes back decades. He worked with Reagan to reform transportation funding in Washington. He advised state and local governments, coast to coast, on complex infrastructure projects, and as mayor of Newport Beach, he authored the city’s Fiscal Sustainability Plan, the 2010 blueprint that guided the city through the recession with growing reserves, increased property values and a stronger local tax base.

Frankly, we have too many legislators who lack the real-world experience of building a business. Curry built a company of more than 450 people.

Our district, our homeowners and our children will be short-changed if we do not elect a serious person with the skills, intelligence, life experience and determination to represent all of us in the Assembly and make a difference. Someone focused on the big issues facing our state, not side-show issues. There is no question that Keith Curry is that person.

TOM HARMAN is a retired member of the state Senate and Assembly. He lives in Huntington Beach.