Newsom Has Friends at “Benefit”Paul Hogarthbyline‚ Feb. 02‚ 2007Few had heard of Benefit magazine until January 31st, when staff reporter Ruby Rippey-Tourk confessed to her husband that she had an affair with Mayor Gavin Newsom. After leaving the Mayor’s Office last year, Rippey-Tourk went to work for Benefit – a glossy periodical about charitable giving by San Francisco’s cultural elite. Edited by Newsom ally Tim Gaskin, the magazine was founded a year before his re-election – with the apparent purpose to give him positive press coverage and jobs for his ex-girlfriends. The first issue of Benefit had a front-page puff piece on Newsom (calling him the “Charity Kid”), while Rippey-Tourk and Newsom’s 20-year-old ex-girlfriend Brittanie Mountz have both secured employment at the magazine. The magazine has also promoted the public image of CitiApartments, the notorious San Francisco landlord currently being sued by the City Attorney over its legal violations against tenants... |