What did we do to deserve Zisa, Christie and other bums?

STUNK TO HIGH HEAVEN: On Tuesday night, I wanted to use this portable restroom in the cellphone lot at Newark Liberty International Airport, below, but when I opened the door, I was repelled by the stench and the sight of toilet paper strewn all over the seat, as well as urine and feces.

I found two enormous SUVs parked in one corner of the lot and relieved myself there, ignored by the drivers, who were out of their vehicles and talking.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Stories involving three former or current public officials appear on Page 1 of The Record today, but only one of them deserves our respect and admiration.

That's former President Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who has become a folk hero for a life well-lived in service to others (A-1).

Look at the bums:

Former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa actually has the nerve to demand his old job back, even as he waits retrial on an official misconduct charge (A-1).

"We will see Mr. Zisa in court," replied Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli.

LOL. Good for you, Mr. Prosecutor.

Politics and police

Today's story by Staff Writers Todd South and Peter J. Sampson ignores the impact of the Zisa family political dynasty on the morale of Hackensack residents and taxpayers, who were forced to live in a backwater called "Zisaville" for decades.

Zisa, a former Democratic state assemblyman, dismisses all of the lawsuits filed against him for allegedly injecting politics into the running of the Police Department; the legal battles and the payments of millions upon millions of dollars to cover out-of-court settlements and legal fees.

They left residents shell-shocked, even opposed to spending money on such an amenity as a downtown park.

GOP bully

The other bum on the page is Governor Christie, the worst state leader in New Jersey history.

Instead of celebrating Christie's no-tax pledge with an A-1 political column by Charles Stile, Editor Martin Gottlieb himself earns bum status by not reporting on all of the damage that has already caused in the state (A-1).

For example, Christie's refusal to raise the state gasoline tax means the fund for repairing roads and bridges will soon run out of money.

The GOP bully even grabbed hundreds of millions of mass-transit dollars left over from his cancellation of the Hudson River rail tunnels in 2010, using them to repair roads (A-1).

Quality control

Six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton has mud on her face again for missing the wrong photo of a Pal Park Democratic official on Wednesday's Local front (A-2).

Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza continue to rely on heavy use of Law & Order stories to fill their thin local section again today (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

A story on a proposed assisted-living building in Englewood doesn't explain the contradiction of comparing apartments next to a noisy highway to a five-star hotel (L-2).

Seniors, including those with dementia and Alzheimer's disease, would have a front-row seat to roaring motorcycles, blaring horns, crashes and high-speed police chases, not to mention clouds of pollution.

That should make them feel better.