Split Decision on Trump Smell Test; Doti Goes Solo

Reports from the Lincoln Club’s recent annual dinner at the Island Hotel indicate Al Frink captured the mood of many of the assembled GOP stalwarts with a turn as a prop comic. The co-founder of OC carpet manufacturer Fabrica International and longtime official of the group clamped a red clothespin on his nose as he talked about voting in the upcoming presidential primary … Frink might hold his nose, but a couple of well-heeled OCers are opening their wallets for Great America PAC, which is out to become the primary “Super PAC” backing Donald Trump. Last week brought reports that Dale Dykema of TD Service Financial Corp. and Andrew Littlefair, CEO of Clean Energy Fuels, were listed among the outfit’s “top-level supporters.” Great America PAC is run by longtime political pro Ed Rollins, who headed Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign and has been known to team up with upstarts, including a stint with Ross Perot … Mohamed El-Erian sounded very much the Democratic Leadership Council-type—more Clintonesque than Obaman—as he answered questions from Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman during a Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce gathering at the Newport Beach Marriott last week. The former PIMCO exec—now a top adviser to PIMCO parent Allianz—also sounded very much like the son a diplomat, which he is. It surely takes a diplomatic touch to avoid rankling a crowd of Newport Beach business owners with talk of the dangers of income inequality. El-Erian managed it well, however, avoiding the lecturing tones so often attached to the subject, and framing the matter in purely intellectual terms. Sales of El-Erian’s latest book at the event—“The Only Game in Town—Central Banks, Instability and Avoiding the Next Collapse”—indicated the crowd accepted those terms, although things edged toward testy when El-Erian expressed support for a $15 minimum wage in a Q&A session with the crowd … Our Mark Mueller keeps up with the Irvine Company in his page 1 piece on its latest CMBS deal. He also keeps an eye on former Irvine Co. execs, and notes that Mike McKee has new duties in OC as the executive chairman of HCP Inc., a healthcare REIT with a market value of about $15 billion. McKee retired as vice chairman and CEO of Irvine Co. in 2008, and a few years later took the CEO’s post at Seattle-based real estate investment manager Bentall Kennedy. McKee doesn’t return without a landing pad—he has a seat on the board of Santa Ana-based First American Financial Corp. … First American is a contributor and beneficiary, when it comes to the talent pool for boards and community service, two aspects that came together with Jody Hudson’s recent appointment as a director of Goodwill of Orange County. Hodson is VP/senior relationship manager at First American Trust … Jim Doti has been making hard stuff look easy for years as impeccably groomed, entrepreneurial-minded president of Chapman U. That trick likely got tougher when Doti presided over his final commencement last weekend—Chancellor and President-Designate Daniele Struppa will handle those from now on. Another emotional moment will no doubt come on June 28 at the Musco Center on Chapman’s campus in Orange, where Doti will go solo on Chapman’s Economic Forecast Update. The event will be dedicated to the memory of the late Dr. Esmael “Essie” Adibi, who was Doti’s best friend and longtime co-presenter of the forecasts.