October 24, 1990

Upholding an important provision of New York City's new Charter, New York State's highest court ruled today that city officials could be barred from holding political party offices. The 5-to-2 decision officially ended the long domination of New York City government by political party leaders. This domination by figures like Donald R. Manes, who served as both the Queens Borough President and the Queens Democratic leader, was a major theme in the city corruption scandals in 1986. Mr. Manes killed himself while the investigations were under way. A Way of Life

It was to have been a routine day of campaigning. Instead, George Bush got an object lesson today in how the budget crisis has disrupted the Republican Party, and how quickly loyalties can shift when a Presidency is weakened and defiance of the White House becomes a political plus. Stumping through New England on a trip that had been postponed by the budget crisis, Mr. Bush was introduced at a fund-raising event in Vermont by a Republican candidate who made a point of opposing the President's veto Monday of a job-discrimination bill.

Harley Brooke-Hitching looked, well, different from most attending Monday's luncheon at the Women's National Republican Club. She wore jeans and a baggy sweatshirt. Two young employees accompanying her wore the same. "We're not going to steal nothing," one of the employees told a nervous woman at the front desk.

At the University of Iowa, The Campus Review recently provoked outrage with a drawing of the cartoon character Bart Simpson holding a loaded slingshot and warning, "Back off, faggot." At the University of California at Berkeley, The California Review has been campaigning against affirmative action. And at the University of Florida, The Florida Review caused protests when in a guide to professors it said the history and philosophy departments were full of Marxists.

LOOKING for the newest low-impact way to cross-train, to stretch and to strengthen muscles? Something endorsed by svelte celebrities? Try puttering in the garden. It is one of many ordinary activities, long dismissed as too wimp-like for serious worshipers at the altar of fitness, that are starting to take on a certain glamour. Earlier this year, for instance, Longevity magazine promoted gardening in a cover story called "Working Out in Nature's Gym," with testimonials from people like Michael Caine, Martha Stewart, Sam Donaldson and Paul Taylor.