Christie kowtows to his new bosses

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

"You talking to me?"

You can almost hear the belly laughs from 500 "business leaders" after Governor Christie promised he would never "disrespect" them.


Was this a gathering of the Corleone clan in Woodcliff Lake on Friday or merely the governor's new bosses, all members of the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey? 


In the lead story on The Record's Business page today, Christie tells members of his well-off audience they don't have to worry about environmental regulation.


The story doesn't say how many of the companies at the annual meeting have contributed to Christie's war chest.


Rich wage battle


When is Christie going to promise public employees, cops, teachers, seniors, women and low-income families that he won't disrespect them, either? 


Never.  The GOP bully, in league with Republicans in state houses and Congress, is waging open warfare for wealthy business owners like Publisher Stephen A. Borg against the middle and working classes -- a story The Record ignores.


Look at today's front page. Editor Francis Scandale lobs soft news to help readers ease into the weekend. 


A story about new citizens sounds like every other naturalization story the paper has carried in the past two decades. The focus should have been on the soldiers and sailors who put their lives on the line before they became citizens.


In the off-lead position, an update on a $140 million Ponzi scheme is so poorly edited by an assignment editor and the news copy desk it reports three times on the front page alone that James Nicholson was sentenced to prison:

1. "A federal judge sent James Nicholson away to prison for 40 years."
2. "A call to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Sullivan, who sentenced Nicholson...."
3. "Sullivan's court, where Nicholson was prosecuted, pleaded guilty and was sentenced."

More stale news

In head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, the byline of Hackensack reporter Stephanie Akin hasn't appeared for about two weeks.


An update on dismissal of ethics charges against a school board member carries the byline of the old Hackensack reporter, Monsy Alvarado (L-1).


The biggest element on the Local front -- about an eagle's nest in Ridgefield Park -- carries the byline of the Teaneck reporter. 


But the focus -- the return of eagles as a sign of a cleaner environment -- is really old news. Ignoring that, Sykes' assignment desk blew up a minor story into a cover story out of its usual sheer desperation.


The lead story on L-1 is another in a series on "the ongoing exploration into dispatch services" in Washington Township -- in other words, no news here.


The fourth story on L-1 is more coverage of an election nobody cares about. 


Another great job by Sykes and her lazy minions.