The 3,000th guilty verdict on home rule?

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Why is it such a big deal that a Yankee shortstop, who is paid an obscene amount of money, might get his 3,000th hit soon?  He's not the first, is he?

With 566 municipalities, New Jersey potentially has thousands upon thousands of officials with their hands out, but this isn't news, even when another politician is convicted of corruption.


Is the verdict against ex-Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, on the front page of The Record today, the 3,000th time a town official has been convicted in the state?


Or is the story on Derek Jeter the 3,000th time Staff Writer John Brennan has talked Editor Francis Scandale into running his nonsense on Page 1?


They love home rule


Is this the 3,000th edition under Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes that fails to expose North Jersey's deeply flawed home-ruled system of government, with its ruinously expensively duplication and potential for corruption?


Is this the 3,000th time readers have found far more relevant stories inside the paper than outside? 


Paperless prescriptions? Gee-whiz. Of course, a baby-making machine like Zeesy Grossbaum would love them (A-1).


Inside news


Page A-2 carries another embarrassing correction, this one fixing a story that ran more than two weeks ago.


A state crackdown on steroid abuse among cops and firefighters should be front page news (A-3), and where is the list of the towns where "at least 248" of them work? 


Michael Drewniak, Governor Christie's spin doctor, blasts Democrats for scheduling hearings on all the mean-spirited cuts to social programs and aid to  poor cities (A-3), deliberately obscuring Christie's second veto of the millionaires tax.


Bus rationing


An editorial on A-10 cheers plans to refurbish and expand the dingy George Washington Bridge Bus Station, but bemoans the sad state of bus transportation -- a subject the paper's own reporters avoid at all costs.


On the front of Local, a poll reports the majority of drivers favor the use of red-light cameras to cut traffic deaths and raise revenue in Hackensack and other towns -- interesting in light of Road Warrior John Cichowski's negative columns about them.


Fire near Borgs


The biggest news about Englewood uncovered by the assignment desk is an arson fire at the million-dollar home of a former mayor (L-1) -- not far from the East Hill manse of Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg and the private high school attended by his spoiled son, Publisher Stephen A. Borg. 


Was the fire set by someone forced to attend the city's segregated schools while Donald Aronson was mayor from 1989-97?


Oh, and the opening of a city pool has been delayed for a week (L-6).