Ted's Excellent Adventure

NRA Show mainstay and former NRA chairman, Ted J. Balestreri, chairman and
 chief executive of The Sardine Factory of Monterey, Calif., among other 
holdings, on Monday for the first time in many years will miss the
 International Foodservice Manufacturers Association Gold Plate awards 
banquet. Balestreri, himself a former Gold Plate winner who was in Chicago
 this weekend, isn't skipping the formal festivities on a lark, but, rather, because he was called back to California to breakfast with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I'm not privy to the breakfast
 agenda, but I do know that Balestreri has been a gubernatorial appointee to
 the state's Travel and Tourism Commission, among his other forays into
 public service. I also know that, while he will probably attend the IFMA 
banquet next year, Balestreri did not declare, "I'll be back," leaving that signature pledge to actor-turned-politician Schwarzenegger.

 Balestreri also serves on the board of the non-profit Panetta Institute, and Panetta, in kind, served on Balestreri's board of directors.

The Panetta Institute is a bipartisan public-policy education
 organization founded by Leon Panetta, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and his wife, Sylvia. Panetta also is a former congressman and was White House chief of staff
 under Bill Clinton.

Balestreri, a restaurateur, 
hotelier and real estate investor, says Panetta is “one of the finest human beings you’re ever going to meet. He’s as honest as the day is long.”

-- Ellen Koteff, ekoteff@nrn.com