The Insider hears Tom Umberg could be the next state Democratic chairman

A juicy post-election item from Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters, speaking in Irvine: OC’s Tom Umberg is the rumored favorite to become state Democratic chairman Huntington Beach sports consultant Jack Tiernan on watching the election returns: “It was more exciting than any sporting event, ever” There was a brief power outage in parts of Irvine on election night: “Larry Agran takes control and Edison turns off the lights,” kidded UCI prof and Agran backer Mark Petracca Score it Mayor Miguel Pulido 2, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez 0 in Santa Ana council races, with the Pulido-backed Jose Solorio and Brett Franklin beating Sanchez staffer Mauro Morales and former staffer Armando Ramirez, respectively Whodunit? The Register’s clever, national-media-attention-grabbing, post-election headline, “A WHOWONIT,” was the brainchild of Kevin Byrne Henry Segerstrom could be in for more competition from Donald Bren. The Irvine Co. is planning a fancy food mart and specialty shops off of PCH in Newport Coast, along the lines of the Corona del Mar Plaza that it opened a few miles up PCH two years ago. The Insider hears Crystal Cove Promenade is expected to attract some retailers that are barred by South Coast Plaza from going into Fashion Island; Crystal Cove falls just outside the radius designated in some South Coast leases. The promenade’s foundation pads are already in place, but the Insider hears the Irvine Co. is delaying construction until it gets a clear green light for the rest of the Crystal Cove project Tenth anniversaries: For Measure M, the road-building sales tax, and for the Orange County office of Fisher & Phillips, which has grown from two lawyers to 24 here; the law firm has marked the occasion by moving into new, bigger Irvine digs You can have office-space headaches even if the name of your company is Sublease.com. The on-line listing service was one of the tenants at 2808 Lafayette, the Balboa Peninsula office building that collapsed last week (Nobody was hurt). Ironically, Sublease was already in the process of moving out; it expected to be in its bigger digs, on Business Center Drive off the 405 in Irvine, by this week. But some things may have to be left behind. “My partner’s car is still underneath the building,” Sublease’s Max Morris said.