Making Light of Harman’s Indecision on Health Care

They could have held a sit-in or waved placards. Instead, they delivered balloons.

Members of the Health Care Reform Project, a coalition of unions and other groups, delivered about 100 helium-filled balloons to Rep. Jane Harman’s LAX-area office, calling on her to support one of the several reform plans--preferably one with universal coverage--that Congress has been debating.

“The balloons were not so much a slap in the face but simply a colorful reminder (of the health reform issue),” said Jarvis Stewart, who organized the protest.

Harman, a Rolling Hills Democrat whose district includes Marina del Rey, Westchester and Venice, “just isn’t saying (what plan she supports), which is driving everyone crazy,” said Joyce Moscato, a spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union, a member of the project.

Harman, who was not in her Century Boulevard office at the time of the demonstration, has not taken a position because “she’s at the point of weighing the options that are out there,” said her chief of staff, Ed Hatcher.

“What’s to criticize?” Hatcher said. “You are talking about a monumental policy issue. The fact that the congresswoman has to be deliberative and thoughtful in her approach is what her constituents expect from her.”

Harman is not alone in being singled out. The Health Care Reform Project has been staging the demonstrations across the country, either protesting lawmakers’ positions or their lack of one.

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BIG SPENDERS: Many South Bay candidates for Congress or the state Senate spent well over a hundred grand in the June primary races.

Most losers are stuck holding a hefty bill; winners have spent much of the summer trying to raise more money.

In the 36th Congressional District, Rancho Palos Verdes Councilwoman Susan Brooks spent $179,720 in her successful bid for the Republican nomination, according to campaign finance reports. (The figures include spending only since Jan. 1.) Her opponent, former Palos Verdes Estates Councilman Ron Florance, spent almost twice as much: $336,589, more than half of which was his own money. Incumbent Jane Harman (D-Rolling Hills), who had no opposition, spent $183,856.

But you have to look to a state race--the 28th State Senate District--to find this year’s biggest spender: incumbent Ralph C. Dills (D-El Segundo). He paid $459,797, the bulk of it on a barrage of mailers in the last weeks of the race. His chief opponent, Torrance Councilman George Nakano, spent $195,797. Dills won the race with 47% of the vote to Nakano’s 34%.

Attorney Michael Sidley, who spent $212,720 on his campaign this year, got 11% of the vote. Manhattan Beach real estate broker Jo Ann Rodda got 8%, spending less than $1,000.

Sidley financed much of his campaign with his own money or with loans from his father. But he plans to run for office again.

“I think I was everybody’s second choice,” Sidley said. “Next time around, I will be positioned very well.”

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SPEAKING OF SPENDING: Heard about taking back our streets? Well, here’s a chance to take back our Waterford crystal.

This and more goes on the auction block at 3 p.m. Thursday in Century City. The occasion is the sale of booty seized by the U.S. Customs Service and the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigations division.

The site is the J.W. Marriott Hotel, 2151 Avenue of the Stars. Preview and registration start at noon.

Among the items up for bid, organizers say, will be 900 ounces of gold bullion and rare coins seized in an IRS money laundering case. There will also be 100 pieces of Waterford crystal and 150 bottles of rare wine that the Customs Service and other federal agencies bagged in a fraud and money laundering case.

Boy, those crooks must be miserable now.