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| Commuters lining up to board NJ Transit buses in Manhattan. The Record ignores crowding on trains and buses as it helps Governor Christie wage war on state workers. |
Marty Gottlieb is listed as editor on The Record's Editorial Page, but Governor Christie appears to be calling the shots on coverage of "the latest in a stream of aggressive changes aimed directly at state workers" (Page 1).
Cutting out free rides for 1,800 non-union employees and 700 non-union retirees at NJ Transit, the state's mass-transit agency, saves a mere pittance -- $1.6 million -- but Christie's move already has generated two Page 1 stories, two Road Warrior columns and a favorable editorial.
Only half the story
But the savings are exaggerated, because the 700 retirees can take advantage of senior bus and rail fares that cut 50% or more off the regular price.
As usual with the assignment desk run by Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, that crucial bit of information is missing.
And no context is provided as the paper helps Christie deflect attention from the free ride he is giving small businesses and millionaires, despite rising unemployment and declining state revenue.
Does it ease traffic?
How many transit workers and retirees used the free transit passes instead of their cars to commute, thus conserving resources and cutting down on congestion and pollution?
How many North Jersey and New York companies subsidize or pay the tolls and parking expenses of their workers or give them free limo rides after hours?
Don't state workers, especially those at the mass-transit agency, deserve a commuting benefit?
Christie's cronies
More importantly, what are the perks enjoyed by all of Christie's former associates in the U.S. Attorney's Office, an unknown number of whom have cushy, high-paying jobs in his administration or at the Port Authority?
Reporter in Cuba
Also on the front page today, the byline of Staff Writer Shawn Boburg appears over a Cuba dateline -- a supreme waste of time given readers' low interest in the trial of 9/11 "terror suspects."
Even Editor Liz Houlton's dysfunctional copy desk is bored with the story, producing similar A-1 headlines two days in a row:
"Inside look at terror trial" (Monday)
"Quick look at terror suspects" (Tuesday)
Big local news
In Local today, the big Hackensack news is the arrest of four people after a house party (L-3).
The section does contain a rare expanded obituary for an African-American, Mel Henderson, an athlete, educator and councilman in Hackensack, Englewood and Teaneck (L-6).
The best photo Sykes and Sforza could come up with for the front is another in an endless series of rollover accidents (L-1).
As usual, the copy desk makes no attempt to include the cause of the accident in the caption. It says a woman was injured when the "car she was driving rolled over ...."
Revenue is welcome
Monday's Local front reported more belly-aching by drivers who were caught on camera and fined for running red lights or not stopping fully before making a right turn on red (L-1).
Palisades Park police are quoted as saying two red-light cameras have cut collisions and violations, as well as generating $2.1 million in fines since August 2011.
Given expensive home-rule governments, any new source of revenue is welcome.
Maybe, when a lot more cameras are installed, the extra money will be used to trim high property taxes.
Even if that isn't the case, the red-light cameras should slow down some of the maniacs out there.
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