Larry Agran
| Larry Agran | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Irvine, California | |
| In office 1983 – 1989 |
|
| Mayor of Irvine, California | |
| In office 2001 – 2005 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | February 2, 1945 Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley Harvard University |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer and Legal scholar |
| Religion | Jewish |
Lawrence Alan "Larry" Agran (born February 2, 1945 in Chicago) is a former mayor of Irvine, California, Orange County's noted planned city. Agran currently serves as Mayor Pro Tem on the City Council.
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[edit] Early life
Agran graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science degree in both history and economics. He then earned a Juris Doctor (with honors) from Harvard Law School in 1969, specializing in public interest law.
Agran served as Legal Counsel to the California State Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, and taught legislation and public policy at the UCLA School of Law and the University of California, Irvine Graduate School of Management.
[edit] City government
Between 1979 and 1990, he served on the city council, including 6 years as Mayor (Irvine employs a council-manager government).
Larry Agran rejoined the Irvine City Council and has, for many years, served as a city councilman; he chaired the City’s Great Park board until February 2011. (The board is charged with planning, constructing and operating a new park of nearly 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Base in Irvine.) The fully funded, nearly $70 million Great Park Western Sector Park Development plan is in its first phase, and the North Lawn multi-use area is expected to open to the public in spring 2011. Construction was about to begin in early 2011 on an arts and culture area, to be followed by construction of three lighted soccer fields. A leased agricultural area of 114 acres (0.46 km2) produced its first crop of strawberries and the newly opened Great Park Carousel had more than 25,000 riders in the first two months of 2011.
[edit] Presidential candidacy
In 1992, Agran unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for President. Agran was generally ignored by the media during his candidacy, a topic heavily covered in the 1995 documentary Spin. The media did not report his polling numbers even as he met or exceeded the support of other candidates such as Jerry Brown. Party officials excluded him from most debates on various grounds, even having him arrested when he interrupted to ask to participate. Even when he managed to join the other candidates in a forum, his ideas went unreported.
A mayor of the largest planned city in the United States, he entered the race but he had little media coverage. Ironically, despite holding only a local office and being little known outside California in a poll on January 22, 1992 he tied with two well-known national politicians: Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and the former Governor of his home state Jerry Brown.[1]
Some people, like ARG pollster Dick Bennett thought that, had that surprise strength in the polls been played up by news organizations the result might well have been a further rise in the polls.[1] However, Bennett said, the press completely ignored the story, and he began to sink.
Because of lack of coverage, Agran's early success would not help his campaign, and he remained little known.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors led to the first significant mention of his campaign in The New York Times. In a January 24 article, Richard Berke noted that, after listening to the candidates, "dozens of Mayors . . . seemed to agree on one thing: the single candidate who truly understands urban needs is Larry Agran".[2] Some major candidates also participated. Despite the fact that Agran was awarded by his colleagues as the most experienced in the urban area themes, his performance did not meet a big response in media.
According to Carole Florman, organizer of the Global Warming Leadership Forum in Tallahassee in February (in which Agran participated), "the audience "was more enthusiastic about Larry Agran than about Bill Clinton".[3]
Despite his success in these events, Agran performed poorly in the New Hampshire primary, but did pick up modest support in later primaries as a protest candidate with appeal to those unhappy with the other candidates[citation needed]. He received three votes at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.
Agran was barred from every TV debate along with some other minor candidates, such as Eugene McCarthy.
Mayor Agran and his bid has been viewed as an example of an experienced candidate whose campaign was successfully stopped by the media.[4]
[edit] Return to city government
In 1998, Agran re-entered public service as an Irvine City Council member. Agran was elected to serve as mayor once more on November 7, 2000, and was re-elected on November 5, 2002. The current mayor of Irvine is Sukhee Kang. Agran continues to serve on Irvine's City Council.
[edit] Electoral history
Race for Mayor of Irvine, 2002[5]
- Larry Agran (Nonpartisan) - 19,886 (53.39%)
- Mike House (Nonpartisan) - 17,358 (46.61%)
NOTE: Although Agran is a Democrat, offices in Irvine are formally nonpartisians
Race for Mayor of Irvine, 2000[6]
- Larry Agran (Nonpartisan) - 34,905 (100.00%) (unopposed)
1992 Democratic National Convention
- Bill Clinton - 3,372 (80.27%)
- Jerry Brown - 596 (14.19%)
- Paul Tsongas - 209 (4.98%)
- Robert P. Casey - 10 (0.24%)
- Patricia Schroeder - 8 (0.19%)
- Larry Agran - 3 (0.07%)
- Ron Daniels - 1 (0.02%)
- Al Gore - 1 (0.02%)
- Joe Simonetta 1 (0.02%)
United States presidential election, 1992 (Democratic primary)[7]
- Bill Clinton - 10,482,411 (52.01%)
- Jerry Brown - 4,071,232 (20.20%)
- Paul Tsongas - 3,656,010 (18.14%)
- Unpledged - 750,873 (3.73%)
- Bob Kerrey - 318,457 (1.58%)
- Tom Harkin - 280,304 (1.39%)
- Lyndon LaRouche - 154,599 (0.77%)
- Eugene McCarthy - 108,678 (0.54%)
- Charles Woods - 88,948 (0.44%)
- Larry Agran - 58,611 (0.29%)
- Ross Perot - 54,755 (0.27%)
- Ralph Nader - 35,935 (0.18%)
- Louis Stokes - 29,983 (0.15%)
- Angus Wheeler McDonald - 9,900 (0.05%)
- J. Louis McAlpine - 7,911 (0.04%)
- George W. Benns - 7,887 (0.04%)
- Rufus T. Higginbotham - 7,705 (0.04%)
- Tom Howard Hawks - 7,434 (0.04%)
- Stephen Bruke - 5,261 (0.03%)
- Tom Laughlin - 5,202 (0.03%)
- Tom Shiekman - 4,965 (0.03%)
- Jeffrey F. Marsh - 2,445 (0.01%)
- George Ballard - 2,067 (0.01%)
- Ray Rollinson - 1,206 (0.01%)
- Leonora Fulani - 402 (0.00%)
- Douglas Wilder - 240 (0.00%)
Including write-in candidates.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Lary Agran, the Press, by Joshua Meyrowitz - CJR, March/April 92
- ^ Berke, Richard L. (1992-01-24). "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Democrats; Mayors Appear Unmoved by the Major Candidates". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DC163DF937A15752C0A964958260.
- ^ City of Irvine Website - Larry Agran
- ^ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself
- ^ Our Campaigns - Mayor - Irvine Race - Nov 05, 2002
- ^ Our Campaigns - Mayor - Irvine Race - Nov 07, 2000
- ^ Our Campaigns - US President - D Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1992
[edit] External links
- City of Irvine biography
- NNDB profile
- Joshua Meyrowitz (1 March 1992), The press rejects a candidate. (coverage of presidential candidate Larry Agran). Columbia Journalism Review.
- Spin (documentary) by Brian Springer
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