What Was He Thinking?!

TOM JOHNSON KEEPS ON RATTLING CAGES
Well, if my friend - maybe former friend - Tom Johnson wanted to shake things up in our neck of the woods when he took over running the Orange County Register's The Current recently, it looks like he's off to precisely that kind of a start.

MORE TO COME
You've read about his shredding of me for my characterization of his pal, Frank Mickadeit, on these pages.  Well, the edition of The Current that will be in news racks all over town on Friday will rattle a few more cages.

VENEZIA EVOKES VIOLENCE
In his commentary, HERE - in addition to suggesting he might support new Democrat Bob Rush for Assembly instead of Leslie Daigle or Allan Mansoor - Johnsom alludes to a comment from Barbara Venezia's piece on an adjoining page titled, "Newport Business Task Force On Shaky Ground", HERE.  In that piece Venezia quotes Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce head Richard Luehrs - responding to her question about an interest-free loan allegededly offered to the Chamber to help it out of a huge financial hole -  as saying, "This is highly confidential information and whoever leaked this should be shot in the head. I stressed to our board and executive committee how confidential this was."  Yikes and Double Yikes!


IS THIS LUEHRS' "DICK NICOLS" MOMENT?
I'm trying to imagine a circumstance where a respected member of the community - and a very highly visible one, at that - could possibly make that kind of a statement to anyone, much less to a columnist for a local news outlet.  This is fresh news, so it's unclear if this is going to be Luehrs' "Dick Nicols 'Mexican on the Grass'" moment or not.  Some will recall that then-councilmember Nicols made that unfortunate comment to then-Daily Pilot reporter June Casagrande several years ago and that gaffe stuck with him forever.
 

NEVER BORING IN THESE PARTS
Silly me - I thought the only controversial stuff happened on the Costa Mesa side of our common border.  There's never a dull moment in the land of Newport-Mesa.