This just in: Political journalist Jeff Greenfield, freshly moved into Montecito, made a return engagement to the Channel City Club last week, opening with a wry salute to its venerable membership: “I last spoke here a decade ago,” he said, “I can honestly say you haven’t changed a bit.”
Over the Doubletree’s so-so chicken parmigiana, Greenfield entertained a luncheon crowd of about 160 with intriguing tales from “Then Everything Changed; Stunning Alternate Histories,” his “what if” treatise about Presidents Kennedy, Ford, Carter and Reagan, and his former boss, the late Robert Kennedy. The book examines how “tiny twists of fate have enormous historic consequences,” the author explained, promising that if the audience bought enough copies, “I might join the Coral Casino.”
Greenfield, longtime commentator for CNN and CBS, is married to Santa Barbarian Dena Sklar, ex-exec at the Museum of Natural History, and the couple will split their time between here and NYC while he works on a new book, his 12th.
When the Hump flaked out: Former Supervisor Jeanne Graffy was the big winner at the Speaker’s Table in the day’s trivia contest, correctly identifying the U.S. Vice President who went AWOL on a long-standing speech engagement at the club because of a scheduling snafu. While Independent Editor Marianne Partridge and other great journalistic minds (we name no names) guessed Richard Nixon, Graffy submitted the correct answer, which every Santa Barbara school child doubtless knows: Hubert H. Humphrey, who stood up the CCC for lunch in May 1972. You could look it up.
Here today, gone tomorrow: Spotted sipping java at Daily Grind, local Democratic Party chair Daraka Larimore-Hall said he believes the group will avoid financial losses in the widening scandal involving L.A. political consultant Kinde Durkee.
An expert on the complexities of campaign disclosure filings, she’s served as treasurer for scores of candidates and fundraising committees, including the SB Dems, Durkee now faces federal charges after her recent arrest by the FBI over allegations of looting some accounts. Her client list is a who’s who of state politics that includes Senator Dianne Feinstein, and a top California strategist said that Durkee was juggling about 400 accounts, which have now been frozen, as forensic accountants try to make sense of the hellacious mess. “I have to go through a boatload of paperwork to get access” to the county committee’s account, Daraka told me. (Full disclosure: actually he didn’t say “boat.” Hey, this is a family newspaper!)
Inquiring minds want to know: If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t more people happy?
Unreal housewives of Montecito: Much gloom among the toned and trim set at the Santa Barbara Athletic Club over the sudden departure of head trainer Shem Brown. A beloved fixture at the club, Brown was recently let go without warning and with no explanation to members. Weight room gossips tell us the move appears to be part of a cost-cutting effort to dump salaried employees; denizens of the departed trainers’ popular 5:45 am (!) spinning class meanwhile are bereft and “Bring Back Shem” posters have appeared in the women’s locker room.
Art in the time of dictators: Ojai writer Nomi Morris, the former Mideast bureau chief for Knight-Ridder newspapers, reports over Tre Lune’s superb fritture mista de pesce that she’s curating an exhibit of work by exiled Iraqi artists at THE/Main Gallery in O-Town. “Out of Iraq: Artists in Exile” draws together three generations of painters from the Iraqi diaspora, including Shakir Alousi and Qais al-Sindy, who are scheduled to discuss the art exhibit at the Oct. 1 opening. Email for more info: info@themaingalleryojai.com.
People’s politics: Conservative Texas Governor Rick Perry has jumped into the lead in polls of the Republican presidential nomination race, largely on the strength of support from the right-wing Tea Party faction. But Perry’s comments about the Social Security system in several recent debates – “fraudulent,” “a lie” and a “Ponzi scheme” were among the nicer things he called it – could backfire in challenging President Obama, even if they help him capture the GOP nomination. A new survey from Public Policy Polling shows that only 20 percent of voters nationwide agree with Perry on the issue, while 70 percent do not. Since he began trashing Social Security, and party rival Mitt Romney began bashing him for “scaring seniors,” Obama’s edge over Perry in a projected one-on-one race has doubled, with the president now ahead 52-41.
Words to live by: “Women like silent men,” advises Merv “The Swami” Field. “They think they’re listening.”
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