Business Notes WALL STREET

Invite 140 former employees of Drexel Burnham Lambert to appear on TV and you get a gripe-athon, right? Actually, it was more like the I Love Drexel show. On Donahue last week, dozens of mostly out-of-work Drexelites praised their bankrupt former employer and blamed its fall on everyone but themselves.

Topping their hit list was Rudolph Giuliani, the former U.S. Attorney who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City in 1989. "We are here because Rudy Giuliani decided to make it his project to gain votes . . . by going after Drexel," argued one ex-staffer. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady, who used to head the investment house Dillon Read, was accused of a "vendetta" in not ordering a bailout for Drexel. Said a former employee: "Drexel took a lot of business from them ((Dillon Read))."

"But weren't you in some very tenuous financial positions?" asked host Phil Donahue. "And weren't you arrogant?" Naw, said several. "We just made too much money too quickly."