Girly Guys; Trump Ties; Royce Tries

Word that Hillary Clinton became the first Democrat to carry Orange County since Franklin Roosevelt might just have you ready to consider another stereotype-buster for this place that boasts an airport named after John Wayne: The two men who built the Irvine-based Too Faced makeup brand into an outfit that fetched $1.45 billion in last week’s sale to Estee Lauder counted “unabashed girliness” as an inspiration (see related report, page 8) … Can’t necessarily say that Too Faced is an only-in-Irvine success story. We can credit Irvine Company for this effective banner on a promotional periodical the developer produces that makes the claim broadly and cleverly … OC has various degrees of ties to Donald Trump, including a number that come courtesy of Eric Beach, the Costa Mesa-based founder of the Great America PAC, which raised and spent $30 million on the president-elect’s behalf during the campaign. Beach is the son-in-law of retired Irvine Company SVP Larry Thomas, himself a veteran of political campaigns and staff positions. Beach’s wife, Leigh—Thomas’ daughter—handles PR for the PAC. And Beach will soon take a turn on camera for “Inside OC with Rick Reiff,” hosted by the OCBJ’s favorite editor-at-large, who plans to air the interview during the week of Dec. 13 on PBS SoCal and Cox 3 … Let’s see what Reiff—a Pulitzer Prize winner, by the way—makes of the challenge his famed colleague Eleanor Clift offered when she told a crowd at the Orange County Forum’s luncheon last week that “as a journalist, you can always appreciate a good story” and that Trump’s upset “is certainly that.” Plenty of room for improvement on the hyper-reactive churn of the political press so far … Fullerton-based Congressman Ed Royce should get some genuine credit from his whole party if Ling Ling Chang holds on to her seat in the state Senate—she had a razor-thin lead with some votes still being counted as the Insider went to press. A win would prevent Democrats from gaining a super-majority in the upper chamber, which happens to be the GOP’s last line of defense in Sacramento, where Dems hold the governor’s mansion and a super-majority in the Assembly. It was less than a week before election day when Royce—whose own seat was safe—apologized to folks at a World Affairs Council event for leaving the comfort of the Resort at Pelican Hill early so he could run up to Brea to put in some time at Chang’s campaign headquarters, where the contest was getting down to the nitty-gritty … Plenty to like about last week’s National Philanthropy Day luncheon at City National Grove in Anaheim, where a youngster named Vanis Buckholz was honored along with the nonprofit Future Leaders of Our Community; private equity firm Bascom Group LLC; San Juan Capistrano-based Fluidmaster Inc.; insurer Pacific Life; Crystal Cove Alliance founder Laura Davick; Sandra Jackson; Elizabeth and Thomas Tierney; and downtown Santa Ana property owners Nancy and Irv Chase … Notable that Jim Mazzo presented the Chases with their award—a sure sign that the longtime leader in the local medical device sector plans to remain a stalwart of the community of business in his role as global president of ophthalmology for Jena, Germany-based Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc. … Sullivan says: the Pacific Club’s Neopolitan chiffon cake tops the local field for luncheon desserts.