People talk 01/24/03

Springer considering run for U.S. Senate

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Talk show host Jerry Springer has a secret of his own to share: He's considering running for the U.S. Senate next year.

Springer, a Democrat, said he'll decide by summer whether to challenge George Voinovich, a Republican who has said he'll run for a second term in 2004.

He acknowledged that his nationally syndicated "Jerry Springer Show" could work against him. Guests divulge their intimate secrets -- and frequently strip down to their intimate apparel -- on episodes with titles like "Your Lover Is Mine!" and "Explosive Betrayals!"

"There are pluses and minuses," Springer said. "The plus is that I'm known by everybody. The minus is that I'm known by everybody."

Springer figures it would take $20 million to beat Voinovich and as much as $5 million to win a Democratic primary.

Springer is a former Cincinnati mayor and councilman who lost the Democratic primary for governor in 1982 and considered running for the Senate in 2000. He said he also may run for Cincinnati mayor in 2005 or governor in 2006.

Columbia may create Giuliani library, program

NEW YORK -- Columbia University is in preliminary talks with former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to create the Giuliani Program in Urban Leadership and to house his administration's papers, a published report said.

Saul Cohen, president of the Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban Affairs, which was formed in part to raise funds for a Giuliani library, said a program in urban leadership would encourage students to work for city government, the Daily News reported in Thursday editions.

Cohen noted, however, that the Giuliani center would have to raise $5 million before Columbia approves the program.

Cohen said that Giuliani would not be a faculty member in the center, but that he might participate in some of its programs and conferences.

On Wednesday, The New York Sun reported that the Giuliani Center and Columbia were discussing the possibility of housing microfiche and digital copies of the Giuliani administration's archives in the university's library.

Broderick, Parker, file lawsuit against SephoraLOS ANGELES -- Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker have filed a $15 million lawsuit against the Sephora USA cosmetics chain for allegedly using their images in an advertising campaign without their consent.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 10 in Los Angeles Superior Court, follows a similar claim filed against the company in September by divorced couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

Both pairs were pictured in advertisements for the "L'eau down on celebrity sweethearts," which was used to promote Valentine's Day gifts at Sephora stores.

The ad lists products sold by Sephora that supposedly match the stars' individual personalities.

Parker, 37, stars as sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO show "Sex and the City," and Broderick, 40, formerly co-starred with Nathan Lane in the hit Broadway show "The Producers" and starred in movies including "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

Sephora representatives did not immediately return calls for comment.

The Cruise-Kidman lawsuit seeks $15 million in damages and asks the award be tripled because of alleged violations of the Lanham Act, the law designed to protect intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks and copyrights.

-- From wire reports