Jewish World Review August 20, 2004 / 3 Elul, 5764

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Consumer Reports

Kerry: The novel candidate?; introducing Miss Kimberly Jones; Is Paris Fry[ing]?


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | The woman who says she dated Sen. John Kerry for 20 months in the early 1990s — former Harvard graduate student Lee Whitnum — tells me she has written a novel in which a Kerry-like character tries to become president.


The fortysomething Whitnum — who received her master's in education from Harvard and uses the pen name Lee Roystone — describes "The Hedge Fund Mistress" as part financial potboiler, part political thriller and part romance.


Kerry, she revealed to The New York Daily News this week, liked to cook seafood dinners for them at his Beacon Hill apartment and whisper sweet nothings in her ear — in French — during moments of passion.


Whitnum's Web site, hedgefundmistress.com, features a blog in which she worries that her novel — if published before Nov. 2 — might harm her onetime lover's election chances.


Especially if conservative radio jocks exploit it to damage the Democratic nominee.


"By the time John Kerry won Iowa this novel was mainly completed," writes Whitnum, who tells me she has spent $15,000 out of her own pocket to self-publish the book. "There is a chapter on a character who dated a United States senator. When John won my first reaction was: What do I do now? Shelve my book? Rewrite the book?


"That portion of the book is crucial to the story. It puts me in a strange situation because I do not want my personal experience with him to be twisted and I put nothing past the right wing talk show hosts — especially in such a close election (I hate Rush Limbaugh — in the book I call him "The Rash")."


Whitnum's Web site also features her "John Kerry Scrapbook," including several snapshots of herself and the senator, a couple of notes from Kerry and an account of their romance — along with exhortations to support Kerry's campaign.


"Vote for John!" the Web site repeatedly urges.



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INTRODUCING MISS KIMBERLY JONES


It's going to take more than the prospect of 20 years in prison to scare Lil' Kim.


Or even Kimberly Jones — as the 29-year-old rap diva has lately taken to calling herself.


"I don't fear anybody or anything but G-d," she said in an exclusive interview with this column Thursday. "I'm not particularly scared because I didn't do anything wrong. I'm innocent and that will be proven.


"However I must maintain strong, I must maintain my Lil' Kim brand, and I can't let this deter me."


The 4-foot-11 Jones, draped in a conservative brown Louis Vuitton shawl, was at a conference table in the Midtown office of her publicist, Ronn Torossian. He's helping her clean up her bad-girl image as she faces trial next February on federal perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges arising from a 2001 gunfight outside a Manhattan radio station.


Earlier this week, Jones introduced her "Lil' Kim" Royalty wristwatch line and launched her personal charitable foundation.


Heartfelt? Or just convenient?


"My two million fans know that in the past, Kim has done numerous charity work," she said. "It's just never out there. All you hear is 'Lil' Kim's boobs.' All you hear is 'Lil' Kim's the raunchy rapper' or 'sexy sex symbol!' "


Jones — whose explicit lyrics and revealing garb have provoked dire warnings from self-appointed protectors of the popular culture — said of her own role models: "The Notorious B.I.G. (her sometime lover, who was murdered allegedly by rival rappers in 1997) was definitely my role model. He taught me a lot of things. He taught me how to deal with the people in this industry and he taught me how to deal with being a celebrity in this industry.


"Russell Simmons is a role model to me; Puff Daddy is a role model to me."


Does that mean she'll be joining the political fray? "I'm hosting a Rock the Vote party and I'm registering to vote next week. I've never voted before."


Jones also hinted she's even thinking of toning down her famously kinky lyrics. "I have to show growth and in order to have new listeners you have to show some sort of responsibility — maybe a little less explicitness."


THE BRIEFING


IS PARIS FRYING?: What does Stephen Fry have against Paris Hilton? Everything, apparently. At this week's Soho House screening of "Bright Young Things," Fry's directorial debut, the Brit actor told this column: "People who ought to know better will say, 'Oh, I saw a picture of Paris Hilton the other day,' and you think, 'You're a grownup! Why should you care about this trashy, worthless human being?'" Fry said Hilton could be a character in his movie, based on Evelyn Waugh's social satire "Vile Bodies." These days, to be like Paris, "it takes a startling vanity, an enormous lack of self-knowledge, and a huge amount of greed and desire," Fry added. Hilton's rep, Gina Hoffman, didn't respond to detailed messages.



