Quackenbush Ordeal Will Get Partisan; Rodman, Nick Party

State lawmakers have been unusually bipartisan in criticizing Chuck Quackenbush. But the Insider sees a looming partisan rift,over the issue of who will succeed Quackenbush if, as conventional wisdom now thinks, he resigns or is removed. Democrats say Gray Davis would appoint the next insurance commissioner, but GOP insiders argue Quackenbush’s chief deputy, Michael Kelley, should take over. Last time there was a dispute like this was in 1997: Democrat Brad Sherman, just elected to Congress, tapped chief deputy John Chiang to succeed him on the Board of Equalization, and Dem lawmakers thwarted Pete Wilson’s attempt to override the choice. The gubernatorial shoe is on the other political foot this time, but the Dems, with even tighter control of the Legislature, will almost certainly prevail again Party boys: The Insider hears that after attending the KROQ Weenie Roast at Edison Field June 17, Dennis Rodman returned to his beachfront home, where he partied into the wee hours with the band Orgy and Broadcom’s Henry Nicholas They don’t use e-mail: Donald Bren, Dick Sim, George Argyros or Ruth Ko. Of course, their subordinates do. The Insider welcomes other examples of un-plugged execs who get along just fine in the digital world There’s been some excitement lately at the 3200 Bristol Street building in Costa Mesa. On June 5, PriVest Bank bosses Ben Crowell and David Brown were meeting in their first-floor conference room when an 83-year-old man lost control of his Cadillac and drove it through their plate-glass window. The execs, alerted by screeching tires, jumped into a corner and escaped with minor cuts and bumps. Three days later, the Downey Savings branch across the hall was held up. After that, PriVest’s second anniversary office party last week seemed anti-climactic. The business bank is up to $55 million in assets under management and $40 million in deposits New arrival: Riley Grace Reeder, to florist Kevin Reeder and OCBJ receptionist Selene Reeder Short-term gain, long-term pain? Hank Adler suggests that Laguna Beach Unified officials think twice about trying to annex Laguna Woods (Leisure World) in order to gain an estimated $5 million annually in state property tax. “They’ll be picking up 20,000 voters who don’t have any kids in school.” Adler is sensitive to demographics,he headed the campaign for the Irvine school parcel tax in April, which cleared a majority by about 8,000 votes but fell about 800 votes shy of the two-thirds needed for passage.