Newsmax's $25K Trump Facebook Ad Boosted Fossella's Staten Island Borough President Bid

Ex-Rep. Vito Fossella’s last-minute, game-changing endorsement from former President Donald Trump in the Staten Island borough president GOP primary got a paid, targeted Facebook boost from an unexpected source: conservative cable news outlet Newsmax. Like many other news organizations, Newsmax Media Inc. regularly spends money to promote its stories on the social media platform. But Newsmax’s $25,000 expenditure for its piece touting the Trump endorsement in the local race stood out, given that it was the only of the cable outfit’s 54 ad buys last month that targeted a single state — New York — leading up to the city’s June 22 primary election. Newsmax’s paid promotion for its story about Fossella, a former City Council and Congress member who once hosted a political reality show on the channel, doesn’t need to be reported to the city Campaign Finance Board, an agency spokesperson said. “It’s such a big loophole to drive through,” said Richard Flanagan, a professor of political science at CUNY’s College of Staten Island. “But it sure is funny business, that’s for sure.” Fossella, who has largely stayed out of the public spotlight over the past decade, stunned the Staten Island GOP on Tuesday when absentee ballots gave…
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