Rich Candidate Stresses Humble Roots in Ad : Politics: Republican Michael Huffington tries to defuse issue of his wealth. He points to ‘hard work and luck’ as a businessman without mentioning family fortune.

Rep. Michael Huffington, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, tells voters in a television commercial introducing his Republican bid for the U.S. Senate that his roots are in a middle-class childhood and public schools.

The Santa Barbara freshman congressman also attributes his financial success to “hard work and luck” as a businessman without mentioning that his fortune was made through the sale of a family-owned Texas oil company started by his father.

“With hard work and luck I succeeded in business,” Huffington says in the ad. “I didn’t grow up rich. We were middle class. I went to public schools, then Stanford.”

The ad is the second of a series in which the little-known congressman has spent his own money to introduce his campaign to win the Republican nomination and then try to unseat Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The chief purpose of the ad seems to be to address an issue that is certain to come up during the campaign: his wealth.

Huffington, 44, spent more than $5 million of his money to win his first race for Congress in 1992, more than any House candidate in history. A similar effort may be in store for California as he plans to spend millions of his personal funds on the Senate campaign.

His critics say he is an inexperienced legislator whose money is the only factor that makes him an instant contender for statewide office.

“He speaks for no one but himself and it’s a total offense to the democratic process that an individual would have the gall to try and buy a seat in the United States Senate,” said former congressman William E. Dannemeyer, who will face Huffington in the June 7 Republican primary. “A representative should seek . . . broad support from a cross-section of California and demonstrate viability as a candidate rather than just buy his way into the legislative arena.”

Huffington said the commercial is his attempt to deal with the issue before opponents are able to define him for voters. The commercial began airing Friday. Campaign officials declined to say how long it will air or how much will be spent on it.

“Most people have not (heard the criticism), but enough people have to where I’m just going to set the record straight this time without waiting for (Feinstein) to try and make me something that I’m not,” he said. “Feinstein, who is reputedly one of the wealthiest people in the Senate, has already talked about this in letters.”

Huffington has declined to disclose his personal wealth, although the Forbes magazine list of the 400 wealthiest Americans estimated that his father, Roy, is worth about $390 million.

In an interview Friday, Huffington defended his claim that he earned his fortune even though it came from a family-owned company.

“My parents are very much alive and well and they still have all of their money,” he said. “They have not passed it onto somebody. . . . Basically, I worked my butt off. My father paid for my education and after that he said: ‘You’re on your own.’ ”

Huffington said he bought a share of the family company with money he made from an investment banking business he sold in 1976. He said he bought additional shares in Roy M. Huffington Inc. during the 12 years he worked as a vice president, chief financial officer and vice chairman under his father, who was chairman.

The family business was sold in 1990 to a Taiwanese oil company for an undisclosed sum, although industry officials have estimated its assets at $700 million to $900 million.

Huffington’s father is also a major contributor to the Republican Party. In 1990, he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Austria by President George Bush.