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| The Feds may withhold aid to NJ Transit and apply it to the state's $271 million debt. |
Page 1 and Page A-4 of The Record of Woodland Park today contain more really bad news about Governor Christie's management of state finances.
The Republican bully is not only being hit up for $271 million the Feds say they spent before the governor killed the Hudson River tunnel project (A-1), but now, it seems, New Jersey blew another application for federal education aid.
Last time, it was $400 million in "Race to the Top" funds. This time, the state won't get $14 million to help charter schools with start-up costs.
And just on Monday, The Record's front page painted such a rosy picture of how charter schools could blossom under the encouragement and support of the Christie administration.
Managing the news
Christie has turned his back on a millionaires' tax or raising the low gasoline tax to fatten the state's bottom line -- decisions that have critics questioning his ability to manage the state's fiscal crisis. But he hasn't lost his ability to manage the news.
Staff Writer Karen Rouse apparently doesn't have the muscle to get any intelligent comment from the governor's spokesman and chief spin doctor, Michael Drewniak, on this enormous $271 million debt. She couldn't even get anything from NJ Transit, which referred her to the Governor's Office.
Rouse's story comes six days after the $271 million demand letter was sent to the state mass-transit agency. But the amount of the bill has been known since Nov. 28.
It's only in the last paragraph readers learn Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., is trying to get the debt reduced after what his spokesman calls Christie's "disastrous decision" to kill a project that would have doubled the number of NJ Transit trains into Manhattan.
The state's finances are so bad, another Page 1 story reports, $150 million in promised aid was never sent to the New Jersey Cord Blood Bank in Parmaus.
Desperate editors
Editor Francis Scandale goes all artsy-fartsy on us today, with a huge Page 1 photo of a "lost" Picasso. This story is of so little interest to North Jersey, the stand-alone photo and caption must surely be the act of a desperate man, and a slap in the face to the paper's talented photographers.
Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section today has little in the way of municipal news, and nothing from Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood. But you'll find stories about Verona's water, a fire in Rockaway Township, where the paper is printed; and Bergen Community College.
In Better Living, food news consists of a single, wire-service recipe. Monday's section also had a single, wire-service recipe.
I like how they got rid of one worthless food edited just to bring in another who does even less work. Have you seen the blog? Laughable. But she's the publisher's favorite.
ReplyDeleteI think they've synergized the jobs of food editor at (201) magazine and The Record, and now Susan Leigh Sherrill does both.
ReplyDeleteThis probably allowed Publisher Stephen A. Borg to eliminate the $71,000 salary Bill Pitcher received, and apply it to paying off the $3.65 million company mortgage on his house.
One can only speculate on why Borg chose Sherrill for The Record position. Maybe it's one airhead giving the nod to another airhead.
After all, Borg eliminated the Food section in 2006.
Why isnt anyone reporting on Mac's sexual harrasment case in The Record? Or will the news room be fired if they report on or speak about the legally filed news? Or do they need to bring DeMarco back to get the job done?
ReplyDeleteSLS was previously editor of The Ridgewood News; from there, she went on to work for (201) Magazine. She's married to Ted "Hockey hair" Axelrod.
ReplyDeleteI reported all that about Susan Sherrill when she was named food editor of The Record.
ReplyDeleteBut I'd like confirmation she took The Record job without any additional salary above what she was getting at (201) magazine.
How come you dont answer Mac's sex harrasment comment? No Opinion?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone seriously believe The Record is going to report allegations in a lawsuit by a former employee, such as the sex-harassment charges filed by an Englewood woman?
ReplyDeleteWhen has the paper ever reported on lawsuits filed by employees or former employees?
This is no longer the newspaper that reported Mac's DWI arrest more than 20 years ago or whenever it was.
Has Jerry Demarco reported on Mac's case on his website? Didn't think so.
ReplyDeleteNo. Nor has he commented on this blog in a long time.
ReplyDeleteI think I know why, but I am not at liberty to say.
Oh go ahead, Victor: Say.
ReplyDeleteI'd be divulging information sent to me in e-mails, with no expectation that it would be made public. So, no.
ReplyDeleteVery good, Vic, don't divulge. Somebody could be trying to bait you into breaking a confidence, perhaps in an actionable way.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I agree.
ReplyDeleteWhy dont you just send reporters at The Star Ledger your Blog so they can report on NJMG news?
ReplyDeleteWhats the story on this DeMarco guy? Does he work at The Record? Or was he fired by "THE FAMILY"? Or did they word it in another way? Pursue other interests etc...blah..blah.whos covering for who? what? where? when? and why?
ReplyDeleteInquiring minds want to know.
The Record and The Star-Ledger have a cooperative news-gathering agreement. Haven't you noticed all the Star-Ledger stories in The Record? Newspapers and their editors protect each other; it's unlikely the Newark paper would report anything critical about The Record.
ReplyDeleteJerry DeMarco was breaking news editor for northjersey.com before he left The Record, and for many years before that, he was Law & Order editor on The Record's assignment desk under Deirdre Sykes.
You'll have to ask someone else about the reasons he left. I was long gone before his departure. But you might want to look at some of the Eye on The Record posts from earlier this year in which DeMarco commented on the blog, the editors and other issues.