She’s a Bay area (Atherton) gal, but former EBay CEO Meg Whitman obviously knows that the GOP’s ATM machine, and much of its base, is in OC. The same day she entered the 2010 California gubernatorial race, Republican Whitman also agreed to keynote the OCBJ’s Women in Business Awards Luncheon May 21 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. On April 20 she’s addressing the L.A. Venture Association’s Southern California Growth Conference at the Marriott Anaheim. For the past year or so Whitman has been a frequent visitor here, working for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and later John McCain and testing the waters for her own run …
Further evidence of OC’s clout: Dave Cogdill and Mike Villines, the Republican state legislative leaders in the center of the budget storm, check in Friday with the OC-based GOP donor group New Majority. Larry Higby has succeeded Tom Tucker as the NM’s statewide chairman …
News bulletin for fashion-conscious women execs: Irvine-based St. John Knits has reformulated its signature black Santana yarn. In a letter to customers, company cofounder Marie Gray says she noticed that the phase-out of environmentally damaging dyes in recent years had turned the company’s black into something resembling navy. She says that under new de-sign EVP George Sharp, the technical team came up with a process that has produced a “softer, deeper and richer black” while saving on water and energy …
U.S. Rep. John Campbell is short 18 inches of colon, but he’s still long on one-liners. The Irvine Republican underwent surgery at the Mayo Clinic to correct an intestinal disorder called diverticulitis; last week he was back at his Shady Canyon home for an expected three-week recovery. “In car terms (I am ever the car guy after all), my muffler is bad and I’m going to be straight-piped,” ex-auto dealer Campbell said in an e-mail just before the procedure. “Could it be these past two years with Nancy Pelosi as speaker has caused such a pain in my stomach that it led to this? And I know that some of you have felt that I was full of it, but now I have medical evidence that you were correct” …
Gina DePinto of the OC Water District asked the Insider to, ahem, clarify last week’s item that referred to politicians drinking purified wastewater at the “OC Sanitation District’s reclamation plant” in Fountain Valley. Said DePinto: “The OC Sanitation District is our partner in the facility, but I’m afraid the great people of OC will get very nervous if they think the water, which exceeds federal drinking water standards, comes from the sanitation district … The final product comes from the OC Water District.” That should put minds to rest …
Attuned to the times and clever as ever, this year’s CHOC Follies is titled “The Princess and the Prius.” April 2, 3 and 4 at Orange Coast College. Call (714) 532-8690.
