Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Wednesday endorsed Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor’s bid to succeed Assemblyman Van Tran, who will be termed out of office.

DeVore viewed it as returning a favor to Mansoor.

“Allan was one of the first elected officials to endorse me in my hard-fought race in 2004,” said DeVore who’s in another tough campaign trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. “Obviously, that was a factor in my decision.”

Aside from that, DeVore also has a lot in common with Mansoor politically. They’re both fiscal and social conservatives.

“The fact Allan’s been willing to stand up and say things that needed to be said that were in the best interest of the community is something I’ve always admired,” DeVore said.

That’s putting it rather, well, diplomatically. Mansoor’s been a lightning rod and hero to many in Costa Mesa. His name is rarely met with a shrug. Mansoor made national headlines when he pushed to have Costa Mesa’s finest trained to enforce federal immigration laws. It led to an infamous City Council confrontation that resulted in the arrest of Benito Acosta, who also goes by the name Coyotl Tezcatlipoca. Acosta is suing Costa Mesa with the ACLU’s help. That trial is due to start next month. A criminal case the city tried to pursue after county prosecutors declined amounted to not much more than an embarrassment when the city-hired prosecutor wasn’t sworn in properly and the judge tossed the case.

And, more recently, Mansoor snubbed President Obama when he visited Costa Mesa because he objected to the stimulus package, which struck some as odd when the city is struggling to fill a multi-million-dollar budget deficit and could use the federal dollars.

DeVore, in my view, though he shares Mansoor’s values comes off a lot more smoothly. Could it just be he has years more political experience? Probably. Early in his career, DeVore worked in the Reagan administration and then for Chris Cox when he was in Congress. And in those jobs you never want to be the lower-level functionary who makes headlines. You could end your career.

But DeVore had another theory that I think makes sense. When you serve on a City Council of just five representatives as Mansoor has you find yourself under the proverbial microscope in the proverbial goldfish bowl.

“It’s often said school board and city council are the toughest jobs to do,” DeVore said. “They know you and care about what you do, and you can’t escape… The only time I see constituents is if they’re visiting the state capital with their kid’s fourth-grade class… it doesn’t happen very frequently.”

Also, Mansoor has the numbers to push his agenda.

“He’s been able to effect the things he wants to do while I’m part of a beleaguered minority,” DeVore said. “Allan’s actually had the chance to effect change.”

By the way, in other DeVore-related news, Monday will be an important federal court showdown in his case against Eagles drummer Don Henley. Henley sued DeVore after he used his music to do videos poking fun of Boxer. DeVore countersued saying Henley was trying to deny him his 1st Amendment rights. DeVore’s aiming to gut Henley’s suit Monday. We’ll follow up then to see what happens.

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