Christie columnist perpetuates bully's middle-class myth

Black cars and limousines bringing top athletes, celebrities and other guests to the launch party for The Players' Tribune, an online site published by Derek Jeter, late Saturday night on West 26th Street, near 12th Avenue, not far from where CBS newsman Bob Simon was killed after his speeding Lincoln Town Car limo crashed last Wednesday. Today, The Record's so-called commuting columnist tackles auto safety and Simon's death, posing a speculative, "What if"?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The real danger of Staff Writer Charles Stile's flattering columns on Governor Christie is that nine times out of 10 they are played on Page 1 amid "objective" news stories, but never labeled "Opinion," a sure way to mislead readers.

Today, many familiar with Christie's multiple vetoes of a tax surcharge on millionaires and raising the minimum wage surely threw up their breakfasts when they came to this sentence on the questionable ethics of his corporate-sponsored travel:

"The travel flap undercuts his image as an ordinary Jersey guy with middle-class tastes and ambitions" (A-1).

To avoid being a laughing stock, Stile needs to say in his first sentence what he has never said: 

Christie's "brand" and his elaborate public relations campaigns are a complete sham as he pursues his White house dreams and leaves New Jersey in shambles.

Demonizing Paterson

The front page today is dominated by the first of a three-part series, "IN HEROIN'S GRIP," a second installment of Staff Writer Rebecca D. O'Brien's untiring coverage of the role of Silk City in a suburban epidemic (A-1, A-8 and A-9).

The demonizing of Paterson began under the last editor, Francis "Frank" Scandale, who actually published a map showing readers where they could buy drugs in the city.

I just wonder how many readers are going to get through all three parts, which appear to be another attempt by Editor Marty Gottlieb to win a Pulitzer Prize.

The Record supplements this one-dimensional portrayal of the city almost daily with stories about official corruption, failing schools and unbridled gun violence.

Today, the introductory paragraphs invoke "the fatal shootings of 12-year-old Genesis Rincon in July and 14-year-old Nazareh Bugg in late September."

Yet, I have never seen The Record go after the Police Department, led for many years by a white police chief, for its apparent inability or unwillingness to stop crime perpetrated mostly against minority residents.

Slum landlords and banks that red line are other subjects the Woodland Park daily won't touch.

Air bags, windbags 

Despite Road Warrior John Cichowski's hand-wringing over the lack of rear curtain air bags in Bob Simon's limo, the CBS newsman's failure to buckle up is probably what led to his fatal injuries last Wednesday on 12th Avenue and 30th Street in Manhattan (L-1).

Cichowski assigns blame for unsafe limos on just about everyone but Ford Motor Co. and other manufacturers, who fight government-mandated safety improvements tooth and nail to avoid reducing their profits.

Unbelted in the back seat, Simon was hurled forward when his speeding limo struck unmovable steel stanchions, suffering "blunt-force injuries to his head, torso and extremities," according to the medical examiner.

Side curtain air bags likely wouldn't have stopped Simon from being thrown forward into the front seat, dashboard and windshield at the same high speed the limo was traveling before its sudden deceleration.

'Where am I?'

In his Feb. 8 column, Cichowski repeated the same mistake he published on Aug. 10, 2014, claiming a Bergen Avenue house next to Route 17 in Waldwick is five blocks south of another house, when it is really five blocks north.

The error was corrected last year by the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"In his Feb. 8 column, the forgetful Road Warrior repeated the same clueless nonsense that I previously corrected with his Aug. 10, 2014, column.

"Road Warrior indicated that a Bergen Avenue crash accident in Waldwick was five blocks south of another resident’s house on Dora Avenue.

"Bergen Avenue is five blocks north of Dora Avenue.

"He indicated the Waldwick resident was worried her corner house was in “exactly the same position” as the Bergen Avenue corner property that sustained damage from the Route 17 accident.

"The Dora Avenue home is set back at least 50 feet further from the main traffic lanes of Route 17 than the Bergen Avenue home.

"It does not border the southbound side of Route 17, like the Bergen Ave. home, since there is an entire exit ramp road to Sheridan Avenue between the Dora Avenue home and Route 17."

See: Clueless Road Warrior forgets past errors


Is that kosher?

It's just like Staff Writer Elisa Ung to focus on the 65 bottles and 12 tap beers available at Teaneck Doghouse, a kosher sports bar and restaurant (The Corner Table column, BL-1).

Ung is unwilling the uncover what I call the kosher-food scam, charging much higher prices for -- in this case --  beef hot dogs, burgers and sausage egg rolls, but not delivering meat that has been raised naturally.