Editors come down hard on Christie, but six years too late

Solar panels form the roof of the Bergen County Administration Building's employee parking garage in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In 2010, Governor Christie delayed the first expansion of metropolitan area rail service in ages by at least a decade.

In torpedoing new Hudson River rail tunnels, he ensured that hundreds of thousands of commuters would face increasing traffic congestion, loss of productivity, worsening air pollution, and fewer seats on NJ Transit trains and buses.

But The Record of Woodland Park didn't see the monumental consequences of his actions, and pretty much swallowed whole his claim he killed the project to save taxpayers millions more in cost overruns.

Now, today's editorial is blaming "the Christie administration" for turning NJ Transit "from the jewel of regional commuter-rail systems to the joke of them; it has been a race to the bottom" (O-2).

But Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin has only himself to blame.

He ignored the ramifications of the tunnel decision, then refused to out the governor when Christie grabbed hundreds of millions of dollars in leftover funds to pave roads and fix bridges.

That allowed the GOP thug to impose his conservative fiscal policies on the state, and continue vetoing a hike in the gasoline tax to fund Transportation Trust Fund road and rail improvements.

Doblin didn't even protest Christie slashing state subsidies to NJ Transit by more than 90 percent, triggering fare hikes and service cuts, and delaying an automatic braking system that could have prevented last month's fatal train crash in Hoboken.

Trump, Garrett on A-1

Today's front page is dominated by a large photo of GOP presidential nominee and sexual predator Donald J. Trump bringing his campaign of lies, racism and hatred to Edison (A-1 and A-3).

Leading the paper is an investigative piece on accidental shootings of minors -- one every other day during the first six months of the year (A-1).

So you'd think a Page 1 story on Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, would mention one of the most conservative members of Congress gets an "A" from the National Rifle Association for opposing gun control.

But it doesn't. 

Garrett lies

In Opinion, Columnist Brigid Harrison asks, "Why would Garrett knowingly mislead voters" in ads about his opponent, Democrat Josh Gottheimer (O-4).

"Why would he blame his opponent for ridiculous positions, and mislead voters about his own record?"

She answers her own questions by revealing that in 13 years in office, the 5th District congressman "has successfully had [only] four pieces of legislation become law."

Unbearable

For the second day in a row, The Record is publicizing a protest over the death of a bear named "Pedals," which walked upright and had a Facebook page before he was killed by a bow hunter (L-1).

It isn't known whether the protesters have demonstrated against the mistreatment and death of humans, including the slaughter of innocent children and teens during gang shootouts in Paterson.

A story on a food fest in Clifton notes the city of 86,000 is "among the most diverse in the state and has large Latino, Middle Eastern and Polish communities (L-1).

But Staff Writer Pat Alex neglects to mention African-Americans made up less than 5% of the city's population in the 2010 census, even though Clifton surrounds Passaic city and shares a border with Paterson.

Second coming

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung devotes her entire Sunday column to cauliflower dishes at restaurants, "noting the white flowered vegetable has become one of the hottest trends in the food world" (BL-1).

Ung's column, The Corner Table, appears on the Better Living cover, which two years ago, nearly to the day, carried another story on cauliflower's resurgence under this headline:

"CAULIFLOWER'S COMEBACK"