Jane Margaret Lakes Harman (born June 28, 1945) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
She resigned from Congress in February 2011 to become the head of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
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Harman was born Jane Margaret Lakes in New York City, the daughter of Lucille (née Geier) and Adolph. N. Lakes. Her father escaped Nazi Germany and worked as a medical doctor. Harman attended Los Angeles public schools, graduating from University High School in 1962. She received a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1966 and was Phi Beta Kappa. Harman continued her studies at Harvard Law School, earning her law degree in 1969. In 1980, Harman divorced Richard Frank and later married Sidney Harman, 26 years her senior. Harman had recently sold his company Harman Kardon to Beatrice Foods for approximately $350 million (in 2009 dollars).
After graduating from law school, Jane Harman began her political career in Washington, D.C., by serving as chief counsel and staff director for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. She served in that position until moving over to the Executive Branch of government where she served as special counsel to the Department of Defense, and as Deputy Secretary of the Cabinet, both positions in the Carter Administration. She held a brief teaching position at UCLA after losing the Democratic nomination for governor in 1998.
Harman was first elected to Congress in 1992. From 1993 to 1999, Harman represented the 36th, serving in the 103rd, 104th, and 105th Congresses. In 1994, she barely survived reelection in a heavily Republican year, winning by 812 votes.
Harman did not run for the 106th United States Congress in 1998, instead entering the 1998 California gubernatorial race. It was during that race that she called herself "the best Republican in the Democratic Party."
After losing the Democratic nomination to Gray Davis, she briefly taught public policy and international relations at UCLA before running for and winning her old congressional seat in the 2000 election.
Harman won her old seat in 2000, and was easily re-elected in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
In the June 2006 Democratic primary, Progressive Democrats of America candidate Marcy Winograd challenged Harman. After watching Harman defend the recently revealed Bush program of warrantless wiretapping on Meet the Press, Winograd moved into the congressional district and filed for Harman’s seat. Winograd criticized Harman's role as ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee in failing to protest when briefed on the Bush administration's warrantless wiretap program and voting for the Iraq war authorization Then-Vice-President Dick Cheney later confirmed that Harman knew about and approved of the program.
Harman won the primary, 62.5% to 37.5%. Harman was re-elected in the 2006 general election to the 110th United States Congress, defeating Republican challenger Brian Gibson.
In October 2006, Time magazine, quoting anonymous sources, asserted that an FBI and US Department of Justice investigation of Harman was underway. The magazine alleged that Harman had agreed to lobby the Department of Justice to reduce espionage charges against Steve J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, two officials at the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In exchange, Time said there was a quid pro quo in which AIPAC would lobby then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint Harman as chair of the House Intelligence Committee if the Democrats captured the House after the 2006 elections. Harman, the FBI, the Justice Department and Pelosi's office have all denied knowledge of or involvement with any investigation. AIPAC denied it had engaged in a quid pro quo with Harman. "AIPAC would never engage in a quid pro quo in relation to a federal investigation or any federal matter and the notion that it would do so is preposterous," a spokesperson said at the time.
In April 2009, CQ Politics, also quoting anonymous sources, said Harman had been captured on a National Security Agency wiretap prior to the 2006 elections, telling an "Israeli agent" that she would "waddle into" lobbying the Department of Justice on the AIPAC case. Harman ended the phone call, according to CQ, by saying, "This conversation doesn’t exist." Harman denied the allegations, saying: "These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact. I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves."
According to CQ, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pressed Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss to drop the agency's investigation of Harman because he wanted Harman's support during the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy about to break in The New York Times. Harman called The New York Times and urged them not to publish details on the program. Gonzales and Goss declined to comment.
In point of fact, Harman had been the ranking Democrat on the House committee prior to the 2006 election, making her the most likely appointee. Pelosi appointed Silvestre Reyes instead.
