On the Clintons and Call Girls

0

Political commentator and Clinton tattletale Dick Morris held court recently at publicist Michael Levine’s Media Tea, a semiregular gathering in which the guest of honor is a media figure.

Morris reminisced about life as a Republican advising Democrat Bill Clinton, whom he admires, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he dislikes. (However, Morris is grateful that Hillary once stopped a heated argument between Bill Clinton and Morris that was on the verge of a fight.)

Today? “The Clintons are waiting,” Morris told the 10 attendees, who nibbled fruit and cheese Sept. 25 at a poolside table at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Notice how quiet Hillary has been during the health care debate? Morris asked, even though that’s her signature issue. If Obama stumbles, she’s ready to pick up the banner and make a charge to the White House, he opined.

Morris’ biggest blunder? “Sleeping with a prostitute when I was working for the president,” he said. However, a few weeks after that scandal broke in 1996, Levine, now 55, contacted the-then “radioactive” Morris, now 60, and agreed to be his PR rep for free for a time. The two have been pals since.

Among the attendees: author Florie Brizel, “Inside Edition” chief correspondent Jim Moret, and Beverly Hills plastic surgeons Robert Kotler, who’s appeared a number of times on “Dr. 90210,” and Jon Perlman, who’s appeared many times on “Extreme Makeover.”


Buzz With a Little Sting

It was talk about bees not talk of the Federal Reserve chairman that had the crowd buzzing at a private event hosted by Bruce Wessel, a partner in the Century City office of Irell & Manella LLP, and his wife, Gail Katz, a film and television producer.

The recent event at the couple’s Santa Monica home celebrated the release of “In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic,” the newest book by Bruce’s brother, Wall Street Journal economics editor David Wessel, 55.

Bruce, 53, regaled the crowd with David’s beekeeping antics, telling of an instance when the queen bee of his brother’s hive which was kept in his bedroom died. Bruce remembered how his brother waited anxiously to see if the bees would accept their new queen, comparing that incident to how David now looks at Bernanke’s handling of the financial crisis.

“Bernanke is the queen bee,” Bruce joked.

The event brought out Julia Louis-Dreyfus, star of CBS’ “The New Adventures of Old Christine”; Barbara Fisher, vice president of programming for the Hallmark Channel; Orly Adelson, president of Dick Clark Productions; Howard Klein, executive producer of “The Office”; Andrea Hartman, deputy general counsel of NBC Universal; Renee Montagne, host of NPR’s “Morning Edition”; Kim Masters, host of KCRW’s “The Business”; Don Pierro, chief executive of the Coro Foundation; Dan Grunfeld, former top policy adviser to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; and Irell & Manella partners Elliot Brown, John Hueston, Steve Marenberg, Dan Lefler, Laura Seigle and Ian Weiner.


In the Swim

After swimming nine hours and 33 minutes, Jeffrey Cleveland crawled up a rocky beach in Palos Verdes the morning of Sept. 24 and declared victory at crossing the Catalina Channel.

Cleveland, 29, a municipal bond analyst at the downtown L.A. office of Payden & Rygel, had previously swum the English Channel, similar in distance to the 20-mile trip from Catalina. But his California adventure posed special difficulties.

First, to avoid boat traffic and choppy afternoon waters, Cleveland started the swim from Catalina just after midnight, so he swam in total darkness for almost five hours. Then a jellyfish stung his leg. Finally, about three miles from the mainland, cold water welled up from deep in the channel, causing a sudden drop in temperature.

Cleveland described the last mile of his swim as “limping to shore, exhausted and shivering.”

So what was the landing like?

“I was just enormously happy,” he said referring to his first moment on the beach. “It’s just a tremendous sense of accomplishment, even though on dry land you can barely stand up.”


Staff reporters Alexa Hyland and Joel Russell contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

No posts to display