Presumed GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and wife Ann are headed to Bakersfield for a fund raiser, and Californian Radio to explore gay marriage

 * ... ROMNEY: It looks like presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and wife Ann are coming to Bakersfield for a fund raiser at the home of Grimmway Farms owner Barbara Grimm-Marshall. It's being billed as "an afternoon with Governor Mitt and Ann Romney" and will be held on Wednesday, May 30. Tickets are going for $2,500 a pop, $10,000 will get you a photo session and for $50,000 you get a private reception. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) will be there along with event co-chairs Jim and Beverly Camp, Iva and Michael Hawkins and Barbara Grimm-Marshall and Darcy Marshall.

 * ... GAY MARRIAGE: Polls show the nation is slowly warming to the idea of same-sex marriage, but the issue remains has hot as ever. On Monday, I will be take on the topic on Californian Radio KERN 1180 beginning at 9 a.m. Among my guests will be a young gay man who vehemently opposes same-sex marriages. Tune in to hear him articulate his position. We'll also hear from Dr. Raj Patel, partner in Preferred Family Care Physicians, about the obesity epidemic.


 * ... REIDER: I attended the dedication of the Larry Reider Education Center this week, named after the retired Kern County Superintendent of Schools. One of the reasons Reider is so enormously popular,  outside of guiding the department during some economically turbulent years, is his terrific sense of humor. In his speech, he recalled a friend who had been promoted to chief executive of a local company. Said Reider: "So this man asks his wife, 'Honey, in your wildest dreams did you imagine me being promoted?' And his wife replies: 'Honey, you're not in my wildest dreams.'" Classic Larry.


* ... TRASH: Tami Schumacher is a relative newcomer to Bakersfield (her family moved here from Southern California last summer) and she is amazed at the amount of trash on our streets. "I was at the park with my dog and saw a car pull up and a man drop a cup out of the car.  He proceeded to go to the basketball courts without picking up the cup and a trash can was 10 feet from him!" Tami: I wish I could tell you that what you witnessed was an anomaly, but it's not.

 * ... MAKE A WISH: The Make-A-Wish Foundation does an awful lot of good locally and generally does so without a lot of press. Which is why I'm happy to promote the organization's special fund raiser next Friday, May 18, at the Crystal Palace. It's the "Silver Spur Gala" featuring a steak dinner, live auction items and of course dancing. And, you get to taste Bowen's Whiskey, the new Bakersfield-made whiskey for just $5 a pop. (All proceeds go to Make-A-Wish). Tickets are $100 each or $1,000 for a table of eight. Call (661) 634-WISH (9474) if you are interested.

Meg Whitman hits town to court business leaders

Heard this afternoon that Meg Whitman, the former eBay president who is considering a run for governor, slipped quietly into Bakersfield today for a luncheon with local business leaders at the estate of Barbara Grimm-Marshall. The luncheon featured about 30 business leaders and was not a fund raiser but rather was billed as a "get to know you" session with Whitman. I'm told Whitman talked about the need for education and budgetary reform in California and floated the idea - to applause - that we need to return to a part-time legislature. She also mentioned that if she runs as a Republican (check out her website here) she will make effective use of technology, like President Obama, to extend her campaign. Among those attending were Realtor Ray and Lisa Karpe, Bob Stine (president & CEO of Tejon Ranch) and wife Betty, Brent Dezember (president of Structurecast) and wife Anna, retired banker Ray Dezember and wife Joan, Castle and Cooke CEO Bruce Freeman and wife Monica, farmer Pete Pankey, retired Kern High School District trustee Bob Hampton, Joe Colombo, Greg Bynum, Grimmway's Jeff and Amy Meger, Sean McNally and former Aera Energy CEO Gene Voiland. Grimm-Marshall, one of the primary owners of Grimmway Farms, the largest carrot producer in the world, has been busy on the political scene. Last weekend she hosted a fund raiser for Lisa Green, running to replace Ed Jagels as Kern County District Attorney.

Lisa Green gets a boost from the Grimm family

Lisa Green's campaign to replace Ed Jagels as the next Kern County District Attorney is beginning to look like a juggernaut. The longtime deputy D.A. has been relentlessly campaigning for a full year now, since she made it clear before a downtown Rotary Club audience that she was in it to stay. Not only does she have the blessings of Jagels, but she's been busy lining up well-heeled followers. Over the weekend, I am told her campaign raised some $20,000 when carrot family doyenne Barbara Grimm-Marshall (owner, Grimmway Farms, the world's largest carrot producer) and sister-in-law Kari Grimm hosted a fund-raiser for Green at the Metro Galleries in downtown Bakersfield. Of course, it never hurts that Green's husband, Jeff Green, is chief legal counsel for the carrot company. Green's lone opponent at this point is former prosecutor Bob Barton, who served as a prosecutor from 1988 to 2005.