Christie gets us in deep doo-doo

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Governor Christie's stupid financial decisions make him the state turkey this year.

Holy NJ Transhit! 

The Feds are starting to play hardball with Governor Christie, who unilaterally killed the bistate Hudson River train tunnels, forgoing $3 billion in aid. Now, federal officials are demanding the state mass transit agency pay back $271 million already spent on the project -- plus interest and penalties.


You'd think the story, which leads Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park today, would have at least a quote from our motor-mouth governor or his spin doctor, spokesman Michael Drewniak, on where the state is going to get the money, but Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson and Staff Writer Karen Rouse aren't up to the task, and slink away with their tails between their legs.

You'd think there would be at least one sidebar on the possible ramifications: Will there be more drastic cuts in state transit aid and another fare hike; more big cuts elsewhere, such as in education, programs  for women, the elderly and poor schoolchildren, or anything else that benefits the middle and working classes?

You'd think there would be comment from Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, who opposed the tunnels because they wouldn't connect to Penn Station -- already a zoo -- ignoring how many cities in Europe have multiple rail hubs. 

Doblin is an effete snob, because he doesn't understand the interdependence of North Jersey and Manhattan. The real flaw of the tunnels was that they weren't going to deliver commuters to the East Side, but that wasn't enough to kill the project at a time when traffic is so congested and trains and buses into the city are so full that rush-hour commuters have to stand.

But there are no quotes from Christie, no sidebars, no editorial comment. 

More horse shit

In fact, a huge swath of the front page today is devoted to four bills passed by a state Senate committee "to save horse racing" -- real niche journalism by one of the paper's worst reporters and writers, John Brennan. If you really want to throw up, read his blogs on northjersey.com.


And is the trial of Elizabeth Smart's abductor eight years after her ordeal really A-1 news? A new low in front pages even for Editor Francis Scandale, whose desperate, tabloid ways show disdain for state and local news. 

Just look at the front-page refer: "Killed for no reason," about an 18-year-old man beaten to death on the streets of Douglasville, Ga. When have the many innocent victims shot and killed on the streets of Paterson gotten similar, prominent play? And what about the mother of two whose traffic death is buried on L-2 today?


Has anyone tallied how much Christie has cost us since he took office? He blew $400 million in federal education aid, he gave a royal blow job to wealthy residents such as the Borgs and let them off the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars by allowing the millionaire's tax to expire and he thumbed his nose at tens of millions more for road and mass-transit improvements by refusing to raise the low gasoline tax.


And he hasn't lowered property taxes -- the main plank of his successful campaign.

Sykes fails again

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section is another abomination. 

The L-1 patch story is on a fire at a Ridgewood school before classes started. There is no municipal news from Hackensack, Teaneck or many other towns, but there is L-3 filler on how many football fans took rail to the game in the Meadowlands.


Also on L-3 is a rare story about Hackensack schools, which will offer free math and language arts classes on Saturdays.


Another elderly driver (76 years old) apparently mistook the gas pedal for the brakes and slammed into a store in Wyckoff (L-6), but Sykes and one of her pets, Road Warrior Columnist John "Limp Chick" Cichowski, continue to refuse to launch a project on the challenges these seniors face and the help available to make them safer drivers.


 Feast or famine?

After two straight days of providing major coverage of cookies and "a twist on apple pies," Better Living goes in the opposite direction today, telling readers how to prepare a gluten-free, vegan Thanksgiving meal. 

But the story doesn't make sense. If four guests have issues with meat and other food, as Staff Writer Kara Yorio says, would everyone else have to give up turkey and other favorites? Probably not. It's more likely a few dishes would be prepared for them as part of a traditional meal.


The best thing about the story is the whimsical vegetable illustration by Staff Artist Lisa Mansolillo Dalie.


Today's front page from the Newseum