Jules Staying Put Jules Polonetsky, former consumer affairs commissioner and now chief privacy officer for the Internet concern DoubleClick, shot down a rumor that he was going to run for Howard Lasher's City Council seat. A source had called in the tip, saying that Polonetsky had decided to mount the campaign, which most likely would have left the other candidates with little competitive chance.

But Polonetsky, who also served as assemblymember for the 46th A.D., didn't hesitate or mince his words in saying that the gossip was false. "No. The answer is no," he said. "Although I like the idea of people thinking about it-no. I'm very happy at DoubleClick."

From The Stage To The Stump Councilmember Stephen DiBrienza brought in the star power for his fundraiser, held Sunday, December 3 at the National Arts Club. Special guests included Broadway star Tony Roberts and actress Michelle Hurd from NBC'S "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit." Honorary hosts included Olympia Dukakis, Bebe Neuwirth and Park Slope's John Tuturro. The reason DiBrienza, a candidate for public advocate, was able to tap New York's Hollywood bunch is because he lent his support to a recent Screen Actors Guild strike. The actors, many of whom were relative unknowns, advocated for changes in the way they were compensated for commercials.

Through his general welfare committee, DiBrienza put together a resolution urging the city not to allow commercials to be shot on city property until the strike was settled. DiBrienza, who joined the picket line at Columbus Circle, argued that the city was required to stay neutral and was violating that requirement by allowing commercials to be shot on its property. DiBrienza would not put a figure on how much he intended to net at the event, saying only, "We'll do very well."

The public advocate's race could be decided between a field of five, including Councilmember Kathryn Freed, former parks commissioner Betsy Gotbaum, NYCLU Executive Director Norman Siegel and Manhattan Assemblymember Scott Stringer. Stringer has been courting Brooklyn politicians through his assembly connections. "Scott's an active young assemblyman, so I'm not surprised to see him moving around," said DiBrienza.

The Carroll Gardens councilmember had a few choice words for Gotbaum, saying, "Betsy I guess is concerned more with raising money than being out in the community, but everyone has their own style." He added that he expects to have overwhelming support in Brooklyn and to do "incredibly well" in Staten Island with the help of new County Leader John Lavelle. He also said that his support in Manhattan includes Councilmember Christine Quinn, State Senator Tom Duane and, if she should win her recount battle with incumbent State Senator Roy Goodman, Liz Krueger. In Queens, he said, he is being backed by Councilmember Walter McCaffrey.

His past clashes with the city notwithstanding, DiBrienza recently had a unique experience when Mayor Giuliani wrote a memo of support for a bill making its way through DiBrienza's committee. The bill would give victims of gender motivated crimes the right to sue their attackers in civil court for up to seven years after the incident. The bill, which has 33 cosponsors, comes after the United States Supreme Court struck down a similar federal law, ruling that the issue should be decided by states and localities. If passed by the full Council, it would be the first local law of its kind in the country. "This is groundbreaking legislation," said DiBrienza.

ACORN Falls Close To Tree Eyebrows were raised last week by a fundraising invitation sent by the Friends Of Bill de Blasio. de Blasio, who managed Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign, held the December 7 event to fund his run for the 39th Councilmanic District seat.

The invitation listed the committee's address as 88 Third Avenue, which may be familiar to some as the address for the community group ACORN. The contact on the invitation was Kara Hood, an ACORN political organizer. One insider thought that the connection between the candidate and the community group was too tight, and could imply that ACORN's stance on community issues was politicized. "That's a little too close for comfort for me," he said.

But ACORN's political director, Peter Colavito, said that there was nothing new about the group supporting candidates through its political action committee. Colavito also said that ACORN has a satellite group called ACORN Associates that does political consulting work. He said that de Blasio has a small contract with ACORN Associates, and that Hood does part-time consulting work under that contract.

"When we feel like there's somebody who's going to fight for issues that are important, like education or housing or jobs, our political action committee is going to interview that person and if they deem it fit, they're going to get some work done to put that person in office," said Colavito, who added that de Blasio has been endorsed by the political action committee. de Blasio and ACORN's political arm have had a relationship since de Blasio's early days in the Dinkins administration. The fundraiser was also held at the home of another former Dinkins official, Ken Sunshine.

Miller Not Eyeing Bench Bob Miller, a candidate for Noach Dear's City Council seat, responded to an item in last week's column by saying that he is not interested in being a Supreme Court Judge. Insiders have been speculating that Miller is angling for a judgeship, but he said that is not the case. "I'm definitely running (for City Council). I'm not interested in being a Supreme Court Judge at this point in my life," he said. He added that he has the support of Assemblymember William Colton.

Leaders Meeting A Snooze County Leader Clarence Norman said that the meeting of county leaders on Saturday December 2 at the Brooklyn Marriott produced little in the way of news. "We talked about some recent election law cases and their import in terms of our operations. We talked briefly at 2001," he said. Norman reiterated his positions in next year's election, saying that he will support Board of Ed President William Thompson for comptroller and city Comptroller Alan Hevesi for mayor. "Public advocate is still up in the air," he said.

There was no discussion of assembling a group of candidates backed by all five leaders, said Norman. "There was no attempt to hammer out and fashion a slate for we county leaders. It was just our usual, periodic breakfast meeting," he said.

Golden, LID Clash Borough President Howard Golden recently butted heads with the Lambda Independent Democrats, Brooklyn's gay and lesbian political club. In the October edition of Lambda Line, the club's newsletter, Lambda wrote a story headlined "Golden Honors Homophobic Priest." The story was about the Rev. Peter Zendzian, who was honored by Golden at his Pulaski Day Celebration. Lambda wrote that Zendzian prevented Razem, a Polish gay and lesbian group, from marching in the Pulaski Day Parade in 1997. Lambda also wrote that Golden did not invite any Razem leaders to this year's Pulaski Day celebration.

After reading the piece, Golden demanded that Lambda retract it, but the group declined, saying that it was accurate. LID did say that it would offer some sort of apology if Golden expressed regret for honoring Zendzian, which he declined to do. Since then, the club has decided to let the issue go, partly to take the heat off of Dorothy Derringer, a Lambda member who serves as Golden's liaison to the gay and lesbian community.

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