C  o n f i d e n t i a l o r n e r   Premiere of "I Dreamed of Africa:" Film stars Kim Basinger and (below) Vincent Perez. (Below, right) "Who Wants To Be..." Regis Philbin. "American Psycho" premiere: (L. to r.) The film's stars Christian Bale  and Chloe Sevigny.   Ute Lemper at her CD Release Party. Christina Aguilera at VH1's "Men Strike Back." Photos by Steve Azzara

Top Cop Out?

Is Howard Safir staying or going? Rumors have been flying at City Hall and One Police Plaza for weeks that the commish is about to tender his resignation.

One insider says they’ve been counting down the suspected 60-day deadline till he departs, and "now we’re at 30 days." City Hall denies the rumors, which hold that Mayor Giuliani will fill Safir’s shoes with Corrections Commissioner Bernard Kerik.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if the mayor sacrifices
Safir to save his own ass," says another insider. "Safir could be the sacrificial lamb, because
polls are reflecting the public’s concern and unhappiness with the way some officers are handling their jobs."

Green Goes Gay

Mark Green appears to be quite the circuit boy these days. He’s been spotted vigorously courting the gay community recently.

First, he was glad-handing at the big gay network mixer at Tavern on the Green. The public advocate donned a tux for the event, his entourage (including his wife) maneuvering between rooms to make as many contacts as possible.

Then a few days later, he lunched with leaders of the Stonewall Dem Club at the Oyster Bar. Green, over fried oysters and New England clam chowder at the Grand Central eatery, met with the current and former presidents.

"Mark’s outreach in this process could make him very successful in locking up the gay leadership,"
if he becomes mayor, says one observer. "He’s doing a lot of work early to lock up major gay support." So far, the observer says, "Peter Vallone and Freddy Ferrer and Alan Hevesi haven’t come calling."

Rudy Habla Español?

How can you tell that Rudy Giuliani is panicking over his sinking poll numbers which now show that more New Yorkers disapprove of the job he’s doing as Mayor than approve?

He’s actually making nice with a large bloc of ethnic voters that he’s ignored of late – the City’s growing Latino community.

First, in a very uncharacteristic move for the always-unapologetic Mayor, he apologized to Iris Baez – albeit six years late – whose son was killed in a showdown with cops in 1994. He also allowed a street in the Bronx to be named after the late Anthony Baez.

Then, he started showing uncharacteristic concern for unlicensed cabbies – in other words, livery drivers – many of whom are Latino. He said the City would spend $5 million subsidizing security cameras and partitions for the livery cabs after a rash of murders of drivers in recent weeks.

And, according to The Post, the buzz is that the reason he stood by the cops in the tragic Patrick Dorismond case – which is beginning to look like Rudy’s Waterloo (in the same way that Yusef Hawkins’ and Yankel Rosenbaum’s deaths helped defeat his predecessors Ed Koch and David Dinkins) – is because the trigger man was an Hispanic cop.

What’s next: Rudy joining Ricky Martin in a duet of La Vida Loca on the steps of City Hall?

Elian Live

After the O.J. saga, what’s the most covered story on network TV in history? Princess Di’s death and funeral? JFK Jr.’s tragic crash? JonBenet Ramsey’s mysterious murder?

Nope.

It’s the Elian Gonzalez story, with the three main networks running 261 stories on the tiny Cuban defector from Thanksgiving to April 13, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

It still trails the O.J. Simpson coverage (431 stories), but vaulted ahead of Di (200 stories), JFK Jr. (161 stories) and JonBenet (84 stories).

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NYConfidential by Michael Schenkler with: Tom Allon, Steve Azzara, Peter Catapano, Ira Cohen, Richard Fasanella, Tamara Hartman, Joshua Kaufman, Barbara Jarvie, Evan Kapitansky, Timothy McDarrah, Mike Nussbaum, Mary Reinholz, Dee Richard.