It sounds like one heck of a back office: The Insider is told that Capital Group Cos. has retained renown architect I.M. Pei to design the office building it wants to put in Irvine. As Daniel Williams disclosed two weeks ago, Capital Group, the L.A.-based operator of the American Funds Group of mutual funds, is negotiating with The Irvine Company to buy 52.5 acres along Jeffrey Road near the I-5 freeway. Capital Group says the planned million-square-foot building is only intended to accommodate its Western regional service center, which currently takes up barely a third as much space in Brea. Capital Group insists it’s not moving its HQ out of L.A. Well, I guess we’ll see He already has South County shaking, now when ret. Brig. Gen. Art Bloomer diagrams air routes Osama Bin Laden can shudder, too. Bloomer, former commander at El Toro and a hired gun for the El Toro airport cause, is moonlighting for KCAL (Channel 9) as an expert commentator on its 9 p.m. news show. He discusses weapons, military tactics and other matters related to the war in Afghanistan, often using a map or other props. The suddenly camera-conscious Bloomer was at the barber last week, subjecting what remains of his head of hair to a military buzz cut …
.. OC sports agent and Chicago bad boy Jack Tiernan: “As I told you fools back in March that Michael would be returning to the NBA, I’ll now let you in on another secret. He will be the best player in the league before Christmas. By next season he will be competing for the ring again. Look for a major superstar to leave his team to defect to Almighty Mike, possibly this season” Slice of Orange life: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips’ Christine Diemer Iger on her cell phone, conducting a meeting from the front seat of her Mercedes, stalled in morning traffic on Bristol Street near Red Hill while the guy from AAA changes her flat tire. “I think the client thought my clicking emergency flasher was my time clock,” Iger said The Insider wonders whether secretary of state Bill Jones will pull up in a hearse for his Nov. 8 luncheon address at the Anaheim Hilton. His topic: “Update on the State of the Economy and the Hospitality Industry” Two of the state’s 10 most powerful lawyers work in OC, according to the Oct. 29 issue of California Law Business,trial lawyers Tom Malcolm (Republican, defense) in the Irvine office of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, and Mark Robinson (Democrat, plaintiff) of Robinson Calcagnie & Robinson in Newport Beach. The larger list of the state’s top 100 lawyers also includes OC’s Wylie Aitken, Andrew Guilford, Don Martens, Mike McKee, Michelle Reinglass and Nick Yocca.
