Elliot Mintz Rehired!

Paris Hilton has rehired the publicist she dumped over the weekend after being sentenced to 45 days in jail.Elliot Mintz confirmed to The Associated Press late Monday that he is again representing the 26-year-old socialite, who was ordered to report to county jail by June 5 for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Mintz, 62, wouldn’t elaborate on why he reunited with Hilton. The publicist, whose clients have included John Lennon and Bob Dylan, issued a statement Sunday night that he and Hilton had parted ways over an apparent “misunderstanding she received from me regarding the terms of her probation.”

In a court appearance Friday, Hilton told the judge Mintz informed her it was all right to drive on a suspended license for work obligations. Mintz also testified Hilton believed she was allowed to drive. The judge called Mintz’s testimony worthless.

Hilton — star of reality TV show “The Simple Life” on the E! network — has parlayed her party lifestyle into worldwide fame.

She has called the sentence unfair, and her fans have posted a petition on the Internet urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon her.

“I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted and I don’t deserve this,” Hilton told photographers assembled outside her home Saturday.

The petition, which had more than 900 signatures by Tuesday morning, urges the California actor-turned-governor to pardon Hilton because she provides “beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives.”

“If the late former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake as well, and we hope and expect the governor will understand and grant this unusual but important request in good faith to Ms. Paris Whitney Hilton,” the petition says.

A message left with Schwarzenegger’s press office regarding the petition wasn’t immediately returned.

Meanwhile, Hilton’s lawyers have filed a notice with the court indicating their intent to appeal the decision. The document is required before a formal appeal can be lodged.

The latest installment of “The Simple Life,” which throws Hilton and pal Nicole Richie, 25, into everyday situations, premieres May 28 on E! After famously feuding and filming their parts separately last season, the celebutantes reunite as camp counselors for the show’s fifth installment.

CTV