Stephen Borg is fingered as 'the real problem'

Publisher Stephen A. Borg in an undated image from a Web site called "Who Needs Newspapers?"

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Here is an eye-opening comment from an anonymous source about Publisher Stephen A. Borg, who just fired Editor Francis "Frank" Scandale:

"[Frank] Scandale may have been spineless and a poor leader. But you should know that the real problem at The Record is [Publisher] Stephen Borg, who personally dictates what beats the paper will cover, which stories will be written and how they will be written. 

 "Every important story is personally word edited by Borg. Any story that affects his wealthy friends is killed. 

"Even as we speak, Bergen County Executive Kathe Donovan is asking local officials to approve potentially risky PILOT bonds to finance the Xanadu shopping mall.  

"The plan is being pushed by her former campaign strategist, a lobbyist named Alan C. Marcus. At the same time Marcus is advising Donovan about this huge and costly project he is also working as a paid consultant for Triple Five, the developer who is now behind the Xanadu mall and stands to benefit if Donovan approves the financing scheme. 

"A conflict of interest? In Stephen Borg's world, Marcus' involvement on both ends of this deal is not even worth a story. I am told by sources at The Record that Marcus talks on an almost daily basis with the Borg family and had this story killed. 

"Marcus was also instrumental in pushing county reporter Mike Gartland off the county beat because Gartland tried to write stories exploring Donovan's policies, including the fact that Marcus' role in controlling access to the new executive. 

"Gartland, an extraordinary reporter, has now quit and is headed for the NY Post. The Record may have many problems, but none is more frightening than a publisher whose willful ignorance and bullyism has frozen the staff and instilled terror in editors whose daily decisions are overriden."