The Insider gets an earful from PUC chairwoman Loretta Lynch at UCI

UCI prof Mark Petracca laments that he usually fills only a few seats for his Friday afternoon symposiums. Not so on Good Friday, when about 175 people, including chancellor Ralph Cicerone, jammed a lecture hall to hear guest speaker Loretta Lynch, controversial head of the Public Utilities Commission. It was a good show. A combative Lynch blamed just about everyone except herself and Gray Davis for the state’s energy crisis. She accused the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of allowing power producers to “plunder” the state. There were spirited exchanges, particularly with business prof Peter Navarro. How did Petracca lure a central player in the state’s biggest drama into his lair of give-and-take? With a little help from fellow UCI prof Cecelia Lynch. “We’ve known since she was five that Loretta doesn’t duck from a fight,” Cecelia said, proudly introducing her younger sister … Btw, Navarro last week failed to make the runoff for a San Diego council seat, his fifth electoral loss in the city. One campaign issue was whether he spends too much time in OC On the heels of the OC Register closing the Irvine Co.-founded Irvine Spectrum News, Al Mendez has folded his three-year-old freebie Business Digest, aka South County Business Digest. It goes in cycles. When the economy’s hot, “business” pubs spring up, then when the economy slows down they disappear,all except one … Maybe the economy is turning around. Allergan founder Gavin Herbert says his most reliable leading indicator are the $100 hanging planters at his Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar. “It’s the ultimate discretionary item,” he said, noting that sales of the planters were up year-to-year in March, for the first time since last May After a record 15 years with the organization, production director par excellence Susan Dunigan has left the OCBJ family to devote more time to her own. If anyone can fill Susan’s palette, it’s Jill Tangredi, who has been promoted to take over Coming to OC: Jim Doti’s hero and mentor, economist Milton Friedman, for a dedication of his bust on the Chapman U campus May 1; KABC’s Larry Elder, for a May 4 breakfast with the Young Executives of America at the Pacific Club. Call (949) 759-5456 for the Elder event For the second straight year the Toshiba Senior Classic raised over $1 million for Hoag Hospital and other causes, breaking its own Senior PGA record.