WHILE local Democrats were sloshing around in the mud to support John Kerry at
Alan and Susan Patricof’s home in East Hampton on Saturday, Republican bigwigs attended a drier dinner at
Carroll Petrie’s Southampton home, held in honor of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Rudy and Judi Giuliani joined former Sen. Al D’Amato and his new wife, Katuria Smith, GOP power players Nancy Brinker and Gail Hilsom, Reagan biographer Bob Colacello, Newsweek columnist Lally Weymouth, actress Dina Merrill and her husband, RKO Pictures chairman Ted Hartley, and New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger for the swank 30-person affair.
Diary hears guests dined on salmon mousse, followed by ice cream sundaes, after which Petrie asked Giuliani to say a few words. The former mayor, who sat next to the 78-year-old former iron lady of Britain,
praised her for being a great principled leader, even when public opinion was against her. He added that President Bush is the same kind of leader.
Thatcher, who is staying with longtime pal Petrie for four days, also had dinner in Mirko’s in Watermill the previous night and liked it so much, Petrie asked the eatery to open up just for them for Sunday lunch.
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Reclusive millionaire Robert David Lion Gardiner – the 16th lord of the manor of priceless, pristine Gardiners Island – died yesterday morning in his Main Street, East Hampton, mansion. He was 93.
Gardiner, married but with no direct heirs, owned the 21-square-mile private island in Gardiners Bay via a trust with his niece Alexandra Creel Goelet.
The island was given to the Gardiner family by British King Charles I in 1639 as a reward for defeating the Pequot Indians at Saybrook, Conn. It has remained in the family ever since.
In olden times, the island was reportedly used as a vital pit stop for pirates like Capt. William Kidd to safely bury their treasure for awhile.
Gardiner’s family has been plagued by squabbles for many years over its ownership and future.
Gardiner feared that after he died, the island – said to be the largest privately owned island in the country – would be developed, and tried to have it placed in a historic trust for preservation.
On his death, the island, a haven for rare birds and wildlife, becomes the sole property of Goelet and her family.
Goelet could not be reached for comment.
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Surfer-carpenter Robert “Bobo” Bazoge, who caused a stir in Montauk last year by driving around with the message “Jello is a heartless slut” on the back of his truck to get back at an ex-girlfriend, ran into a little
trouble of his own with John Kerry this weekend.
The gnarly 43-year-old was riding his truck on The Napeague Stretch on Sunday morning and found himself inconvenienced by the turtle’s pace of the Kerry motorcade, which was taking the presidential candidate to breakfast with Steven Spielberg.
Without realizing who the cars belonged to, Bazoge did what any local would do when there’s a slow car ahead – he sped up, entered the eastbound lane and passed the procession, Diary hears. Minutes later, Bazoge was pulled over in his black Ford pick-up truck by Secret Service agents.
“Are you guys in a parade? I don’t have time for this,” he said. “I have things to do.”
He then instinctively reached into his glove compartment for his driver’s license and looked up to see three
guns pointed at him – one at his window, another from the passenger side and a third from the back.
Bazoge was eventually let go without incident.
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Thousands of cars on Route 27 in Southampton got snarled in hours of traffic yesterday afternoon after a fatal accident involving a horse trailer and truck in front of Southampton Brick and Tile. It caused cops to close the County Road 39 section of Route 27.
The jam was made worse by hundreds of cars converging on nearby Southampton College for a Rod Stewart concert.
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Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera and his wife, Erica, choppered into East Hampton at 8:30 p.m. Saturday to attend a house-warming party for Carl and Christine Bernstein, Diary hears. The pair whizzed straight to the Watergate scribe’s new home in tony North Haven Point before flying out again at 10:30 p.m.
Diary hears Rivera was so happy to make the date, he pre-recorded his normally live Saturday night show.
This is Rivera’s second trip to the East End this summer. Two weeks ago, he stopped by Sag Harbor
in his sail boat on the way to Martha’s Vineyard, dining at JLX and The American Hotel.
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Just asking. Which actress – who seems to love her liquor and was recently making inquiries about local cocaine dealers – was spotted this weekend in an East Hampton restaurant swigging back her first glass of booze before 1 p.m.?
To contact Hamptons Diary, e-mail Hamptons@nypost. com or call (212) 930-8500.