Diane Harkey

Harkey's husband, Dan J. Harkey, is a loan broker who operated the company in Orange County, California called Point Center Financial Inc. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into the company in 2009 and subpoenaed records relating to $500 million in capital investments, where 60% of the loans had gone into default. In response, 50 investors from his company filed a lawsuit alleging Harkey was making risky investments and giving profits to his wife's political campaigns. Point Center Financial Inc. filed for bankruptcy in February 2013. In July 2013, the company was ordered to pay $11.6 million after Dan Harkey was found guilty of eleven charges related to breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract, having ruled he was guilty of Elder Financial Abuse by preying on older people for their life savings with "malice, fraud and oppression". Diane Harkey was not implicated in the case and was removed as a defendant. On July 30, 2018, an appeals court affirmed the judgement against Dan Harkey.

On June 5, 2018, in the California "jungle primary", Harkey advanced to the November 2018 general election for California's 49th congressional district, finishing with the most votes in a crowded primary field. She advanced to the general election alongside Democratic environmental activist Mike Levin of nearby San Juan Capistrano, assuring that this north San Diego County-based district would be represented by someone from the Orange County portion.

In May 2018, the Orange County Register endorsed Harkey for the U.S. House. In July, the Tea Party Express, America's largest tea party PAC, endorsed Harkey. In late August, President Donald Trump tweeted what the San Francisco Chronicle described as "a glowing endorsement" of Harkey.

Harkey was defeated in the November 2018 general election by Levin, who received 55% of the vote to Harkey's 45%.

In 2017, the California Department of Finance audited the Board of Equalization and found a conference in Harkey's district had brought in 98 board employees to perform duties including "registration, parking lot duty, and break area facilitation". Harkey denied that she was involved in redirecting staff to these activities.

In 2017, a California State Personnel Board audit of the California State Board of Equalization recommended the dismissal of one of Harkey's aides. The audit found that the aide was allowed to work from the agency's New York office, and that Harkey's staff "used their positions of authority to improperly influence, and arguably pressure, BOE executives to ensure placement" of the aide to a permanent civil service position.

Harkey supports the Trump administration's 2017 tax reform, especially as it affects employers, but has criticized how it got rid of state and local tax deductions for many California residents.

In a March 2016 opinion piece, Harkey noted that while gas prices around the U.S. had recently dropped dramatically, California prices had stayed high. She pointed out that even though the State Board of Equalization had approved decreases in the state gas tax, prices had not gone down accordingly. The reason for this, she explained, was "overreaching regulatory policies", such as "the cap-and-trade and low-carbon fuel fees".

In 2014, Harkey became term-limited in the State Assembly and ran for a seat on the California State Board of Equalization representing the 4th district, which encompasses Imperial, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties, as well as small portions of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. She came in second place in the June 3 nonpartisan blanket primary with 34.0% of the vote, and subsequently won the November general election by a margin of 61.6% to 38.4%. She has been sitting on the board since January 2015.

In August 2014, when Diane was an assemblywoman and a candidate for the Board of Equalization, California Controller John Chiang was garnishing 25% of her $95,000 annual salary as state legislator in settlement of the 2013 case. She wrote to Chiang that she was legally separated from her husband Dan and should therefore be exempt from liability for his debts. Chiang rejected this argument.

As of 2013, Harkey had a 100% rating from the Capitol Resource Institute, a socially conservative interest group in California.

In September 2013, Harkey sued California state senator Mark Wyland, a Republican from San Diego she was running against for a seat on the Board of Equalization, for $10 million due to alleged defamation. She claimed he misstated the facts and intentionally inflicted emotional distress when he said, "Unfortunately, there has been a lawsuit brought by a lot of investors of modest means against her and her husband for defrauding them.... There was decision that those investors were defrauded and there is a judgment." She claimed the investors weren't of "modest means".

In 2008, she ran as the Republican nominee for the 73rd State Assembly district against Democratic nominee Judy Jones. Harkey received the endorsements of the Republican Congressional delegation in the district, Assemblywoman Mimi Walters (who vacated the seat to run for State Senate), former opponent state Senator Tom Harman, over 80 elected officials in Orange and San Diego Counties, and the Republican Assembly Women's Caucus. Harkey won the election with 53.4% of the vote, while Jones received 40.6% of the vote. She served in the Assembly from November 2008 to November 2014.

As of 2008, Harkey had received an "A" lifetime rating from the NRA.

In 2006, Harkey ran against then-Assemblyman Tom Harman for the 35th State Senate District in one of the closest California State Senate races in the state's history. Harman defeated Harkey for the Republican nomination by 225 votes or roughly 0.2% of the vote and went on to win the general election by 44,000 votes.

California State Senate District 35 Republican Primary special election, 2006

Harkey's involvement in politics began in 1989, when she actively campaigned for the incorporation of the City of Dana Point. Harkey has served as a board member of the Ocean Institute and Dana Point Fifth Marine Regiment Support Group, a trustee for the Capistrano Valley Symphony, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. She served on the Dana Point City Council from 2004 to 2008, and during that period, in 2007, she served as the city's mayor.

Harkey and her husband, Dan, have a daughter, Jaclyn. Dan is a businessman who ran Point Center Financial for three decades after founding it in the 1980s.

Diane Lynn Harkey (born June 20, 1951) is an American politician who was a member of the California State Board of Equalization, representing its fourth district. She previously served as a member of the California State Assembly and of the Dana Point City Council, and as Mayor of Dana Point. She was a Republican candidate for California's 49th congressional district seat in the 2018 election, losing to Democrat Mike Levin.