NY publisher hires Exponent bosses to add PA politics

City&StateNY.com owner Tom Allon says he has hired two top former Jewish Exponent managers to run his company's planned Pennsylvania "daily news compilation," put out a monthly Pennsylvania politics magazine and organize Philadelphia-focused public-policy events ("Rising Stars," "State of the City," "On Technology", that kind of thing).

City&StatePA will be led by David Alpher, who had been publisher of the Exponent, and Greg Salisbury, the Exponent's managing editor. (That paper laid off its local reporting staff last year.) In a statement, Alpher promised to "inject much-needed vigor to the Philadelphia/Harrisburg political coverage." 

Who reads this stuff? Contractors, vendors, public workers, office seekers: "Their daily First Read newsletter, with the daily schedule (for government events in New York), is basically required reading for anyone with a stake in civic life," David Galarza, communications specialist at the Civil Service Employees Association, a New York public-sector labor union, told me.

As I reported in December, City&State boss Allon  (former owner of Manhattan Media, publisher of the West Side Spirit newspaper) has been in talks with former Philadelphia City Councilman James Tayoun about purchasing Tayoun's Public Record, a 15-person weekly which focuses on city and state government and politics. But the two publishers have not announced a deal. "We welcome them. There's so much interest in politics now. We don't mind sharing the wealth," Tayoun told me today. The Public Record claims 6,000+ weekly subscribers, plus 50,000-70,000 online hits a week.

City & State's Pennsylvania magazine, to launch in April, will offer "creative and in-depth looks at the top stories impacting both the city of Philadelphia and state of Pennsylvania," Allon (pronounced aa-LAN) said in a statement.  He promised "thoughtful and balanced" coverage of "Pennsylvania's rich and passionate political landscape in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh."

Allon is expanding his regional franchise as Politico, which built a popular national online political news operation, threatens to fragment. "I am confident we will be able to bring our model to Pennsylvania, making First Read PA a part of elected readers' morning routine," said Michael Johnson, City & State editorial director.

Does Philadelphia, does Pennsylvania, need more political coverage? "First I've heard of this," says Larry Ceisler, an owner of PoliticsPA, which he proprietarily calls "the premier political news website in the Commonwealth."

Adds Ceisler: "Obviously, with the cutbacks in traditional media, we have seen the desire for political news grow at PoliticsPA." He called his own site "the go-to source for elected officials, influential leaders, as well as those with an interest in public affairs," and claimed audience and revenues are rising. "It is not surprising that another group would want to try to enter the space. I only wonder what took so long."