North Jersey's 'Frankenstorm' hit a year ago

An MTA crew covers subway ventilation grates in lower Manhattan on Friday in anticipation of flooding from Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit early next week.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Friday's screaming front-page headline -- "'Frankenstorm' sets sights on New Jersey" -- was deja vu all over again for readers of The Record.

Who could forget the poor coverage of last year's 'Frankenstorm' -- a freak snowstorm -- two days before Halloween by the Woodland Park daily's own "Frankeneditor," Francis "Frank" Scandale.

That was followed on Halloween by Publisher Stephen A. Borg's long-overdue, trick-or-treat firing of Scandale -- even though lazy head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes was directly responsible for what largely amounted to covering the 2011 storm by telephone.

The story did little to convey the extent of the damage throughout the region, the abysmal lack of preparation by utility companies and the many days residents would be without power.

Veteran staffers recalled the irony:

Not long after Scandale left Denver and took over the Hackensack newsroom in the winter of 2001, he complained loudly about the local assignment desk's poor coverage of the first snowstorm of his tenure.

You're in Jersey now

Friday's Page 1 also reminded readers that Scandale's successor, Editor Marty Gottlieb, forgets he no longer works at The New York Times.

The front-page above the fold not devoted to the storm is filled with two sensational crime stories from New York, instead of news relevant to North Jersey.

Below that, another story reports that Governor Christie's salary cap on schools superintendents has been upheld by a state appeals court (A-1 on Friday).

Now may be a good time for the lazy assignment editors, including Deputy Assignment Flunky Dan Sforza, to explore why Christie hasn't imposed the same cap on local police chiefs, many of whom make more than his $175,000 salary.

Put Bergen on A-1

A far better story for Page 1 would have been the civil suit brought on behalf of a man who was left quadriplegic after a 2006 crash on one of Bergen County's antiquated roads (Friday's Local front).

The county's congested and dangerous road system is an issue that has been largely neglected by Road Warrior John Cichowski, who got lost in the Lodi MVC office in late 2003 and hasn't been seen since.

Instead of Hackensack news, Staff Writer Stephanie Akin -- the so-called Hackensack reporter -- wrote about higher education on Friday's Local front.

Paper glorifies GOP

The Record today and Friday continues the inordinate amount of coverage being given to two Republican congressional candidates, Rep. Scott Garrett of Wantage and Shmuley Boteach, the Englewood rabbi and publicity monger who gives Jews a bad name.

Everyone agrees that campaign financing is corrupt, but Gottlieb today seems to be devoting more and more column inches to Garrett and Boteach in proportion to all the poisoned contributions they are distributing or collecting.

It's no surprise Garrett is doling out checks to like-minded radical conservatives across the country (A-1) or that Boteach got financial support from Dr. Mehmet Oz, another publicity hungry horse's ass (L-1).

Is the paper's message that voters should back candidates like these who are beholden to special interests?

Ignoring Gussen

Meanwhile, there has been scant mention of Adam Gussen, Teaneck's deputy mayor and the Democratic candidate who is opposing Garrett in the 5th Congressional District, which includes 44 towns in Bergen County.

I guess Gussen, who appears to have turned down campaign money from special interests, can't "buy" coverage in The Record.

Readers haven't forgotten the long, flattering profile of Garrett all over the cover of the new Signature section in September or that a profile of Gussen hasn't been forthcoming.

So much for equal time from Gottlieb and Signature editor Alan Finder, one of his pals from The Times.

Koreans v. Japanese

Also on Saturday, the A-1 story on desecration of a Palisades Park memorial to Korean "comfort women" has readers wondering why Sykes and Sforza ignored tensions between North Jersey's Japanese and Korean communities in the past decade.

More Catholic values

Today's paper includes a special section on today's "Clash of The Titans" -- a football game between two Cathlolic high schools.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Newark has ordered more than 1,000 reprints for distribution to parish priests enamored of the young athletes from Don Bosco and Bergen Catholic.  

Time for Ung to go

In Friday's Better Living, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung continues to lose credibility with readers by choosing an artery clogging dessert as "the most memorable [dish] of my two dinners" at Cafe 37 in Ridgewood (BL-18 and 19).

She could have praised Chef Cesar Sotomayor for the abundance of seafood he offers or that he uses naturally raised Berkshire pork in place of the low-quality meat served in many other fine-dining restaurants.

Instead, she finds fault with seafood dishes that lack "flavor," apparently unaware that a splash of fresh lemon or lime juice -- well-known salt substitutes -- is all they needed.


When is Ung going to join Scandale on the scrap heap of journalism history?