In final days, arrogant editor treats sports, law the same

The Starbucks Coffee on Essex Street, near Hackensack University Medical Center, often is as busy as the chain's shops in Manhattan. Hackensack taxpayers gather there to commiserate with each other over how much more in property taxes they have to pay with the tax-exempt HUMC in their backyard.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The new face of law and order in Bergen County also is the first South Asian prosecutor in the state and the first person of the Sikh religion to occupy the office. 

Big deal, says Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record, who uses pro football to upstage the appointment of Gurbir Grewal of Glen Rock as acting Bergen County prosecutor.

Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal.

The departure of the moron who coached the Giants gets better play on Page 1 today than a former assistant U.S. attorney in a turban and full beard (A-1).

In fact, Gottlieb treats all of the firsts in Grewal's appointment with a yawn, only mentioning them in the last paragraph of the full story way back on Page L-6, an obit page.

Gottlieb is the former global editions editor at The New York Times, and in January 2012, he was ill-suited to take over the newsroom of The Record, a daily that once treated local news seriously.

Marty, as many call him, turns 68 on Jan. 10, and is retiring at the end of the month.

Readers are already muttering, Good riddance to bad rubbish. 

Christie U-turns

A story on A-3 today traces Governor Christie's flip-flops on guns since he first sought state office in 1993.

And an editorial on A-6 delivers only a mild rebuke for all of the time the GOP bully has spent out of state, chasing his White House dreams and leaving the state in crisis:

"The governor likely will continue to claim his commitment to New Jersey is as strong as ever, but his actions say otherwise, and state residents know it."

That's it? 

The editors should be calling for his resignation or impeachment.