The Real Housewife of Wasilla: Overnight sensation Sarah Palin will be swinging by to meet OC Republicans and, of course, to collect their checks. The Alaska governor and John McCain running mate will attend a campaign fundraiser at the Coto de Caza home of Daranne and Paul Folino on Sept. 25 …
Factoid: With more than 13,000 people, Coto is almost double the population of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin’s hometown that she served as mayor …
Hurricanes kept rising star Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal from the Republican convention in St. Paul. Now they’ll keep him from a dinner this Tuesday with the Lincoln Club in Irvine …
Terry Horne hasn’t figured out how to turn around the newspaper industry, but he has speeded up the OC Register’s Web site. Horne says the clunky www.ocregister.com, typically requiring anywhere from four to 27 seconds to access, was the public’s “No. 1 complaint” when he took over as Register publisher a year ago. Try it now: Horne says average download time has been cut to two seconds & #151;”Yahoo speed.” By next month, he expects a further improvement to “super-fast.” A beta site, www.orangecounty.com, focuses on “entertainment, leisure and local search, no news.” But if the Web is the future, it still can’t compensate for print-ad revenue that has declined by double-digits year-to-year. Horne cites one bright spot: The Reg posted a gain (he won’t say how much) in retail advertising in the first five months of 2008, the only big daily to do so. Horne thinks “the worst is over” for the economy, but isn’t ready to pronounce an end to Register layoffs …
Greg Smith, who has overseen Anaheim’s convention, sports and entertainment venues since 1995, is retiring after 36 years with the city. He came aboard while a student at Cal State Fullerton, working his way up from part-time parking lot attendant to executive director. The city will do a national search for his replacement …
Salvatore Ferragamo of the luxury-fashion family pours some of his award-winning Il Borro estate wine for the Fashionable Women of Chapman at a Sept. 18 luncheon celebrating the 10th anniversary of Fleming’s steakhouse in Newport Center …
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s attempt to stop Orange County from rescinding a sheriff deputies’ pension increase has brought this response from Supe John Moorlach: “I heard Jerry speak at a Bond Buyer Conference a few years ago. He lamented that as the mayor of Oakland he had to deal with the dumb laws he signed while governor. It was a throwaway gag line. But, if he is governor again, he will have to deal with these pensions. I hope this odd pattern in his life is not lost on him” …
What pipes! There are 4,322 of them on the $3 million William J. Gillespie Concert Organ, debuting Sept. 18 at Segerstrom Concert Hall with a Pacific Symphony performance and black-tie celebration.
