Editors: Syrian refugees aren't demons Christie claimed

A homeless man walking across the street was killed on Christmas Day at Garrison Avenue and Cedar Lane in Teaneck, above. Now, police have put up a digital sign asking for help in finding the driver of a large black SUV that fled the scene.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A Page 1 story on Syrian refugees who have settled in Paterson continues The Record's gentle treatment of Governor Christie.

After the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, Christie said he would bar any Syrian refugee, even an orphan, from coming to New Jersey.

The GOP bully later expanded that, saying he wanted to keep them out of the entire country.

Today's upbeat story on the Alteibawi family from Daraa, called a "flash point for the Syrian uprising," mentions Christie in the overlong first paragraph (A-1).

Heavy editing

But to the chagrin of many readers, Editor Martin Gottlieb toned down any criticism of the governor's fear mongering and racial animosity.

Gottlieb is known as a hands-on editor who often heavily edits and rewrites front-page stories to give them the same kind of "context" they have at The New York Times, where he had a long career.

The family, Staff Writer Hannan Adely says, found themselves "in the center of a national debate over Syrian refugees with even Governor Christie weighing in on their arrival."

How does Christie's bid to keep all refugees (read "terrorists") out of New Jersey become "weighing in on their arrival," except in the mind of an arrogant editor who seems intent on polishing the governor's image?

In fact, The Record waited more than a week after Christie's first anti-refugee salvo before publishing a story on the peaceful Syrian community in Paterson, where immigrants from Aleppo and other cities put down roots more than a hundred years ago.

Dictatorial rule

The rest of Page 1 today is devoted to endless second-guessing of President Obama's move to tighten controls on guns.

Columnist Charles Stile, the paper's chief Christie apologist, recalls how the governor called Obama a "dictator" three weeks ago (A-1).

But nowhere in his boring political column does Stile point out that by executing more than 430 vetoes to stop the majority Democrats in the state Legislature, Christie surely is the one who has imposed dictatorial rule right here in the Garden State.

Hackensack news

Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza continue their boycott on Hackensack news in today's Local section.

I can't find any mention of Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

And Hackensack University Medical Center and city officials weren't even mentioned in a Tuesday story on L-1.

That story had local officials reacting to a bill that would require non-profit hospitals to make modest payments in lieu of tens of millions of dollars in property taxes.