The Insider’s not sure what’s more noteworthy-that Warren and Astrid Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates and some 50 other luminaries just spent several days at the Montage Resort, or that nobody else has reported on it. The hushed occasion was Buffett’s biennial Graham Group conclave, an informal think tank for the mega-billionaire and his buddies. Among other activities, they took a field trip to Gavin and Ninetta Herbert’s La Casa Pacifica in San Clemente-the former Western White House-where Nixon friend and speechwriter Ken Khachigian (now senior partner, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck) gave a poolside talk on the president’s post-resignation years and the famous David Frost interviews. The Insider is told that other guests of Buffett, who has a place in Emerald Bay, included his associate Charlie Munger, Washington Post Co. CEO Donald Graham, retired Coca-Cola Co. Prez Donald Keough and Berkshire Hathaway director David “Sandy” Gottesman …
Up the coast at the Balboa Bay Club, OC Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh and son Jackson, 7, had breakfast with Democrat Jerry Brown, California attorney general and presumptive favorite to be the next governor (again). Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas got up from another table to say hello. Baugh, who also is a lawyer and consultant, says the discussion with Brown was on behalf of a client. Baugh says he’ll back a Republican for governor “and Jerry knows that.” No comment from Brown …
Brown is set to be back in OC on Oct. 29 to give a lecture at UCI sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy …
UCI’s annual Medal gala drew 600 and raised $1.1 million; Chancellor Michael Drake announced that the university has achieved nearly half of its $1 billion fundraising goal …
Even volleyball isn’t out of the line of fire in California’s water wars. U.S. Rep. John Campbell’s routine congressional resolution congratulating the UCI men’s volleyball team on its national championship was blocked by Contra Costa Democrat George Miller. Campbell says Miller told him he was retaliating for Campbell’s vote against a $30 million expenditure for Bay Area water recycling projects. Campbell was one of 170 “no” votes sufficient to defeat Miller’s bill under a rules suspension; it was the latest dust-up in California’s north-south water battle …
Lawyer Tim Paone has moved to another Costa Mesa business address. He’s left Manatt to launch and chair a real estate and land use practice for Theodora Oringher Miller & Richman …
Rick Keller remains CEO, but Irvine-based wealth manager Keller Group has changed its name to First Foundation Advisors “to reflect the expanded platform of services” …
Backdating: Last week the Insider erroneously put California’s energy fiasco in the ’90s-it occurred in 2000 and 2001 …
UC Riverside prof, Islamic and Middle East expert and best-selling author Reza Aslan speaks to the World Affairs Council and signs books Wednesday evening at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
