SAME OLD, SAME OLD

IT looks like Condé Nast’s cost cutting is extending to one of its most sacrosanct areas — the cover image that basically “sells” magazines to consumers as they peek out from newsstands. And the publishing house’s cost-cutting is again hitting the editor of its Portfolio magazine, Joanne Lipman, pretty hard.

In the May issue, Lipman is running a recycled photo of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the cover.

The shot was actually run as an inside photo in the June 2008 issue accompanying a Gary Weiss profile when Geithner was still the head of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and was playing a leading role in trying to calm the roiling financial marketplace.

“It’s certainly not the Condé Nast way,” said Steve Cohn, editor-in-chief of Media Industry Newsletter, which tracks the industry, of the latest Portfolio cover. “You’d think they’d have something a little fresher.”

“You’d think Geithner might also be a little grayer by now with all the stress he’s been under,” said Cohn. “I hope it’s not a case of belt tightening.”

The recycled Michael Edwards photo comes only one month after Lipman ran a stock photo of former Republican vice presidential candidate and current Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on the cover.

In MIN, Portfolio’s May ad page tally tumbled by about half from the same month a year earlier, according to MIN. In 2009 through May, with one fewer issue, it’s running 59.4 percent fewer ad pages than in 2008.

Lipman insisted the Geithner photo recycling is not a cost-cutting move at all. “We just felt this was a great close-up photo,” she said. “That’s why we used it.”

Keith J. Kelly

Charity change

Tough economic times are forcing charities to do more with less at big gala events.

Last week, for example, City Harvest and the Food Allergy Initiative pooled their re sources and used the same décor and event planner — and cut their décor budgets in half. The events, both held at Ci priani 42nd St., one a lunch and the other a dinner, used the same topiaries on the tables. Not only were they less expensive than flowers, they lasted well through both events.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the director of special projects at Vogue who chaired the FAI event, says the idea was a natural once she discovered her pal Heather Mnuchins‘ event was at the same place that evening.

“In these challenging times, nonprofits need to do everything they can to make every penny count,” Winston Wolkoff said. Sharing costs allows them to raise more for their charities, she added.

“The event budget for both events will be about $30,000, roughly half of what was spent last year,” said Raul Avila, the event planner. “Most budgets are half of what they used to be. That includes events with budgets of $800,000 last year that are now about $300,000.”

“Working with less is key now that less people can afford to go to all these parties all the time,” he added.

Even the Met’s storied Costume Institute Gala, which Avila is also planning, is hurting. Many big design houses like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent aren’t buying tables this year, just individual seats.

Numbers are estimated to be down from 750 seats last year to about 550 or 600 seats this year even though the Costume Institute Gala is considered to be the party of the year, Avila said.

Jennifer Gould Keil

GE absent

General Electric Co.’s Jeff Immelt appears to have thumbed his nose at the Obama administration by allowing his minions to decline an invitation to the White House for a lecture on abusive credit-card practices.

Sources tell The Post that President Barack Obama asked 14 credit-card issuers to attend Thursday’s high-profile thrashing, wherein White House officials admonished the plastic pushers for burdening consumers with arbitrary rate hikes and unexpected fees.

Thirteen of the 14 issuers showed up. GE, which runs the nation’s 10th largest credit-card company by number of cards issued, including running the credit-card business of Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, failed to send a single representative.

“We were unable to attend but we understand the President’s concerns and look forward to working with the administration, Congress and others on these important matters,” spokesman Stephen White said following multiple inquires about the no-show.

Kaja Whitehouse

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