State Sen. Mark Wyland drops out of unusually nasty tax board race

SACRAMENTO -- An unusually bitter contest between two Republicans for a seat on the state’s tax board came to an end Friday, with state Sen. Mark Wyland (R-Escondido) announcing he is dropping out of the race.

Wyland had been battling with Assemblywoman Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point) for a post on the Board of Equalization, and over the last year the race had become increasingly personal.

Wyland put front and center the legal troubles of Harkey’s husband, Dan Harkey, an investor who was sued by some clients for fraud. A jury awarded the plaintiffs $10 million in damages last year.

Harkey sued Wyland for defamation last fall, after the senator spoke about the case in a speech to a local tea party group. She later dropped the suit.

In a statement Friday to conservative website Flash Report, Wyland said he would rather put the personal resources he would use for the race into his educational foundation instead. He had loaned $100,000 of his own money to his campaign.

“At this point in my life, it is more important to me to help students rather than to achieve another political office,” Wyland said. He did not mention Harkey in his statement.

Harkey, in a statement, struck a conciliatory note: “I appreciate his legacy and focus on education policies in our state, and I look forward to working with him in the coming months so that we can all leave a better legacy for our children.”

Wyland’s exit from the race leaves Harkey as the front-runner. Former Assemblyman Van Tran, a Republican from Orange, is also eyeing the post. He praised Wyland as a “man of integrity,” and said he won’t be following Wyland’s campaign strategy of highlighting Harkey’s husband’s legal woes -- at least, not yet.

“At this point in time of the campaign, especially in the primary, I don’t see a need just yet to really do a compare-and-contrast campaign, as to where she stands or who she is,” Tran said in an interview. “In the general election, the strategy may be a little bit different, but that remains to be seen.”

melanie.mason@latimes.com

@melmason