January 4, 2000

State Senator Efrain Gonzalez Jr. of the Bronx decided to open a Washington office for a Hispanic legislators' association a few years ago, figuring that he would have little trouble raising the necessary $40,000. Following something of a tradition among black and Hispanic members of the New York Legislature, Mr. Gonzalez called a lobbyist for Philip Morris, and came away with the entire amount. A colleague from the borough, Assemblywoman Gloria Davis, receives $5,000 annually from Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, for a Thanksgiving meal for the poor in her predominantly black district. Seeking aid for a program to teach nonviolence to young people, Ms. Davis said that she raised $22,000 from another cigarette giant, R. J. Reynolds.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced yesterday that Bruce Teitelbaum, the man he has relied on in recent years to defend his administration and carry out many of his political orders, will manage his campaign if the mayor runs, as expected, for the United States Senate this year. His afternoon announcement coincided with a carefully worded statement issued by Mr. Teitelbaum's lawyer saying that, according to federal prosecutors and the Brooklyn district attorney's office, Mr. Teitelbaum is ''presently neither a target nor a subject'' of a criminal investigation into the collapse of a Brooklyn building that killed a construction worker in November. The accident has stirred questions about City Hall's influence over building practices in the Orthodox Jewish section of Williamsburg.

With his commitment of credibility fulfilled, with his personal legacy secure, all that was left for Bill Parcells to do today was to honor Bill Belichick's service, and Leon Hess's trust. All that remained was for Parcells to let the clock run out, without fumbling the handoff of the Jets. Parcells said, ''I coached as hard as I could, right to the end,'' and that included his giving Belichick the ball with the best chance of breaking away from Parcells's intimidating presence. Super Bowl musings aside, the timing on this play was perfect, after an 8-8 season that should not be difficult to improve on, and before the detested Robert Kraft could lure Belichick back to New England to replace the fired Pete Carroll.

Trying to repair some of the damage to Coca-Cola's public image, the company's incoming chairman and chief executive, Douglas N. Daft, has been negotiating intensely with Carl H. Ware, the company's lone black senior vice president who in November announced his intention to leave the company, in hopes of persuading him to accept a high-profile job. A person close to the situation said yesterday that Mr. Daft began the talks soon after he was named to succeed M. Douglas Ivester, who shocked the company and the business world last month by abruptly announcing his own resignation. The jobs under discussion for Mr. Ware, who is president of the company's Africa division, include ''expanded responsibilities,'' the person said.

At first glance, Natalia Sarygina doesn't look like much of a glass-ceiling smasher. She wears a sequined minidress to work, is pleased with her $25,000-a-year salary and has a conventional take on gender roles, in Russian-laced English. ''I think man is a man, he's more strong,'' she says. ''A woman? It's a woman,'' she shrugs, applying thick makeup in her stamp-size trailer in Manhattan.