Wylie and George Walk Into a Bar…; Re: Leader Board

Call it a St. Patrick’s Day miracle—or maybe just a simple, human reminder that it’s possible for folks to line up as political opponents rather than enemies, a distinction that can keep friendships alive, come what may. The lesson was clearly on display last week at Muldoon’s in Newport Center, where local Democratic wheel and big-time trial attorney Wylie Aitken took the whole joint for his annual St. Paddy’s party and genuinely palled around with the likes of Julia and Ambassador George Argyros, the billionaire business magnate who earned his diplomatic honorific with service to George W. Bush … Largely overlooked amid the hubbub over the bankruptcy auction of Freedom Communications and its OC Register last week was the dinner hosted a few days before by S.F.-based conservative (that’s right) think tank Pacific Research Institute at the Island Hotel, where Dick Wallace received the Baroness Thatcher Liberty Award and Judy and Dave Threshie were gold sponsors. Wallace was a longtime Freedom executive and spent 25 years on its board. Threshie was publisher of the Register for years and also a longtime director under family ownership. Both married into the Hoiles clan that founded Freedom and made it a media industry biggie—the company had a chain of newspapers across the U.S. and a roster of TV stations and other assets that were valued at around $2 billion as recently as 10 years ago. Wallace, Threshie and the rest of the family owners were long gone before last week’s top bid of $56 million for the shrunken operations by Tribune Publishing (see related item in Addendum, page 16) … Kudos to former Allergan CEO David Pyott, who has pledged $2 million to the S.F.-based American Academy of Ophthalmology to establish a Glaucoma Education Center that will carry his name … The latest news on Pyott contrasts sharply with the headlines about hedge funder Bill Ackman, whose Pershing Square was taking a beating last week as its big bet on Valeant Pharmaceuticals continued to sour. Ackman bought into Valeant in 2014 with an eye on a hostile takeover of Allergan. The plan failed, largely because Pyott and his executive crew convinced investors that Valeant was a bad bet as an acquirer of the Irvine-based drugmaker and a shaky proposition in general … The Insider was happy to be privy to this email exchange between Chapman U. President Jim Doti—whose school’s mascot is a panther—and Shelley Hoss, his counterpart at the Orange County Community Foundation and author of a piece for the Business Journal’s recently launched OC Leader Board—Doti: “Dear Shelley: Great piece in OCBJ. Well written and excellent message. I absolutely love the ‘leopard’ metaphor.  Too bad it wasn’t a panther!”—Hoss: “Thanks Jim! Will enjoy sharing the OC Leader Board with you from time to time. And will have to try to find a panther on my next safari, though also hoping to turn my son into one when the time is right. :-)” … The OC Leader Board provides members of the community of business here a chance to engage and inform their colleagues and cohorts with unique insights, opinion and analysis, and Doti penned the inaugural column back in January. Look for the feature on the inside back page of the third issue of each month for now—page 41 of this issue, where you’ll find some words of wisdom from Orange County Visitors Association boss Ed Fuller.