ONLY THE FOURTH OUTSHINES PARTY / CABLEVISION CHIEF HOSTS A BLAST FOR HIS ANNIVERSARY

By Jack Otter

There were two kinds of businesspeople on Long Island July 4th: those who were at Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan's party and those who weren't. The latter group may have been smaller.

Attendees estimated 2,000 people were on hand to see the Rockettes (Cablevision owns Radio City Music Hall), fireworks and an abbreviated performance by Whitney Houston. The party spread across the Oyster Bay Cove lawns of Charles and his son James Dolan, who is Cablevision's chief executive. Alongside the many CEOs nibbling lobster were a host of powerbrokers, including Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Charles Schumer, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, County Executives Robert Gaffney and the recently less social Tom Gulotta, Knicks Coach Jeff Van Gundy and Billy Joel, who's Dolan's new Glen Cove neighbor and Joel's girlfriend, Trish Bergin, who, as a News 12 anchor, is Dolan's employee.

The other captain of industry overlooking Oyster Bay Cove was also announced as a guest by Jim Dolan, who served as emcee. Computer Associates chief executive Charles Wang (less than a day after that dark-of-night earnings warning that sent CA stock plummeting) reportedly let guests park on his property, where they caught a shuttle to the Dolan spread.

Everyone got a signed lithograph of the Dolan property as they left.

The occasion was not merely the birthday of the nation, it was also the 50th wedding anniversary, to the day, of Charles and Helen Dolan.

Attendees raved about the Dolans' generosity and everything from the buffet dinner to the fireworks, said to last nearly 45 minutes. The only glitch came shortly after Houston launched into her third song and suddenly the sound system went down and the stage lights went out. One guest was particularly concerned.

"I got scared out of my wits," said Richard Kessel, chairman of the Long Island Power Authority. "I would say my heart sunk 50 feet into the ground...Then I turned around and looked at the house, and lights were on."

Apparently Houston had been too much for the generator.

"I said to Chuck Dolan, 'Next year, let's use LIPA,'" Kessel said.