Larry Agran

Larry Agran is the former mayor of Irvine, California, Orange County's noted planned city.

Related Topics:
Mayor - Irvine, California - Orange County

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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.

Related Topics:
California State Senate - UCLA - University of California, Irvine

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Between 1979 and 1990 he served on the city council, including six years as the Mayor (Irvine employs a council-manager government).

Related Topics:
City council - Council-manager government

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In 1992, Agran unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for President. A 1995 documentary "Spin" alleges that Agran was unfairly silenced by the media during his candidature. The film claimed that, among other things, the media did not report his polling numbers even as he met or exceeded the support of other major candidates. Party officials excluded him from most debates on the grounds that he was not a well-known figure nationally, and he protested one live televised debate where he could be heard yelling "I respectably request inclusion" in the background. The incident resulted in his arrest. He 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.

Related Topics:
Democratic Party - 1995 - Spin - New Hampshire - Protest candidate

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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 Beth Krom. Agran continues to serve on Irvine's City Council and exercise considerable influence over civic matters where there are increasing allegations of corruption and impropriety against him.

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