Tuesday, September 10, 2013

More P.R. for the worst N.J. governor ever

Summit Avenue and Passaic Street in Hackensack at 8:19 a.m. this morning.


By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Editor Marty Gottlieb and his gang of political writers at The Record have already written off challenger Barbara Buono in November's gubernatorial election.

The onetime Paris-based international editor for The New York Times  loves delving into the past and trying to predict the future -- anything to avoid confronting the sorry mess Governor Christie has made in New Jersey.

Crystal-ball column

Today's Page 1 political column portraying Christie as a rabid sports fan leaves out any discussion of state issues in favor of grooming the GOP bully for a presidential bid in 2016.

Columnist Charles Stile tries hard, but he's not much of a writer.

His last paragraph only fortifies the image of Christie as an overweight fan whose favorite foods are pizza and beer:

"Poverty [in New Jersey] is a real policy issue and it just might become part of the campaign debate. But for now, Christie is rolling down a different playing field [italics added]."

"Rolling" -- like the rotund or roly-poly politician he is? 

"Marching" down a field would have suited Stile's shameless P.R. piece much better.

'Apology' to Franklin

Two corrections appear on A-2 today, including Production Editor Liz Houlton's reluctant acknowledgement that she treated photographer Thomas E. Franklin like shit on Saturday.

The correction includes the full last sentence of a Saturday story on Franklin's iconic 9/11 photo -- a quote from him -- that was missing a few words:

"It's not about a missing flag. It's about how this [flag-raising] picture resonated with people."

And wouldn't you know the Franklin correction itself contains mistakes, typical of Houlton, the six-figure "Queen of Errors."

The correction includes only two sentences, not "the last paragraph," and the two sentences weren't written with a semicolon, as they are on A-2 today.

More GOP P.R.

More Christie public relations appear on A-10:

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin's editorial on growing poverty in New Jersey completely avoids assigning any blame to Christie's mean-spirited budgets or his insatiable appetite for vetoing bills designed to help the middle and working classes.

In fact, the governor's name is not even mentioned.

On the facing page, an opinion piece reports New Jersey's minimum wage has increased only 10 cents in the last six years (A-11).

The piece -- by Charles N. Hall Jr., chairman of Working Families United for New Jersey -- expresses disappointment with Record Columnist Brigid Harrison's detailed political focus on the Nov. 5 ballot proposal to raise the minimum to $8.25 an hour from $7.25.

Hall says: Where is the human focus on how people can make ends meet?

More pole vaults

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' comprehensive print and photo coverage of the region's utility poles continues today on the Local front (L-1).

More than 30 wealthy Ridgewood residents -- who have no other worries in their pampered lives -- showed up to complain to the BPU about the installation of taller poles "that soar above the treetops."

Meanwhile, Local hasn't had any news about Hackensack or its schools since Sept. 3.

Second look

A concerned reader sent another e-mail to Gottlieb and management:

"In his Sunday column, the supposed know-it-all Road Warrior shows he knows nothing about human behavior and common decency regarding current tipping practices for gas station attendants.
"The Road Warrior admits he thought it would be a universal emphatic No whether anybody still tips.

"How could it be a universal emphatic No when the Road Warrior already reported in his Aug. 28 column that 1 person admitted to tipping station attendants?"

See the full e-mail on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Another frivolous Road Warrior column 


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