Jerry Brown, ousted aide oceans apart

The building on Harrison Street in downtown Oakland, which Barzaghi helped design, reportedly is being sold to a church group for upward of $3 million, though the mayor has declined to discuss the price or buyer pending close of escrow next month. Meanwhile, Barzaghi has taken his belongings and family, and returned to his native France while contemplating a permanent move to Morocco.

It's an inauspicious ending to a relationship that began during Jerry's Zen politics days as governor, when the odd couple defined "capital cool'' in Sacramento.

Barzaghi was there when Brown was elected mayor in 1998, but left City Hall last year under a cloud. These days, the 66-year-old suffers from early signs of Parkinson's disease and needs both hands to hold a cup of coffee.

He's recovering from a heart condition that prompted emergency surgery just two weeks after he officially "retired" as Brown's chief mayoral aide in July.

He's also still stinging from a string of public humiliations, including groping allegations by a female employee that resulted in a costly lawsuit against the city and ultimately his demotion. More recently, there was a domestic dispute that brought the city's police chief wheeling to the We the People compound where Barzaghi lived with his seventh wife and their two young children.

It was the final straw in Barzaghi's City Hall career.

"It was two strikes, and you're out -- you anticipate that a third might come. I get it -- it's my doing,'' Barzaghi told us in a recent interview at the Cuckoo's Nest cafe, where he reflected on the final chapter of his relationship with Brown while keeping a watchful eye on his youngest son.

Privately, Barzaghi has confided to friends that he's hurt by what he perceives as Brown's abandonment of him -- although up until the domestic tangle, Brown was Barzaghi's staunchest defender.

Barzaghi doesn't hold Brown responsible for his misfortunes, saying it's his own "karma" that's brought him to this point.

As for help from Jerry? Well, there were rumors that Barzaghi was looking for a big severance -- but apparently, it won't be forthcoming.

"Jerry used to tell me, 'I'm not fiscally conservative -- I'm cheap.' Knowing that, and knowing him so long, I can't expect anything," Barzaghi said.

Barzaghi talked of his decision to go into "voluntary exile by force'' --

returning to rural southern France or eventually Morocco, where his $2,500-a- month Oakland pension will go further.

"You know, there are four or five people who started out with Jerry, and now they are all millionaires,'' Barzaghi said. "But I'm the only one who lasted until the end, and I don't have a penny to my name. Maybe it's a lack of interest.''

As for his feelings about Brown: "It is evolutionary," Barzaghi said. "Two weeks ago, we had lunch at Yoshi's, and the relationship was as if I had never left. ... Since the first day I met him, the essence has been the same."

And even after our interview, Brown showed up at Bucci's restaurant in Emeryville to join many of their mutual friends in a final farewell to Jacques.

However, Brown is running hard for state attorney general, and in the process, he's put some distance between himself and his old friend. Barzaghi insisted he had no intention of following Brown back to Sacramento, and told him so months ago.

At one point during our interview, Barzaghi spotted a beautiful young woman strolling into the cafe alone. "Desires are endless," he mused. "And God keeps sending them to me.''

There was something else on Barzaghi's mind as well.

As we were saying goodbye, Jacques -- pushing his baby stroller across the street -- turned and yelled out, "One thing: Don't make Jerry look bad.''

And what's the mayor saying about the departure of his old comrade?

"I did terminate him for the reasons stated, and I think that was initially difficult for him," Brown said. "But I think he has come to grips with the issues that caused him difficulties in the past, and I think he is in a positive state of mind.

"I certainly wished him well when he left.''

To Gav with love: When it comes to valentines, you can't beat the one going out over the Internet from gay leaders across the state on behalf of San Francisco Mayor Gavin "Gay Wedding" Newsom.

The message -- which carries no fewer than 60 signatures, including those of half a dozen state legislators and the mayors of Palm Springs and West Hollywood -- reminds members and friends of the gay community that Newsom "has not flinched'' in his support for same-sex marriage over the past year, despite attacks from his own party and the courts.

"This heroic individual has placed his own political future in jeopardy in order to advance our quest for equality,'' the letter says.

But the real message is saved for the end: "The mayor has a significant debt to pay off from his last campaign -- and we should support this extraordinary, principled and courageous individual. ... This year, let us be the ones to give the mayor a Valentine's Day present.''

With that, donors are invited to contribute as much as $750 apiece -- by check or credit card -- to the "Newsom for Mayor'' campaign.

By the way, we're told the Internet fund-raising shot is straight out of Howard Dean's presidential playbook.

Gone wild: We don't have names -- and we don't have the exact location -- but the San Francisco Fire Department confirms that two of its own are under investigation for a supposed off-duty, booze-fueled bar spat with a South Bay cop.

Everyone involved is a woman.

Guess we've all come a long way, baby.