Agran Sounds Battle Cry for Airport War

Bolstered by a blood oath to escalate the fight over the proposed El Toro airport into a full-out war, former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran won a seat on the City Council just as anti-airport forces attempt to recover after a bruising election night.

Agran, a former Democratic presidential candidate whose liberal activism made him the butt of jokes a decade ago, was the highest vote-getter in Irvine’s council election.

Agran pledged to do what it takes to stop airport conversion plans for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and replace them with non-airport development more compatible with the city’s 27-year-old General Plan. That includes unleashing the city’s attorneys to more aggressively fight the airport, he said.

“Our message resonated,” Agran said Wednesday in between dozens of congratulatory calls. “We all recognize that the council and city government needs to be stronger and more aggressive in opposing the airport.”

Agran’s victory comes at a crucial time for anti-airport forces, who Tuesday failed in their expensive bid to reverse the pro-airport majority on the Board of Supervisors by backing Huntington Beach Councilman Dave Sullivan in the 2nd District supervisorial race. Sullivan was soundly beaten by incumbent Supervisor Jim Silva, a staunch airport supporter.

South County leaders admitted that Sullivan’s loss was a blow but said they will now focus on placing a countywide referendum on the ballot asking voters to halt plans for the airport.

“We can [defeat the airport] the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. Now we are going to have to do it the hard way,” said activist Bill Kogerman, head of the group Taxpayers for Responsible Planning. “This clarifies the objectives for us, and we are ready to press on.”

With Agran’s new bully pulpit on the council, some El Toro foes hope he will lead a more aggressive, take-no-prisoners tack against the county’s airport plans. So far, anti-airport efforts--including a 1995 ballot measure to kill the project--have failed.

“I think Larry’s very, very focused on this issue and he’ll move that city to places it has not gone,” Kogerman added.

But despite Agran’s victory, he remains a controversial figure in Irvine, where he served on the council for 12 years. Many residents still chafe over his advocacy of liberal causes in the 1980s, including promotion of a gay rights ordinance and his humanitarian efforts involving Nicaragua. At the time, the country was governed by the Marxist Sandinista government, prompting critics to call Agran’s political supporters “Agran-istas”.

He lost a close and bitter race for reelection in 1990 and went on to get less than 1% of the vote in 1992 in a quixotic campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.

Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea said Agran’s support Tuesday is a result of the city’s staunch airport opposition, not a special mandate for Agran to rescue the city.

“The race was very close, and Larry spent a lot of money to win,” Shea said. “It would be disingenuous to think that this fight is something only he can win. We are all working together.”

For two years, Agran has been visible as chairman of Project ‘99, a group he created that helped craft the Millennium Plan, the city’s non-airport alternative for El Toro. A referendum on the plan drew support Tuesday from 81% of Irvine voters.

Some political experts said that Agran’s victory combined with the reelection of the pro-airport Silva shows that the politics of the airport are getting more extreme.

“I think the bellwether of this campaign, countywide, was that the airport issue needs to be resolved one way or the other, or it’s going to continue to polarize this county,” said veteran political consultant Frank Caterinicchio.

Agran is known as a successful fund-raiser, and those skills will definitely be needed if South County moves forward with another countywide ballot measure.

Nearly 90% of the $470,000 raised by Sullivan came from South County residents. But not all airport supporters agreed with the strategy, arguing instead that South County should have saved its resources for the ballot measure.

“The money is a concern,” said Richard Dixon, chairman of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a coalition of seven South County cities. “But we tried to tell people that we were not putting all of our eggs in one basket. I believe that the people who were contributing to the [Sullivan] campaign understood that.”

Airport supporters, however, said the referendum might be too little too late.

“South County has lost everything,” said Dave Ellis, a consultant with pro-airport groups. “They have never won an airport battle.”