Our Mayor, Da Playa

Have Gavin Newsom and his girl's girl called it quits? We could barely believe our eyes when we opened the July 2 edition of Star magazine and saw a photograph of our mayor grinning out from its pages with Melrose Place's Daphne Zuniga on his arm. Jennifer "the woman is the culprit" Siebel was nowhere to be seen.

How could this be? The last time we saw Daphne she was posing for a photo with Jen, doing some gal's gal bonding at last year's Primetime Emmy Awards. Now, only about a year later, Daphne was reported to be canoodling with The Gav at the Green Cross Millennium Awards on June 9 in Marina del Rey where Newsom was being honored. And according to Star's trusty source, the pair "touched each other like people do when they're flirting."

We've always known Jen to stand by her man — and she's not usually one to avoid the spotlight — but maybe she couldn't make it to the ceremony and sent Daphne in her place. Siebel didn't respond to an e-mail inquiry SF Weekly sent to her company, Girls' Club Entertainment, so we don't know what to think about all of this.

Those in Newsom's camp didn't have much to say, either, about the Gavphne gossip item. "I know you have to ask me, but I don't have to answer what's printed in Star magazine," says Eric Jaye, Newsom's political consultant. "We've got our hands full with the Chronicle, the Examiner, the New York Times, the SF Weekly, and other esteemed publications."

When asked if Gavifer was still going strong, Jaye replied, "Jennifer was here the other day." But he stealthily avoided further questions about the relationship with a "we're not going to go down that path" response.

As for any flirtatious touching between Gavin and Daphne, who knows? Maybe she just showed up passed-out outside of his door. Or maybe, once again, the woman is the culprit. After all, even Star mentions Daph was spotted smooching another guy in Hawaii just five days later.

Heavens, this is all just way too Melrose Place.