Buffett Caught With Club Drug

October 6, 2006 -- FORGET Margaritaville - French authorities reportedly seized more than 100 tabs of club drug "ecstasy" from Jimmy Buffett's luggage this week.

The Grammy-winning singer got into trouble when he flew into Toulon-Hyères International Airport in the South of France on a rented private jet and customs officials started poking around in his suitcases. According to local press reports, they uncovered more than 100 tablets of the mind-bending substance.

Buffett, who was on his way to chill out in the ritzy resort town of St. Tropez, was detained, but not arrested, and allowed to go free after paying a fine of 300 euros - about $380. That prompted one local newspaper editorial to term the slap-on-the-wrist punishment "a small amount for a man who makes $70 million a year."

A spokeswoman for Buffett - whose hits include "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and "Why Don't We Get Drunk" - denied he'd had any ecstasy in the luggage. The rep insisted, "It was medicine prescribed by his doctor." But she wouldn't name the medicine or what ailment Buffett was using it for. She also refused to comment on why, if the substance was legally prescribed, Buffett agreed to pay the fine.

"I don't have any additional information," the flak said. Asked to contact Buffett to ask him about the incident, she said, "It's not going to be possible." She also insisted the cops seized only 20 tablets, not the reported 100-plus.

Regardless, Buffett was lucky his alleged stash wasn't discovered in the United States, where a conviction can lead to a prison sentence and fines of up to $100,000. But the singer has had bad luck involving narcotics in the past. Ten years ago, a boat he and Bono were on near the coast of Jamaica was fired on by police who mistook them for drug traffickers.

Meanwhile, the crooner, 59, a distant relative of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, will release his newest album, "Take the Weather With You," next week. Last month, he did a fund-raiser for Kinky Friedman's Texas gubernatorial campaign.

Scout Report

WHEN two mayors share one box at Yankee Stadium, there's always going to be political intrigue. Sitting in Row 2, right in between Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday night, was pollster and language guru Frank Luntz. The numbers cruncher has worked for both mayors, who are now potential combatants in 2008. So whom does Luntz favor? If the guest list is any indication, he was there with the Bloomberg team.

Back Burnered

SOMEBODY screwed up and neglected to make a lunch reservation yesterday at Michael's for Laura Bush . That's why the first lady was seated with three other ladies in the back "garden room" - which if it isn't Siberia, is at least the western Urals. "She looked adorable," said one witness. "She is quite petite and was wearing a lovely burnt-orange Chanel-type - maybe it was Chanel - knit jacket and dark pants." Among those who gaped as Mrs. Bush headed to the rear were Leonard Lauder, Linda Janklow, Peter Brown, Georgette Mosbacher, Ahmet Ertegun and Louise Sunshine.

Babs Bashes W.

BARBRA Streisand fans should expect some George W. Bush-bashing between songs on her "farewell" tour. At her debut show in Philadelphia, Streisand had an actor onstage playing the president as an idiot who utters such lines as "I'm concerned about the national debt, so I'm selling Canada," and "If I cared about the polls, I would have run for president of Poland." Streisand - who sang "Funny Girl," "Come Rain or Come Shine," and "Love Soft as an Easy Chair" - told the crowd of 17,000 she came out of retirement (yet again) to raise money for her foundation, which promotes leftist causes. But Babs has steadfastly declined to say how many of the millions she's keeping for herself and husband James Brolin.

'nightmare' Book On Katie

KATIE Couric should grow a thicker skin - and fast! We hear the book that Ed Klein is doing on the new "CBS Evening News" anchor will be a doozy. One insider at NBC, her former network, said, "Ed has been making the rounds, dialing for dollars, over here. And pretty much everyone is talking - not on the record, but they are talking, and it isn't nice. They are drudging up stuff that will be a nightmare for her. She wasn't very nice for a long time when she was here." Klein has tried to get Couric and CBS to cooperate with his book - which he swears will not be a hatchet job, as was his bio of Sen. Hillary Clinton ("The Truth About Hillary"). He's met with Couric's rep, Matthew Hiltzik, and CBS rep Gil Schwartz, but so far there have been no takers. One Couric sympathizer says the stories out of NBC are just sour grapes. "Considering the impending layoffs and plummeting ratings at NBC, its sad but not surprising they'd try to change the subject," the source noted. Hiltzik and Schwartz declined comment.

Invisible Man

WE'RE sorely disappointed in Russell Crowe. The Oscar winner was here for months filming "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington but managed to keep such a low profile that he was nearly invisible. When the irascible Aussie wasn't taking direction from Ridley Scott, he lived quietly with his family in upstate Nyack. Now the Crowes are in Britain, but he'll be back in the United States to shoot "3:10 to Yuma" in New Mexico and to promote "A Good Year," which will open Nov. 10.

Madonna: Water For Orphans

NOT only is Madonna planning to spend $3 million helping orphans in Malawi - she's going to turn the African children onto Kaballah, the mystical Jewish sect that boasts its own brand of spiritual water. Madonna wants some of her money to go for drilling wells so the orphans will have clean water and no longer suffer from dysentery and waterborne parasites. "Water is the purest expression of God's sharing essence," our spy said. "The water will be Kaballah water." The pop queen went to an orphanage yesterday in Malawi's commercial capital. Her publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said she's "involved in the building of an orphanage/child care center," but reiterated that Madonna was just window-shopping when she checked out the orphans there yesterday: "She has not adopted a baby boy as has been previously and incorrectly reported."

Pair Caught Canoodling In A Booth

JESSICA Simpson renewed her love affair with her "Employee of the Month" co-star Dane Cook Wednesday night at the film's premiere party at Tenjune. (See Kyle Smith's review, Page 42.) Spies said they curled up in a booth and spent the evening "whispering into each other's ears. Dane couldn't keep his eyes off her and kept coming back to her every time he was pulled away." They finally left with Simpson's hairdresser Ken Paves.

Full-fare Flight

NEW York Times columnist Joe Sharkey nearly died on the maiden flight of Brazil's Embraer Legacy 600 private jet this week when it clipped a commercial airliner, which crashed with the loss of every soul on board. The private jet lost a wing tip and part of its tail but landed safely in the Amazon jungle. Sharkey, who writes the weekly "On the Road" column for the Times' business section, penned a gripping account of the terrifying mid-air collision for the paper's front page. And now the Times will pay for his trip. Sharkey was on "a freelance assignment for Business Jet Traveler magazine," according to his article. But since the Times used his story, the private jet manufacturer will be reimbursed for the multi-thousand-dollar cost of his flight. "He is paying in order to conform to our policy on travel writers," a rep for the Times told Page Six - and the Times will reimburse Sharkey.

We Hear . . .

THAT Tracy Chapman is singing tonight at the RFK Memorial Benefit Kerry Kennedy is hosting at Chelsea Piers . . . THAT Sens. Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer were the special guests at Wednesday night's showing of "Bobby" at the Disney Screening Room on Fifth Avenue . . . THAT Tim Robbins, whose father was a musician, was interviewed at Ennio & Michael on La Guardia Place for a documentary on the life and music of Harry Belafonte.

Sightings

SEN. Joe Lieberman, on line for the men's room at Yankee Stadium before the second Yankee-Tiger game was rained out, when a fan shouted, "Hey, it's Joe Lieberman!" - at which point the beery boys exploded into applause. Though Lieberman is locked in a re-election battle, he didn't shake any hands . . . U.S. Olympic soccer star Mia Hamm at Game 1 of the Met-Dodger series, watching husband Nomar Garciaparra play for L.A. and beckoning a heckling fan in the level above to come down for a face-to-face meeting.

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