Neel Kashkari’s decision to step away from his job running Pimco’s equity funds and consider a bid for statewide office as a Republican brings up an intriguing prospect, given his prior experience overseeing the $700 billion TARP bailout under former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. TARP is a dirty word among the Tea Party types who have helped pull the GOP in California—and elsewhere—toward the fringes of the right. Expect a knee-jerk reaction to Kashkari, who caught plenty of flack as a point man for the bailout. But that could be just the thing for a party in need of a new identity as it prepares for an open primary at the statewide level next year—provided Kashkari finds backers among Republicans who take a more centrist view. Kashkari will need plenty of campaign cash if he plans to offer an alternative to the social conservatism and anti-Wall Street populism that has carried the day in the formerly closed GOP primaries but flopped in general elections. (see related Addendum item, page 11) …
That’s done: Don’t know if Pimco’s Bill Gross backs Kashkari, but he and wife Sue have completed a campaign of a different sort. The Grosses recently pledged $4 million with a call for matching funds toward finishing off the stem-cell research center named for them at UCI. Peter Donovan, director of the center, says that the match has been made, and construction on new laboratories and conference space on the center’s top floor is expected to begin in May …
That worked: Bill Holmes did it long before Arte Moreno, and it went well enough. Holmes is the retired entrepreneur who called his Anaheim-based business L.A. Spas, employing the name of our neighbor to the north for marketing purposes, a la Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Holmes also is the guy who shed his low profile last week with a $27 million gift that will put his name on the new tower at CHOC …
Titan Pride in North OC: A couple of Cal State Fullerton grads on the committee that planned this week’s inauguration ceremonies for President Mildred García are familiar to our readers. Kaiser Permanente’s Julie Miller-Phipps is a member of our annual OC 50 list of influential business leaders here. Tam Nguyen, president of Advance Beauty College in Garden Grove as well as the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce, was honored, along with sister Linh, at last year’s OCBJ Family Owned Business Awards …
Handy timing for Diane Dixon, newly arrived SVP for corporate communications for the Irvine Company. She and husband Patrick bought a second home in Newport Harbor about a year ago, and have been renting it out. The couple has lived for years in Pasadena, close to her prior job with Avery Denison and his duties in DA’s office in LA, where he’s known as a heavyweight in legal circles. They plan to shift to their house here soon. …
Noted: Pacific Life’s Aviation Capital Group aircraft leasing unit just ordered $6 billion worth of planes from Boeing. Let’s see what’s in store with recent word that Wells Fargo plans to start an aircraft leasing unit of its own. Also see our boardroom profile of PacLife, frontpage.