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08/19/04: The rude, the bad, the ugly
08/17/04: Kerry's bad hair day?; spin control?; more
08/06/04: Flap at Ground Zero; weird premonition?; more
08/04/04: Teresa nailed?
07/30/04: Bubba goes shopping; in the Bono bubble; more
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02/13/04: John & Carolyn, redux; Zell Miller shows the flag; kill Quentin?; more
02/11/04: HE FEELS BAD!; Dick Cheney, still not dead; more
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01/30/04: The political forehead front; Alies meets Franken; the art of the hype; arrested career development?
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01/21/04: Ridiculous lives of the self-important stars; long arm of the law; all's fair in love and literature
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12/31/03: Disaster for the defense; no-war Omar; the shoe must go on; more
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12/05/03: The knives are out; Who's sorry now?; JWR in the news
12/04/03: The war of the gest-minnellis; something borrowed, something cashmere; fashion trendsetter, nailed!
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11/04/03: Herding off the hipsters; more
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10/30/03: Autumn of the editor?; Cynthia Nixon's split may be costly; 'Burning' questions
10/29/03: Ah-nold, unauthorized!; a dilemma for Melissa Gilbert? not even Frank Gifford can help him now!; nobody wanted Elizabeth Hurley
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10/27/03: Paparazzi uncensored!; where's Aaron Brown?; postcards from the middle; invasion of the party snatchers?; House flooded when not afire?; suspenders of disbelief?
10/23/03: Ace up Howard Dean's sleeve; Woody's ordeal; Paul Simon's kid makes good; the non-beginning of a beautiful friendship?
10/22/03: Showing the flag; Joe Frazier, smokin'!; see Carville bruised-up — sort of
10/21/03: Morris & Jaci's charm offensive; Hell hath no fury; Wintertime for Hitler
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10/16/03: George Clooney and intolerable Drudgery; Cameron goes native; and you thought the war in Iraq was nasty?; now it can be revealed; star wars?
10/15/03: Kerik into the breach?; holiday pander?; "the Dink" corrects the record; more
10/14/03: Madge gets mad, lips are sealed; the candidates who listen; he who hesitates is Beatty
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10/09/03: Gray Davis goes to the movies; Ali Wentworth, working blue; Law & Order?; pot of gold at the end of the rainbow room?
10/08/03: Art-time for Hitler; the actress who hates movies; lying "Liam"
10/07/03: Pond scum of the rich and famous
07/24/03: Ali and George, living it up; Mel Gibson's Washington power play
07/21/03: White House smear?
07/17/03: Yet another intern scandal; it's her party and she can pay if she wants to
07/14/03: On the auction block: JFK'S boxer shorts; love bytes the maestro
07/10/03: A hairy situation at Homeland Security; Van Susteren v. Orth
06/30/03: Rep. Patrick Kennedy: I've never worked a (bleeping) day in my life; Drudge's dressing down; Ken Lay's Kerry connection
06/26/03: Rapping the beat
06/23/03: Another Watergate scandal?; AL GORE TV!
06/19/03: Tony Snow, rocker?; that won't be crow on Mr. Carlson's plate
06/16/03: Missing dog, ransom demand, Hollywood ending
06/12/03: Giving both parties the needle
06/09/03: WHAT DID SHE KNOW, AND WHEN DID SHE KNOW IT?
06/05/03: Incoming from Barbara Bush?
06/02/03: Bob Dole's plan for fighting unemployment
05/29/03: Newt's new novel
05/27/03: Hitchens & Blumenthal, together again; He still believes in a man called Hope
05/09/03: Close, but no cigar; Romeo & Juliet with a happy ending?; Geraldo to help Heebs?
05/05/03: So Bill Gates and Tom Brokaw walk into a coffee bar . . .; hotel hell; more

© 2003, Creators Syndicate