OC Weekly: Agranistas Fire Ordinance

OC Weekly

December 9 - 15, 2005

Agranistas Fire Ordinance

Proposed law takes aim at political consultants, advisers and the media

by STEPHEN C. SMITH

When we last visited Larry Agran’s crusade to quash the First Amendment, Irvine’s lapsed progressive politician had proposed a so-called “Ethics Ordinance” that might have sent to jail any City Council colleague who criticized him or delved too closely into his alleged cronyism.

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Many of those critics were one-time allies of Agran, the former champion of protecting constitutional rights and freedoms. Some ran on City Council slates with him. But as Agran’s ethics lapses have become known over recent years, one by one they’ve publicly allied with the conservative Shea. Some are known as Irvine’s most prominent liberal voices. Here’s how it would work: Let’s say Jane Doe, who lives in Irvine, is employed by the local chapter of the American Cancer Society. Jane lobbies government agencies to pass strict anti-smoking laws and fund cancer research. If Jane runs for the Irvine City Council and is elected, she must quit her job to comply with the Agran ordinance.

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Agran’s new tact is a sinister twist on the Jim Crow laws that created a racial and cultural caste system in the Old South. This time, instead of disenfranchising voters on the basis of race, Agran would do it on the basis of chosen profession.

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Agran has been looking for a way to silence Shea since an Aug. 24, 2004, City Council meeting in which she joined former Agran ally Christopher Mears in exposing a link between Agran fundraiser Ed Dornan and ENCO, an energy company seeking a contract with the City of Irvine.

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Agran’s hyperbole that night was so bizarre that the Register’s Steven Greenhut was moved to write in the Oct. 2 edition: “I suddenly feel sorry for Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, the Boss Hogg of Irvine’s political establishment. Despite his power, he has become Nixonian in his paranoia, even going so far as to promote what amounts to a speech code against fellow council members to stop them from criticizing him, his allies, his policies and his favored consultants.”

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http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/06/14/web-agran.php