We're damned if Christie does and damned if he doesn't

Governor Christie appears to be stuffing down food to cope with the stress of a failed presidential campaign and not being tapped for the Cabinet or other post in the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. On Tuesday, Christie's office provided this photo of him announcing a $300 million renovation of the State House.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

How many times do readers of The Record have to slog through another news story and boring political column on Governor Christie's future?

More than two pages of today's edition are devoted to Christie, President-elect Donald J. Trump's Cabinet picks and whether Jersey's own GOP thug will get a job in the wacko's administration (1A, 8A and 9A).

The huge double-decker headline on Page 1 isn't news:

"Christie says:
'I'm not leaving'"

What would be news is for Trenton reporter Dustin Racioppi to tell readers just how many vetoes Christie has executed, and potentially how many more are in store, if he stays in office until January 2018.

Christie, who is believed to have used the veto more than 500 times since January 2010, has made known his opposition on many issues, including hiking the minimum wage, imposing a tax surcharge on millionaires and even early voting.

So, we're damned if he serves his full second term, and gets a chance to kill bills to do all of that and more.

And if he becomes Trump's attorney general, we could be damned when he support states that try to suppress the minority vote or recommend against filing federal civil rights suits against white police officers who shoot unarmed blacks?

Flights to Cuba

The upbeat story on the first commercial flight from Newark to Cuba notes many of the passengers on Tuesday were New Jersey residents who planned to visit relatives on the island (1A).

Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado doesn't mention it, but tens of billions of dollars in remittances sent to Cuba from New Jersey, Florida and other states have kept the island afloat since the U.S. trade embargo was imposed in 1962.

'Kelly missed mark'

In a letter to the editor today, David Singer of Demarest criticizes veteran Columnist Mike Kelly for claiming "Hamilton" cast members' message to Vice President-elect Mike Spence "flopped" (10A).

Singer wrote:

"The message was respectful: The audience was asked not to boo the vice-president elect. Michael Spence was welcomed, thanked for attending, and then asked to please hear the grave concerns created by the hostile language used in the Trump/Pence campaign."

How did Kelly miss all of that or the cast's fundamental right to free speech, even in the august presence of the vice-president elect?

"It's Kelly who missed the mark with his critique," Singer says.

Amen.

Local news?

Gannett's dumbing down of local news continues today with the majority of stories in The Record's Local section written by less-experienced weekly reporters (1L to 6L).

Most of the Local front is devoted to traffic limitations on a bridge linking Fair Lawn to Paterson (1L).

Despite the huge headline, this is hardly breaking news:

"Bridge's condition
prompts traffic cap"

The story carries the byline of John E. Seasly, The Record staff writer who did only a so-so job when he covered Hackensack.

For example, Seasly refused to cover the campaign by nine candidates for three seats on the Board of Education last April or report on a $100-million-plus school budget that voters were asked to approve or reject.

He also missed a major event in the city's downtown redevelopment:

Construction of a 14-story, 382-unit apartment building at Main and Mercer streets was halted in late July when pile driving damaged a day care building next to the site.