I've been involved in Orange County politics for almost two decades, and I don;t recall a spectacle quite like that surrounding Dana Point Mayor Diane Harkey.

On one hand, she's a truly rising star in the OC GOP firmament after coming out of nowhere last year to come within a hair of beating Assemblyman Tom Harman in the 35th Senate District special election and -- barring unforeseen circumstances -- is building toward a virtual lock on the GOP nomination for the 73rd Assembly District. And in the November 2006 elections, she succeeded in getting two allies elected to the Dan Point City Council.

Yet since, then, she's had this determined band of local opponents throwing darts at her. They are led by former Dana Point Councilman Jim Lacy, who was defeated in his re-election bid last fall. Lacy had endorsed Harkey against Harman in the 35th SD special election, but has become her implacable foe. Lacy and his allies are now trying the qualify a recall of Harkey, although their first two attempts to simply file the "Notice of Intention To Recall" failed for lack of sufficient valid signatures. We'll see how the third attempt turns out.

As an outsider to Dana Point politics, it's difficult to punch through the chaff of blog comments and e-mail missives and gauge to what extent there is native discontent with Harkey in Dana Point.

My gut tells me this is a factional dispute, like you might find in other cities, that has acquired on a larger dimension primarily due to the nexus of Lacy's defeat and Harkey's fast-trak to higher office, and fueled by personality conflicts. Lacy has been a solider in the conservative movement for many, many years, and as his previous runs for Congress and Assembly attest, he has aspirations for higher office. The defeat of his re-election bid deals that ambition a set-back, and from what I gather he is angry at Harkey for supporting two other candidates in the November election after he had endorsed her for state Senate.

From a certain perspective, it's a win-win for the anti-Harkey faction: they'll be thrilled if the recall qualifies and ecstatic if it succeeds. But even it it fails, it distracts from Harkey's Assembly race and generates negative media attention.

Not that Harkey is showing signs of distraction. According to the most recent fundraising report, she has a quarter of a million in the bank:

 

Total raised:         $251,072 ($100,000 loan and $151,072 contributions)

 

Expenditures:        $35,657

 

Cash-Hand:           $220,435

Contrary to the perception the Harkey campaign is a self-contained, self-funding operation, Harkey has built a donor base of more than 200 individual contributors.

This blog will keeping an eye on the ongoing Dana Point dust-up, but my hunch is the recall is more  reflective of a small but intense group of folks and not a genuine grass-roots happening like the movement against Harald Martin in Anaheim Union High School District.

I could be wrong. I was surprised when San Clemente opponents of turning 9 holes of a 27-hole golf  course into homes were able to gather and turn in a bonanza of signatures. But in the end, I think this Harkey recall effort will ultimately go nowhere.