Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Partisan politics -- in death as in life

The Great Seal of the State of New Jersey.
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Would Governor Christie have made such a big deal if a Democratic lawmaker died on Monday night in a State House bathroom?


I was surprised to hear Governor Christie postponed his State of the State address to the Legislature on Tuesday and even more surprised by the lavish coverage in The Record of his 9-minute eulogy for Republican Minority Leader Alex DeCroce.


DeCroce and Christie served together years ago on the Morris County Freeholder Board, and the senior Republican in the Assembly presumably spearheaded the GOP governor's mean-spirited budget cuts in 2010 and 2011.


Would Christie have postponed the business of state if a Democratic legislator died?


The Record's coverage is ridiculous, especially the feature-like first paragraph of the lead story on Page 1: "The first day of a new legislative term is traditionally filled with ceremony and festivity ...."


No cause of death


Give me a break. The reporting is awful, with the stories failing to list a cause of death for the 75-year-old DeCroce, who collapsed in a State House bathroom on Monday night.


Columnist Charles Stile actually has the balls, in a second A-1 piece, to call the State of the State address a "triumphant moment" for Christie, ignoring all the pain the governor has visited on the middle class in New Jersey.


More errors


An embarrassing correction on A-2 today is the latest in a string from the lazy local assignment desk and the news copy desk: There were three corrections on Tuesday and two on Monday, and last week, three on Friday and three on Thursday.


When you consider that many errors go uncorrected, you can only assume accuracy is no longer a priority at the Woodland Park daily under interim Editor Douglas Clancy, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Production Editor Liz Houlton.


Teen theme


On Sykes' Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski sounds a favorite theme: teen driving deaths (L-1). Readers of the column die silently.


Judging from Hackensack news, the city is at a standstill. Staff Writer Stephanie Akin has yet another story about police officer lawsuits against suspended Chief Ken Zisa (L-1).


Six related stories have run since Dec. 3.


  
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