Harman is on most issues a liberal, earning a 95 percent rating from the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action. On intelligence and defense issues she tends to be a moderate. For example, she was one of many Democrats who supported the Iraq War. As a member of the Democratic Leadership Council, Harman has combined a moderate stance on economic, trade, and foreign policy issues with a more liberal stance on social issues. For instance, while voting with Republicans to restrict rules on personal bankruptcy, for lawsuit reform, and to abolish the estate tax — as well as on protecting those defense contractors with business interests in her congressional district — Harman voted against the ban on partial-birth abortions, lawsuits against gun manufacturers, the Defense of Marriage Act, and banning indecent broadcasting.
Jane Harman was criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for submitting HR 1955, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, which passed in the House 404-6. The ACLU claims the bill includes unconstitutional limitations on free speech and beliefs. A related piece of legislation in the US Senate, , has been submitted by Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins.
Jane Harman was a co-sponsor of the Armenian Genocide recognition resolution bill in 2007. However, while still cosponsoring the bill, she wrote a letter to House Foreign Relations Committee Chair Tom Lantos urging him to withdraw the bill. Her argument was that while the genocide deserves recognition, it was not a good time to embarrass Turkey, given that country's role in moderating extremism in the Middle East.
Jane Harman is a strong supporter of the United States Department of Defense. She believes the United States holds foreign states accountable for terrorists who operate in their country. Harman claims she is still undecided on whether the United States should grant law enforcement agencies greater discretion to read mail and email, tap phones, and conduct random searches to prevent future terrorist attacks; however she has stated she believes it essential to National Security. She remains undecided on whether to support a policy of pre-emptive military strikes against countries deemed to be a threat to U.S. national security. Although Harman gives strong support for the military she supports the elimination of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in U.S. custody.
Harman defended the Bush administration's use of international (cross-border) warrantless wiretapping through the National Security Agency, saying: "I believe the program is essential to U.S. national security and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities." Harman suggested that both the original "despicable" whistleblowers and The New York Times, which broke the story, should be investigated, and in the case of The Times, "limits on press immunity" should be looked into. Harman repeatedly pressured the Times not to publish the warrantless wiretap story. In October or November 2004, Harman called Phillip Taubman, Washington bureau chief of the Times, to discourage him from running the story. In December 2005, Harman was among a group of lawmakers who visited Taubman in an attempt to convince him not to run the story. Following reports in April 2009 of her conversations being recorded without her knowledge, she appeared to take a different stance regarding wholly domestic wiretaps. In an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC:
Congresswoman Jane Harman maintained that the United States needs a universal healthcare program to guarantee coverage to all Americans regardless of income and affirms there should be pre-established limits on the amount of punitive damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. Harman supports automatic enrollment of children in federal healthcare programs such as CHIP and Medicaid. Harman voted yes on the CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2009 which expands the coverage of children’s insurance. The bill was passed in February 2009 and became Public Law Number 111-3. Other medical issues she supports includes stem cell research on existing lines of stem cells and allowing laboratories to create new lines of stem cells for additional research.
Harman supports that abortions should always be legal, especially in instances where the pregnancy has resulted from incest or rape, or when the life of the mother is endangered. In 2009, the Stupak–Pitts Amendment was being considered for inclusion in the healthcare bill under construction. Harman says the amendment makes it impossible for most women to use their own funds to purchase insurance to pay for abortions. Harman states “I respect the right of any woman or man to oppose abortion. But, in return, I expect those who are anti-choice to respect my views. My views are that abortion should be safe and rare” and “I am old enough to remember the days of back alley abortions. Some women I know had them. I cannot bear the idea that the 111th Congress would restore that horror.”
Harman maintains a residence in Venice, Los Angeles, California, and was married to the late Sidney Harman, who was Undersecretary of the Department of Commerce during the Carter administration.
Harman had previously sold his company, Harman Kardon, to Beatrice Foods for $100 million. In 1980 Sidney Harman bought the company back from Beatrice for only $55 million, rebuilt it into Harman International Industries and managed it personally until the age of 88. Asked about possible conflict of interest, Sidney Harman said: "We’ve been married for over 30 years. I’ve never told her how to run the government and she’s never told me how to run the business. That’s absolutely fundamental to us."
Her first marriage was to Richard Frank, in 1969, and she had two children with him, and two with Sidney Harman.
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