Decisive victory for home rule

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There it is on Page 1 today in The Record of Woodland Park -- a huge victory for home rule. The Christie administration is reversing its stance on merging school districts. The proposal would have eliminated 250 of the state's 600 districts at an average savings of 3 percent to 6 percent of a district's budget.


Preening Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin was too busy shopping for clothes to write an editorial taking Governor Christie to task for squandering this huge savings opportunity. But he did have enough time to craft a highly favorable column about Christie on A-23 today. With Doblin in the governor's corner, the paper compromises its objectivity and credibility. (Just a couple of months ago, Doblin was screaming bloody murder when Christie's state aid cuts boosted the editor's train fare.)


How is it that Staff Writer Pat Alex can handle this big education and home-rule story, with the assistance of one other reporter, while Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado needs much more assistance on stories about Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa? Alvarado doesn't even have a hand in today's Zisa story, but head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes needed four other reporters to get it onto the Local front. (Zisa and a detective have been suspended without pay.)


Meanwhile, Hackensack residents have to rely on the weekly Hackensack Chronicle -- not Alvarado -- for details of the city's proposed budget, which could raise taxes 7.5 percent. The weekly today reports on a City Council budget meeting 10 days ago. (The weekly paper is delivered with The Record to subscribers in Hackensack on Fridays, so why is a second copy thrown in driveways?)


The 38-day-old oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico -- the nation's worst ever -- finally makes it to Page 1 today, but this is clearly too big a story for The Record staff -- as was Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The paper has been relying on the wire services for all of its coverage of BP's fumbling attempts to stop the gushing oil, and Doblin's editorial page hasn't been of much help to readers. Why hasn't he condemned the company for apparently hiding the magnitude of the leak?


Where are the clueless editors? Courthouse reporters could be assigned to give readers a preview of the legal battles that lie ahead on the liability of BP and the operator of the drilling platform for negligence. You know the families of the 11 dead oil workers will be suing for hundreds of millions of dollars, as will commercial fishermen, state and federal governments, and others. Could the companies be charged with criminally negligent homicide? Is there any precedent for barring a foreign-owned company from doing business in the U.S.?

Why don't the editors get off their lardy asses instead of always following the wire services' lead?