On Christie, Editor Gottlieb's head remains up his a-hole

This morning, Hackensack firefighters and police responded after a transformer exploded, knocking out power to homes on Euclid Avenue and other streets in the city's Fairmount section. Power was restored in about an hour.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's coverage of Governor Christie is more evidence that Editor Martin Gottlieb's New York Times state of mind is wrong for North Jersey readers.

Could today's front-page story be the first time in nearly five years The Record has reported the financial damage from Christie's cancellation of the Hudson River rail tunnels, ending what would have been the biggest expansion of mass transit in decades (A-1)?

And how did Columnist Charles Stile and his editors in Woodland Park miss Christie's serious misstatement of fact at Thursday night's GOP debate on when he was appointed U.S. attorney for New Jersey (Friday's A-1)?

This embarrassing oversight -- whether deliberate or not -- was repaired on Saturday's front page by Melissa Hayes, the reporter assigned to cover Christie and, seemingly, promote his presidential bid:

"Christie twice said during the televised debate Thursday night that he was 'appointed' U.S. attorney on Sept. 10, 2001, the day before the terrorist attacks [on America]," Hayes reported on Saturday, a day late.

"And when [U.S. Sen. Rand] Paul referred to the hug between Christie and President Obama following Superstorm Sandy, Christie retorted that 'the hugs I remember are the hugs that I gave to families who lost their people on Sept. 11.'"

In fact, Christie wasn't "formally nominated until Dec. 7," and didn't take over as U.S. attorney until January 2012 (Saturday's A-6).

2016 election

The Record and other media continue to promote Thursday night's GOP debate as a watershed moment, when, in fact, it will be a mere footnote when the Republicans name a candidate for president in 2016 (A-1).

Two headlines on Saturday's front page tried to minimize Christie's fading campaign while portraying the election against the presumptive Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton, as a horse race:

"Christie
renews
shaping
of image"

"Why Trump's
vulnerability
should worry 
Democrats"

On A-1 today, Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson claims:

"Christie
performed
according
to plan"

Local news?

Today's thin local-news section includes a story promoting the dying sport of horse racing (L-1).

And Road Warrior John Cichowski presents another column on a woman who bought a house next to Route 17 in Waldwick, "where tractor-trailers barrel through at night" (L-1).

Paterson editorial

An editorial defends the performance of Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale despite the "apparent shooting deaths last year of two young girls -- 12-year-old Genesis Rincon and 14-year-old Nazerah Bugg" (O-2).

The editorial even credits Speziale with a "truce" between street gangs from the 1st and 4th Wards after the drive-by shooting death in April of Paterson basketball star Armoni Sexton, 15. 

Low-quality food

On Friday and Saturday, the Better Living section promoted Callahan's and Kimchi Smoke, two businesses that serve pork, beef and chicken raised on harmful antibiotics, growth hormones and other additives.

On Friday, restaurant critic Elisa Ung used a hard sell in her informal dining review of Callahan's in Norwood:

She called the pricey deep-fried pork-and-beef hot dogs "a must-try," and claimed the grilled chicken sandwich is "a surprise star" (Friday's BL-16).

And Food Editor Esther Davidowitz promoted Robert Cho's "Southern-style" Korean barbecue company (Saturday's BL-1).

Davidowitz says nothing about how the marinated beef or ribs are raised or what separates Cho from most Korean barbecue purveyors, who rely on cheap cuts to maximize profit.