LAST WEEK'S QUESTION If you had the chance to do it over, who would you vote for?" Chads, dimples and recounts. Enough already? Don't you wish you had the opportunity to vote all over again? Well here's your chance! To express your opinion, CALL (212) 980-3434. ENTER question number 355 PRESS 1 for GEORGE W. BUSH PRESS 2 for AL GORE PRESS 3 for FOUR MORE YEARS OF BILL CLINTON

Murdoch's Pitch

With the Mets pulling out of the Alex Rodriguez sweepstakes, News Corp’s mighty mogul Rupert Murdoch has accelerated his plan to rule over baseball, dusting Yankee owner George Steinbrenner in the process, and possibly anointing the free agent shortstop, arguably baseball’s best as the highest paid player in baseball history.

One Fox TV insider said, "Murdoch regards baseball no differently than every industry that he has raided to get the top." Murdoch’s got the goods to make "a monopoly over baseball." The other networks "surrendered to Murdoch’s network and cable dominance over the broadcast of baseball nationwide. He’s got his hand in virtually every game that’s on the air.

He owns the Dodgers in a major media market, and pretty soon he’s going to pay big bucks to lure A Rod to L.A. (somewhere in excess of $20-25 million per year, plus) to put the Dodgers over the top."

According to our source, Murdoch views his assault on baseball "as a piece of cake
compared to some of the stiffer challenges that he’s faced to bring his News Corp. media empire to the top of the business world." Perhaps the curse of Brooklyn’s Ebbetts Field will bring the mighty Murdoch down to earth. Then again, next year’s World Series Parade might be travelling up Hollywood Boulevard rather than lower Broadway if Murdoch gets his way.

Stabile's Stanzas

Ask some City Council members to describe themselves and you’ll probably hear a variety of terms in response. "I’m a politician, a community activist, a civil servant," he or she might say, but few would likely use the word poet...except of course if you’re asking South Queens Councilman Al Stabile.

QConfidential recently procured a copy of the sanitation worker-turned-elected official’s work entitled "Old Glory."

Writing in the first person from the perspective of our nation’s flag, the ultra-patriotic Stabile, a Vietnam veteran, gushes out 400 plus words in free verse.

"I am worshiped, I am loved, I am feared," he writes. "I have fought in every battle of every war for more than 200 years."

Memo to Al: don’t quit your day job.

QConfiddy: Skin & Scandal?

Dear QConf,
Does anybody really care about these minor league politicians you have been running on this page!!!!! BORING!!! DULL!!! ANNOYING!!!!! I can’t believe anybody would want to see this dribble!!! Did the guy who did the celebrity pictures quit or what?? must have — why else would you resort to local nobody congressmen having lunch!!!! Please do something!!!! -- Charles Maltezakis

Dear Chris,
Steve Azzara, our Confiddy celebrity lensman is alive and well and still living in Queens. However, in our attempt to keep the page "Q" as in Queens Confidential as opposed to NYConfidential, we have been running his stuff only when shot in Queens or of Queens folks.

Sorry, but leggy models in low cut dresses and hunk actors seem to frequent the west side of the East River, not Flushing.

If readers really want skin and scandal from Manhattan, email: Qconf@Queenstribune.com or write QConf, 174-15 Horace Harding Expressway, Fresh Meadows 11365.

But every once in awhile, we'll still tease you with one. Here you go, Chris. -- Qconf

Baker Man

After being persona non-gratis for all of the campaign, James Baker, the former Secretary of State during George Bush’s Administration, ended his political hiatus at the behest of the "tight as a drum" senior Bush.

Our source says that George W. was "down right ballistic behind the scenes when his dad had once again taken control."

According to a source down in Austin, "George W. is not Baker’s biggest fan. In fact, he blames Baker for costing his father the election in 1992." That year Baker was brought in to rejuvenate a lethargic campaign that left the then sitting president trailing Bill Clinton.

"George W. never forgot that, and iced out Baker throughout the campaign until now." Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense under Bush Sr., is now poised to become the next V.P. Jim Baker, Secretary of State under Bush Sr., is back on the scene leading the Bush team in Florida. Our source says that "George W. is so laid back that he’s about to vanish. He’ll never be out of his father’s shadow now."

You can reach us by email at conf@queenstribune.com Fax to Conf (718) 357-0972 Or you can reach us by mail: "Confidential" 174-15 Horace Harding Expressway Fresh Meadows, NY 11365

 

Confidentially New York . . .

E-MAIL your items to: conf@queenstribune.com

Queens NYConfidential is edited by: Michael Schenkler and Tamara Hartman.
Contributors:	Tom Allon, Steve Azzara, Nick Buglione, David Colby, Ira Cohen, Marcia Moxam Comrie, Barbara Jarvie, Stephen McGuire, Mike Nussbaum, Dee Richard.