Summer win: campaigning in the Hamptons - local elections in East Hampton, New York - excerpt from the book 'Philistines at the Hedgerow,' by Robert Gaines

Ever wonder how candidates campaign in a rarefied atmosphere like The Hamptons, the super-posh weekend resort located on New York's Long Island? Here's a glimpse of celebrity politics, vacation home style:

In the spring of 1996 [maverick Madison Avenue advertising executive] Jerry [Della Femina] officially announced that he was running for trustee on his own ticket, the Village Party. The three men up for re-election, [trustee William C. "Heppy"] Heppenheimer, Mayor Rickenbach, and trustee Edwin L. Sherrill, a 21-year veteran of the board whose family roots in East Hampton went back to the 1700s, marshaled forces and formed the Hook Mill Party. "We took his challenge very seriously," Heppenheimer said. "With Jerry, you had no choice. If Jerry had gotten on the board, he would have wrecked it... East Hampton had never seen anything like it. In the past, village elections were low, low key." So relaxed, in fact, that one year the incumbent didn't even bother to vote for himself. "I ran four times myself and never raised a penny," Heppenheimer said. "You didn't have to. But with Jerry coming into the picture, we raised $36,000." That turned out to be only half the $70,000 campaign fund that Jerry put together, mainly from his own pocket. It was the most money ever spent on a village election in the history of New York state.

Jerry, whom the Hook Mill Party described as "unsuited" for public office, characterized the campaign as "part nasty and headed for dirty" for The New York Times.... "In some factions," the mayor said, "this is being looked at as a potential hostile takeover of the village." Everybody grumbled about "Madison Avenue muscle" taking over Main Street.

The campaign reached some sort of a nadir the night of the televised debate, shown locally on cable channel 27, LTV, one week before the June 18 election. The general tone of the evening was set in the opening moments when Heppenheimer, meeting Jerry face-to-face for the first time, refused to shake his hand. The bad feeling escalated after Edwin Sherrill called Jerry an "asshole" under his breath, clearly picked up by his lapel microphone and broadcast over the air. And the discussion completely disintegrated when Mayor Rickenbach contemptuously accused Jerry of running for trustee out of a "personal vendetta".... "You poor guy! You media Mogul! You advertising guru! You brought Madison Avenue onto Main Street in East Hampton, and that's not what we're all about...."

A record number of voters turned out at the polls - 857 of them, more than half the population. People were so eager to vote that some turned up who weren't even registered. One determined man arrived at the polls in a wheelchair with an oxygen mask. Mayor Rickenbach won his uncontested election with 690 votes, and Edwin Sherrill and Bill Heppenheimer won their trustee seats in a landslide, with 568 and 492 votes, respectively. Tony Minardi came in third with 280. Jerry was five votes behind, at 275. It cost him a grand total of $200 a vote in campaign spending. "It was worth every penny," Jerry insisted. "I showed my children how the American system of politics and dissent worked."

- excerpted from the book "Philistines at the Hedgerow" by Robert Gaines, published by Little, Brown & Co.

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