Agran’s Liberalism Confounds GOP : Irvine Mayor an Anomaly in Republican Heartland

The three young men were enthusiastic. Sitting across the table from Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, they were seeking his support for a syndicated television show that would focus on “good news.” It would emphasize what’s right about America and not be ashamed to be patriotic or promote family values.

You could almost hear the hair on the back of Agran’s neck bristle. For a ‘60s civil rights and anti-war activist like Agran, certain words like “patriotism” and “family values” can have dual meanings.

“I’m real sensitive to the hypocrisy of some of these terms,” Agran said quietly to the astonished men gathered in a conference room in Irvine’s spanking new City Hall. It is easy, he said, to invoke the flag in order to question someone else’s loyalty to their country, or use a term like “family values” to “bash gays and others.”

The men left without the endorsement they had hoped for, having misjudged Agran. And one could hardly blame them. They had every reason to expect that the mayor of a city like Irvine--where Republicans outnumber Democrats 2 to 1--would be their kind of conservative.

In some ways, the 44-year-old Agran would seem better suited to be mayor of Berkeley, where his political philosophy was seasoned as a UC student. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley, the son of Roosevelt Democrats. After graduating with honors from Harvard Law School, Agran spurned a lucrative legal career to forge a career in public policy.

“How many dollars does one family need?” Agran says now of his decision. “If you’ve got a home you can afford and an automobile or two and you’ve saved some money and you’ve got your kid’s education taken care of, what’s the point of going out to earn another $100,000 a year?”

Agran was a staff lawyer for the state Senate Committee on Health and Welfare in Sacramento in the 1970s when he decided he wanted to run for office, “largely because you look around and see the bumbling representation that does exist and you know in your heart you could do a much much better job.”

A few years later, Agran found himself living in Irvine while his wife, Phyllis, finished her medical training at UC Irvine and became a pediatrician. Agran did some legal work and took a page out of the book on feminist-era parenting by being primary caretaker for his young son, now a college student, while his wife attended school.

Opportunity Taken in ’78

When an opportunity arose to run for Irvine City Council in 1978, Agran took it, running as a slow-growth candidate. Before Republicans figured out who he was, he was already elected.

From his sparsely decorated, third-floor office in the new, modern Irvine City Hall, Agran looks over a city that has grown from 46,000 when he was first elected to approximately 100,000 today.

Across from City Hall is a sea of salmon-colored tile roofs atop picture-perfect homes and townhouses in a 5,200-unit community known as Westpark, the latest of the city’s major developments by the Irvine Co. Nearby is one of Agran’s pet projects, the city’s new, nonprofit, $1.3-million child-care center, started with a loan from the city.

Among the few things on Agran’s desk is a greeting card, sent to him by friends on his last birthday. It portrays a funny-looking cowboy who, instead of slinging a gun, is armed with the type of stick used by crews to pick up papers as they clean park grounds. Two people are watching the cowboy go off in the distance.

“I never knew his name, but he sure cleaned up this town,” one of them says to the other.

Agran’s rise to power in Irvine, the 18-year-old model city at the center of the state’s conservative bastion of Orange County, is something of a fluke, but it is not as mysterious as it might seem. Agran found his footing in the slow-growth movement, long before it became a political force. For years, he was on the short end of a 3-2 council split, trying to put the brakes on development.

In 1986, however, Agran helped elect a council majority more in line with his thinking on development. Last year, he not only led the effort to get a 4-1 majority of slow-growth advocates, but pushed for and got voter approval of a measure for a directly elected mayor. Not surprisingly, he also won that position for himself.

‘City-Based Foreign Policy’

In an odd way, as a liberal Democrat heading a city dominated by Republicans, Agran has found a platform he otherwise might not have had for many of the issues he feels strongly about. In particular, Agran has moved vigorously on a national level into the area of “city-based foreign policy,” trying to stir cities throughout the country to pressure the federal government to cut the defense budget in favor of giving more money to cities.

“We can’t continue to spend $300 billion and more for military purposes and expect to improve air quality, build a transportation system that works, build a health-care system that works (and) educate our kids right,” Agran said. “It’s just not possible.”

In building his power base in his own city, Agran has made good use of his image as David against Irvine’s Goliath--the city’s founder and chief developer, the Irvine Co. While the company has built what many believe is one of the finest planned communities in the nation, there has always been the fear that without strong citizen oversight the company would get out of hand. Residents want to ensure that the Irvine Co. balances its development plans with open space and other amenities to preserve their quality of life.

The Irvine Co. “looms over the whole city,” said Chris Townsend, an Orange County Democratic leader, “setting up a battle for Larry to be a populist against the big, bad Irvine Co.”

‘Fiscal Populist Leader’

Mark Baldassare, a UC Irvine professor who conducts the annual Times Orange County Edition poll of county residents, said Agran appeals to local voters in much the same way as Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart: by being not so much a party leader or party figure but an individualist who speaks out on specific issues that concern people.

“Larry is a perfect example of a new fiscal populist leader, in that he has managed to stay away from partisan labels,” Baldassare said.

Agran--who has the bookish air of a Clark Kent without the super-hero build--now is on the brink of a new phase of his political career. Firmly in control of the City Council, he is moving forward with an agenda that reflects his views on human rights, social needs and the environment. And those who observe him say he is not afraid to use power tactics to get his way.

“Larry talks like the League of Women Voters, but plays hardball politics like (the late Chicago Mayor) Richard Daley,” said one politico who asked not to be identified.

