Where is that editorial thunder?

Image by marco sickofgoodbyes via Flickr

The lead article in The Record of Woodland Park today might make you question the accuracy of the byline. Is it Staff Writer John Reitmeyer or John Wrongmeyer?


The story -- on the possible shutdown of state government -- reviews Republican Governor Christie's and the Legislature's positions on budget cuts and tax hikes, but completely ignores Christie's refusal to raise the low gasoline tax. Even a one-cent hike would generate millions for roads, bridges and mass transit -- and, more importantly, allow the governor to restore cuts in other areas.


But the reporter doesn't bring it up, and Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin can't be torn away from preening in front of the mirror to thunder editorially about the need for more revenue from the gas tax. Unfortunately, clothes horse Doblin has already made it clear he sides with Christie on not raising taxes on the Borgs and the state's other millionaires. No "shared sacrifice" for the fat cats.


The gushing oil in the Gulf is on Page 1 for a second day in a row, but The Record clearly is not ready to commit its own staff to assessing the magnitude of the damage to the fishing industry, beaches and so forth, and the outlook for the future. (There was a story in Business the other day on the impact of the spill on New Jersey seafood distributors by Staff Writer Hugh Morley.)


The third story on A-1 -- about an autistic man in Fair Lawn -- continues the paper's age-ism editorial policy of not covering Alzheimer's disease to anywhere near the same extent as autism. (Counting this story, Staff Writer Stephanie Akin has four bylines in the paper today from Fair Lawn or Saddle Brook. Some of her colleagues go a week or longer without one byline.)

The editors have already tired of the hunt for a reputed drug kingpin and gun runner in Jamaica. I had to ask another customer in a Jamaican restaurant in Hackensack about the latest news, which doesn't appear in the paper today. Nor were the lazy editors interested in what Jamaicans in North Jersey have to say about their island's violent reputation.


Local leads with yet another lawsuit against suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa. The story, by Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado, is way too long, in view of how little other news about the city appears in the former Hackensack daily. I also wonder why The Record was completely in the dark about allegations that are at least five to six years old -- especially those relating to Zisa's campaigns for the Assembly. 

Was head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minions sleeping off their long lunches at their computers?


Two stories on Englewood appear under the byline of Staff Writer Joseph Ax and not Giovanna Fabiano, who was covering that city and Leonia. Ax is, or was, the Teaneck reporter. Karen Sudol, the Tenafly reporter, also wrote an Englewood story the other day. Sykes will pull a reporter off his or her beat at the drop of a hat -- a disservice to readers who look in vain for coverage of their towns.

(Photo: Kingston, Jamaica.)