Larry Agran’s well-oiled political machine just blew a gasket. Irvine Council members Agran and Beth Krom found themselves in unfamiliar territory—on the short end of a key vote—as fellow Democrat, Mayor Sukhee Kang, joined Republicans Jeff Lalloway and Steven Choi in approving plans for 5,000 housing units, stores and offices around the Great Park. Krom and Agran wanted an additional $60 million from the developer, but Kang said he couldn’t oppose an “economic stimulus” that would create an estimated 16,500 jobs. It was a big win for Emile Haddad and his Five Point Communities, which wants to break ground this year on the recession-delayed transformation of the former El Toro Marine base. The vote signaled a potential power shift in Irvine politics, brought on by an increasingly independent Kang—who with a base of Asian-American voters and financial support is planning a 2012 Congressional run against John Campbell—and a new collegiality on the council fostered by Lalloway. “As mayor I always think of the people first,” said Kang, expressing disappointment that, “I couldn’t deliver a 5-0 vote. No comment from Krom; Agran hadn’t responded at presstime …
“Hurricane Irene nearly made me a widow.” Fortunately, OC Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez was able to joke about the storm at her Balboa Bay Club fundraiser last week. She said her hubby of two weeks, Jack Einwechter, was in their D.C. home when two trees crashed into the house, missing him by a few feet …
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be fundraising Sept. 27 at Morton’s in South Coast Plaza Village. But the big guy is not going to jump into the presidential race, insists OC GOP boss Scott Baugh, who is hosting the event …
Baugh also will help Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who definitely is in the race, navigate Newport Beach this Thursday …
Mitt Romney visits again, too, Sept. 15 at the Westin South Coast Plaza …
Costa Mesa’s budget turmoil gets a 6,000-word treatment in the Sept. 5 New Yorker. Writer Tad Friend describes labor boss Nick Berardino as “hot-tempered” and says Councilman Jim Righeimer’s “burly physique and eagerness to scrap call to mind Friar Tuck” …
Impossible: Boyish Bill Rams has turned 40 …
Jack Furry, pitcher-outfielder on Huntington Beach’s Ocean View Little League world champs, is the son of Irvine-based Biolase Technology CFO Fred Furry …
Promoting another pot measure, the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Initiative, isn’t retired OC Superior Court Judge Jim Gray’s only cause. He’s also fundraising for the Heritage Museum in Santa Ana. A speaker series at the museum includes Diedrich Coffee founder Martin Diedrich on Sunday and First American Financial Corp. Executive Chairman Parker Kennedy on Oct. 9. More info at (714) 540-0404. Gray’s musical “Americans All” plays weekends at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa Sept. 16 to Oct. 2, with proceeds from the Sept. 22 show benefiting the museum. He maintains a blog, “It’s a Gray Area,” too.