Invitation to Baseball Team

In putting forth his own agenda, Agran also at times has seemed to tweak the nose of the conservative establishment in Orange County. Two years ago, for example, there was a brouhaha when Agran invited a Nicaraguan baseball team to visit the city. Many conservatives considered this an insult to the U.S. policy of backing the Contras in their struggle against the pro-communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

Of this, as well as Agran’s criticism of former President Reagan’s Central American policy, Orange County Republican Party Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes complained, “Here in Orange County, the ‘Agranistas’ use the growth issue as the front for an otherwise arch-liberal, leftist agenda.”

Republicans have repeatedly tried to paint Agran with a partisan brush, hoping that they can shake his hold on the city. Invariably during City Council campaigns, Agran’s one-time loose association with Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), the ‘60s-radical-gone-mainstream-Democrat whose name still can evoke an emotional response in conservatives, becomes the subject of a “hit mail” piece.

Agran now appears amused by this. He described Hayden’s current politics as “very tame.” With a sly grin, he said: “I like to think I’m a little more daring than he is.”

Ray Catalano, a UC Irvine sociologist and former councilman aligned with Agran, said that Irvine residents give wide latitude to Agran’s political activities.

“They wouldn’t care if Larry Agran went off and led revolts in Central America on the weekends if the other five days he was here protecting their kids’ environment and their homes,” Catalano said.

Uncharismatic But Effective

Agran is so mild-mannered that it is hard to imagine that he evokes strong emotions in people, both pro and con. He is not charismatic, yet many who know him marvel at his effectiveness, even when they disagree with what he is doing or the way he goes about it.

“He is a very damn-near brilliant man, probably the best politician in town,” said Ray Quigley, a former Irvine City Council member. “I think Larry is a populist politician who appeals on a momentary basis to issues that are hot.”

Said another observer of the Orange County political scene: “He’s probably the best grass-roots campaigner and understander of issues in Orange County.”

One of Agran’s biggest victories in the last year was to get the Irvine Co. to transfer 5,000 acres of open space to the city for parks, trails and nature conservancies in exchange for concessions on development projects. Agran views it as his “No. 1 contribution” to the city.

On other fronts, Agran has pushed the city toward providing shelter for its homeless, facilities for child care and rides for the disabled. Last year, he gained approval of an anti-discrimination ordinance that included protections for homosexuals, prompting religious fundamentalists to respond with an initiative to strip the ordinance of its protections based on “sexual orientation.” It will go before voters on Nov. 7.

The council currently is studying an ordinance that would place heavy restrictions on the use of chlorofluorocarbons, a family of chemicals thought to cause the depletion of the earth’s protective ozone layer.

“We think it is the most far reaching ordinance in the United States, and we think it will set the standard nationally and globally,” Agran said at a press conference in May.

Agran also is seen as the continuing defender of Irvine’s neighborhoods on the issue of traffic, opposing regional improvements that might route more cars and trucks through Irvine’s streets.

But this also has had its price, putting Agran at odds with the county and adjoining cities, which have sharply criticized him for shortsightedness and for ignoring the growing city’s own contribution to the traffic problem.

“Larry believes that if you make roads smaller or don’t build them at all, somehow or other you’ll stop growth,” said Orange County developer Mike Ray, a Democrat. “All you do is give your grandkids a reason to hate you.”

Inside City Hall, Agran has moved to consolidate his power. His effort to oust City Manager William Woollett, who had presided over the city during its pro-development years, has left a bitter taste in many people’s mouths. In the wake of the controversy, the well-respected Woollett is retiring.

Calm in Demeanor

While Agran is calm in demeanor, many of those who have tangled with him say they are left feeling as though he believes he is the only one who is, as one said, “on the side of the angels.”

“Anyone who wishes to challenge him is, in his perception, someone who is insensitive or doesn’t understand the problem or doesn’t really want to solve the problem,” Quigley said.

“I’d like him to stop bashing people with the label of pro-developer just because he differs with them on a political point of view,” said lawyer Howard Klein, head of an anti-Agran group that calls itself Irvine Pride.

Now, in what would seem his political prime, Agran’s career appears blocked. Within Irvine’s cloistered suburban walls, he has managed to build a powerful base despite his liberal brand of politics. But few believe it could translate outside the city, where he is less well-known and partisanship is more important.

In recent weeks, his name has been repeatedly mentioned as a possible candidate for the 5th Supervisorial District, should Thomas F. Riley retire. Agran has not ruled it out, but he does not appear enthusiastic about the idea.

Doing More as Mayor

“I think I can do a lot more as mayor of Irvine than as supervisor for the 5th District,” Agran said. “We can set an example here . . . demonstrating a progressive government committed to policies of social uplift and citizen participation that can make a real difference.”

There is a certain scenario--one in which several Republican candidates split the vote while Agran forges a coalition of Democrats and slow-growthers--that haunts some Republicans.

“That’s what has Republicans shaking in their boots,” said Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), a longtime Agran foe. “Any Republican that’s sophisticated in politics is very, very concerned that the field is going to get crowded.”

While he sometimes thinks he would still like to go to Congress, Agran said he would be content if he goes no further than Irvine’s City Hall.

“I don’t think I would have thought that 10 or 15 years ago,” Agran said. “I had this notion that local government was the lowest level of government . . . and national government was, of course, where the action was.” Now, he added, he believes that people define the quality of their lives by whether the local community works.