It's all connected

From the New York World:

Most political candidates in Queens whose campaigns have done business with the political consultancy Multi-Media Advertising from 2009 through 2012 also received the endorsement of the company’s affiliated newspaper the Queens Tribune.

A New York World review of campaign finance records and endorsements found that of the 15 candidates who purchased services from Multi-Media in competitive races for amounts exceeding $1,000, 11 also received a public endorsement from the Tribune in that race.

Of the remaining four, two were sitting state senators who ran for re-election in 2010. That year, the paper — as a political statement against “enemies of reform” of the state’s redistricting process — made no endorsements of incumbents in state legislative races, even as its sister company printed literature at the behest of the two campaigns and carried out consulting for them.

The other two who did not receive endorsements found themselves facing off against other Multi-Media clients in the same races. In both cases, the paper’s nod went to the client who ended up spending more money — in one case, seven times as much as his opponent.

In all, since 2009 Multi-Media has collected $460,000 from the 11 candidates who received the Queens Tribune’s endorsement in the same races, and an additional $281,000 from the remaining four clients.

Both the Tribune and Multi-Media are properties of a company called Tribco LLC. In January, the company announced that the paper had been sold to PFH Media Group, an investment firm based in Washington, D.C, only to pull out a month later as the Department of Labor investigated payroll practices at another newspaper acquired by the investor.

Tribune editor Michael Schenkler and former publisher Michael Nussbaum declined to comment for this story, following repeated emails and phone calls.