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A photo on page six of today's Daily News shows publisher Tracy Rafter sharing a laugh with—why, it's Daily News über-advertiser Bert Boeckmann. The Galpin Ford meister is thought to be the paper's largest financial supporter, and certainly he gets treated like it. Every so often a DN reporter is sent to do a softball feature on him, such as the one last August that nailed Boeckmann as "a tireless philanthropist, political potentate and very fierce competitor." In addition to being a big ad buyer, Boeckmann helped bankroll the Valley secession effort the Daily News championed in 2002 and was revealed in 1998 to be an early secret funder of the breakway attempt—along with the business side of the Daily News.
In other Boeckmann news: Ben Stiller is on the cover of this month's Valley magazine, the title founded, published and edited by Boeckmann's wife Jane.