Dan Halloran’s “Old Friend”

Has peace broken out between Republican Councilman/Congressional candidate Dan Halloran and the Queens Tribune?

You may recall that during Halloran’s 2009 Council campaign, his pagan religious beliefs were outed on the front page of the Tribune in a very over-the-top manner. (The headline: “Democratic Victor v. Pagan Lord.”) And not only did those beliefs become a major campaign issue — they were featured in mailers from Halloran’s opponent, Kevin Kim — but so did the Tribune’s ties with Multi-Media, a consulting firm run out of the same office.

The head of the small campaign firm, Michael Nussbaum, was working simultaneously as the associate publisher of the Tribune.

Not only was there that perceived conflict, but the Tribune was also founded by Queens Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman — who happened to be the boss of Kevin Kim, Halloran’s opponent.

Throughout that heated Council campaign, the Tribune’s editor, Michael Schenkler, maintained that Multi-Media’s ties to the paper had no role in its editorial coverage of the race — and for whatever its worth, Halloran and Schenkler seem to be trying to have friendlier relations this time around.

Here’s what Schenkler wrote yesterday on his Facebook wall, along with the photo posted here of he and Halloran:

This morning hung with my old friend who is a candidate for the 6th Congressional District. Dan’s got style and gumption. It’s going to be a fun race.

Schenkler also had some nice things to say about Halloran in a November column.

It says something that Halloran chose to stop by the Tribune on the first day after he announced his campaign. Still, it’s also worth noting that one of Halloran’s possible Democratic opponents, Grace Meng, has already retained Multi-Media as a campaign consultant. And Michael Tobman, who did press for Kim’s 2009 general election campaign, is also on board as Meng’s media consultant.

Halloran is now running for the seat long held by Ackerman — who is excepted to back Meng.

We’ll see what happens…