Her Maverick Ways : Kathryn Thompson Now Developing an Independent Political Path

She says it matter-of-factly, with a hint of a sardonic smile: “There have been threats,” says Laguna Hills developer Kathryn Thompson “and innuendo and pressure.”

It began last December when Thompson--Orange County’s only female donor of $100,000 to the Republican National Committee during George Bush’s successful presidential bid--staged a Newport Beach breakfast for Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

Why was Thompson, local GOP leaders wanted to know, breaking bread with a Democrat who wanted to be President of the United States?

She wanted to send a message to Washington “that they weren’t listening,” she told them. “In early December, the Administration was saying we weren’t in a recession. Mind boggling!”

The gossip machine began to whir again last week when Thompson, a prominent fixture on the local social scene, announced that she would toss a $250-per-person fund-raiser on Tuesday for Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono to tout his U.S. Senate race.

The new buzz: Why is Thompson rooting for Bono when she has already announced her support for one of his GOP opponents, Rep. Tom Campbell of San Jose?

She’s still supporting Campbell, she says. In fact, she co-sponsored a recent fund-raiser for him in Washington. “He came to me first,” she explains.

But after meeting with Bono a few times, she saw he represented what this country is supposed to be about, she says, “a person who wants to give back, wants to run, wants to make a difference.

“He was refreshing. When I first heard he was running, I said ‘ha, ha, ha’ like everybody else. But, in Palm Springs, he did take a deficit budget and turn it into a positive. If someone in my position doesn’t open the door, people like Bono never have a chance.”

Even before Thompson was a highly successful residential developer, she was active in politics. “I was a precinct worker for (Arizona Sen. Barry) Goldwater in Fullerton in the ‘60s,” she says.

It is a game she plays well. With her savvy political outlook, there are few local power gatherings that don’t have the Thompson touch. She was one of only six guests invited to a recent private dinner with Vice President Dan Quayle in his suite at the Irvine Marriott (“the White House staff wanted me to give him an idea of how to shore up local support,” she explains).

As Orange County’s preeminent power hostess, she has opened her home to private parties for Gov. Pete Wilson and the Bushes.

No wonder she’s receiving calls from the camp of H. Ross Perot, the Dallas billionaire who says he will run for President if “ordinary people” want him badly enough to place his name on the ballot in all 50 states.

“I’ve been talking to Perot’s staff,” says Thompson, who is originally from Dallas. “A lot of people are very, very excited about the possibility that he would run.”

If he does, will she throw open the doors of her Emerald Ridge home to fund-raise for him? “Well, I have nothing on my social calendar for him yet,” says Thompson (who confides that she has not donated to Bush’s reelection campaign but that if it comes to a showdown between Bush and Clinton, she “will support the President.”)

“If Perot runs,” she says, “I would seriously think about supporting him--financially and otherwise.”

More buzz: Looks like Orange County’s version of the super-hip Roxbury nightclub in Los Angeles (where Cher’s ex, former bagel-builder Rob Camiletti, is now a bartender) is set to open in Newport Beach sometime this summer. Roxbury investor David Wilhelm--owner of Bistro 201, Barbacoa, Kachina, et al--says the local supper club will have a sophisticated ambience, It won’t be as “wild and crazy” as the hangout up north, he says. . . . Speaking of Wilhelm, his latest culinary coup is snagging sous chef Alec Lester for Bistro 201 in Irvine. Lester formerly assisted chef-restaurateur Joaquim Splichal, owner of the super-trendy Patina restaurant on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (where the likes of Bette Midler and Kevin Costner have been known to dine). Patina was recently named one of the nation’s top 10 restaurants by New York critic Mimi Sheraton. According to Wilhelm, there were no hard feelings between Lester and Splichal over the split. “Alec just wanted to get out on his own,” says Wilhelm, who worked in Newport Beach with Lester way back . . . .

Comedian Milton Berle has sent invitations to his cigar-puffing celebrity buddies, hoping that they will join him when he presides with Henry Schielein over the Ritz-Carlton’s annual $250-per-person Gentlemen’s Cigar Smoker on April 16. Among those on Berle’s list: Tom Selleck, Sly Stallone, Steve Lawrence and George Peppard. Hotel public relations director Christie Johnson also confirms that the by-invitation-only affair (with a waiting list) will be attended by Spy magazine contributor Rudy Maxa. Is Orange County ready for Spy Magazine? But of course. . . .