A behind-the-scenes look at Orange County’s political life : Democrats Too Undemocratic for Agran

Former Irvine mayor and erstwhile presidential candidate Larry Agran has always been the consummate Democratic Party activist. But no longer. Agran has changed his voter registration from the Big D to another affiliation: decline to state.

For Agran, the change was prompted by reasons both practical and philosophical.

As executive director of the nonpartisan CityVote project--which last year sponsored a nonbinding presidential preference ballot in 17 cities that attracted a quarter-million urban dwellers--Agran was having a hard time explaining his affiliation with the Democrats.

More important, Agran grew increasingly disgusted with the frosty treatment the CityVote project received from Democrat elders. From the Clinton administration on down, the party belittled the effort to empower urban denizens, who Agran feels are left on the sidelines as the presidential sweepstakes marches through early rural states.

“I am disgusted with both of our political parties and their unresponsiveness to the real problems facing most Americans,” Agran said. “I have a particular disgust for the Democratic Party, which has treated me in anything but a ‘small d’ democratic fashion. . . . When the Democratic Party becomes the undemocratic party, it’s time for me to exert my own independence.”

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This old house: The district attorney is checking whether Mark Leyes, the Garden Grove councilman running for Orange County supervisor, is meeting the letter of the law as far of having a “domicile” in the 1st Supervisorial District. But now it turns out the domicile is also lacking in the paperwork department.

The D.A. is investigating whether Leyes and his wife, Wanda, actually live in the Claussen Street house they own, which was rented out to another family two years ago.

Despite the renters, the Leyeses contend they moved out of their home on Imperial Avenue in the 2nd Supervisorial District and into an addition they built a few years ago on the back of the Claussen Street house, which is in the 1st District. Leyes said they now share communal space with the other family.

The problem is that the addition Leyes now calls home never received final approval from the city building department. Records show that Leyes pulled a permit in 1989 and filed the correct paperwork during the building process, but failed to get a final inspection. The addition, however, is noted in records at the tax assessor’s office and the taxable value of the home was increased in 1990.

Catherine Standiford, the city’s director of community services, said the situation is not uncommon, but “in an ideal situation” the city prefers that all new construction receive final permits. Building inspector Jim Cook said it is “a legal structure. It’s just never been finalized.”

Leyes said “it’s just a housekeeping thing, if you will excuse the expression.” He said he wasn’t finished with renovations when his building permit expired in 1990 and now must reactivate the permit. He said he and his wife intend to have the final inspection done very soon.

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Nipping the hand that feeds you: Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld trolled California for money last week to fatten his campaign treasury as he seeks to oust Democratic Sen. John Kerry.

Kerry, a Vietnam War hero, married into the Heinz fortune, and the contest is sure to be an expensive one. Weld is a multimillionaire in his own right.

Weld’s quiet luncheon in Orange County was co-hosted by Irvine Co. Executive Vice President Gary Hunt and chairman Donald L. Bren, who, along with Weld, held top strategic and fund-raising posts in the ill-fated presidential campaign of California Gov. Pete Wilson.

Weld thanked the group, which donated about $30,000 to his Senate campaign at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach, but acknowledged that Kerry had one significant advantage: “He is worth $800 million,” Weld said, then, turning to Bren, he added wryly: “which I know does not seem like much to you.”

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Big and old: A recent item in Politics ’96 describing the California Republican Assembly as “the state’s oldest and largest GOP volunteer organization” drew a complaint from Ruthanne H. Bingham of Los Alamitos. The California Federation of Republican Women, founded in 1925 and currently boasting more than 25,500 members, is the oldest and largest GOP volunteer organization, said Bingham, a member of the group’s Rossmoor-Los Alamitos chapter.

For the record, the CRA was founded in 1935 by Earl Warren, who went on to become California governor and a U.S. Supreme Court justice, according to Lesley Fleischman, the club’s membership secretary.

“[But] we’re definitely the largest conservative organization. I don’t think anybody disputes that,” said Fleischman of Irvine. It is against the group’s policy to reveal actual membership figures, she said.

UPCOMING EVENTS

* Wednesday: Jim Cooper of KOCE will be the guest speaker at the general meeting of the Newport Harbor Republican Women, 11:30 a.m. at the Newport Beach Country Club. Information: Lee Frodshiam at (714) 837-0278.

* Thursday: Janece Tisdel, chairwoman of the California Democratic Council committee on auto insurance, will be the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Democrats of North Orange County, 7:30 p.m. at the Sizzler restaurant, 1401 N. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton. Information: (714) 526-7374.

* Thursday: County Treasurer-Tax Collector John M.W. Moorlach and Mission Viejo Mayor Sherri M. Butterfield will be among the guest speakers at a forum on the ballot propositions presented by the Orange County Republican Women Federated, 10:30 a.m. at the Turnip Rose, 300 S. Flower St., Orange. Information: Carol Wolfert at (714) 529-6030 or Jan McKeever at (714) 589-2399.

* Thursday: A debate on Measure T, which would establish a charter government in the county, will be held at 7 p.m. at Orange City Hall, 300 E. Chapman Ave. Information: (714) 647-7101.

* March 10: Sally J. Alexander, a Democratic candidate for Congress in the 45th District, will kick off her campaign at the home of Bonnie and Robert Castry, 8522 Topside Circle, Huntington Beach, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Information: (714) 536-6010.

Compiled by Times staff writer Eric Bailey, with contributions from staff writers Len Hall and Peter M. Warren and correspondent Lesley Wright.

Politics ’96 appears every Sunday. Items can be mailed to Politics ‘96, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or faxed to (714) 966-7711.