Agran Joins White House Race With Liberal Dose of Optimism

Former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, who in the 1980s became a liberal standard-bearer in staunchly Republican Orange County, formally announced Thursday that he is seeking the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Although his candidacy has been dismissed as hopeless by many analysts, Agran told a crowd of about 350 supporters at UC Irvine that he would build a “New American Security” through decreased defense spending and commensurate increases in domestic outlays.

“I want to be a voice for America’s cities and towns and for the people who live there,” said Agran, a Harvard-educated attorney who was narrowly ousted as mayor of Irvine in 1990 after serving 12 years on the City Council.

Agran, who is scarcely known to voters outside of Orange County and whose campaign shows about $7,000 in the bank, acknowledged the sharply uphill road ahead.

“Larry Agran isn’t exactly a household name throughout America,” he said. “But look around you. At this moment of truth for the Democratic Party and for our country, men who call themselves leaders slip meekly offstage. . . . Do I want to be President? Absolutely. But even more than that, I want to help influence the choices that we, as a nation, must make.”

According to records at the Federal Election Commission, Agran, 46, becomes the sixth Democrat to file notice of at least an exploratory candidacy for President.

The other Democrats who have filed papers with the FEC include Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr., the perennial candidate who is serving a prison term after his conviction on federal mail fraud and conspiracy charges. Wilder and Clinton have described their campaign committees as exploratory.

Agran was introduced Thursday by Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Howard Adler, who urged “the media to put aside conventional wisdom and . . . listen to the message this man has to deliver.”

Afterward, Adler said that he had offered no encouragement to Agran and offered no expectation that he would succeed.

“It’s a very hard road for him,” Adler said in an interview. “He’s unknown. . . . I just find it difficult to accept that the media will take him seriously.”

In Boston, Tsongas’ press secretary, Peggy Connolly, said that the former Massachusetts senator “welcomes” other entrants into the race. But she expressed surprise at the emergence of a Democratic candidate from Orange County.

“I didn’t know liberals lived there,” Connolly said.

Agran’s treasurer, Peter Van Susteren, said that the campaign hoped to begin raising “$50,000 to $75,000 a month.” The larger goal, he said, is to qualify for federal matching funds and to amass roughly $1.2 million by late February, the time of the first nominating caucuses and primaries.

Agran, in his 35-minute address, sought to define the type of liberalism that he would bring to the presidency. In a speech in which he quoted only one other leader, Martin Luther King Jr., Agran proposed a “New American Security” that would be based on a strong domestic economy, not military might. Agran also:

- Pledged to run as an advocate for America’s cities. He ridiculed what he termed the betrayals of the Washington Establishment--composed of the Reagan and Bush administrations and a “go-along Congress” that for the past decade has been controlled largely by Democrats.

“For 10 years or more,” Agran said, “Washington has been shamelessly throwing taxpayer dollars at the Pentagon while starving America’s cities and towns. As a result, they’ve made the lives of ordinary Americans more difficult, more dangerous and less secure. They’ve betrayed the trust of the American people. And it’s time finally for the American people to send them packing.”

- Called for total withdrawal by Dec. 31, 1994, of United States forces from Europe and Japan and for those “prosperous democracies” to pay for their own national defenses. Agran also reiterated his desire for a 50% cut of U.S. military spending, with the $150 billion savings to pay for medical, transportation and other social needs, for cleaning the environment and for repaying the national debt.

- Recommended creating a “Defense Workers’ Bill of Rights,” which would provide retraining for aerospace technicians and others displaced by reductions of military spending.

Agran termed his proposals “a promise of deliverance from 45 years of Cold War thinking and Cold War politics. It’s the chance that every generation deserves to build a new America that is faithful to our dreams and to our ideals.”

Bio: Larry Agran

Age: 46.

Occupation: Irvine attorney

Education: Graduated from UC Berkeley, majoring in economics and history, in 1966. Graduated from Harvard Law School in 1969.

Political experience: From 1971 to 1974 was legal counsel to California state Senate Committee on Health and Welfare. Has performed ongoing legal work for nonprofit causes. Elected to Irvine City Council and served from March, 1978, to June, 1990. Served as mayor from 1984 to 1990.

Military service: Served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1962 to 1970.

Family: Married, to Phyllis Agran, a pediatric gastroenterologist. One son, Ken, 21.

Sources: Agran campaign biography, Larry Agran.