Who lied more during nasty campaign, Trump or Conway?

"Puppies for Putin" is from cartoonist Stacey Fairrington. You can see more political cartoons on Cagle.com. I guess the cartoonist thought better of showing President-elect Donald J. Trump and Exxon Mobil CEO Rex W. Tillerson kissing the Russian dictator's ass.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

During the nastiest presidential campaign in memory, the news media rarely challenged Donald J. Trump or GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway as the streets ran red with their lies.

Now, the president-elect has named his former campaign manager as White House counselor, according to a Page 1 story in The Record.

Trenton reporter Salvador Rizzo, whose byline misspells his first name, calls Conway "the first woman to manage a winning campaign" (1A).

The appointment suggests voters are so gullible they will elect the presidential candidate who lies the most, lies about those lies and puts his campaign in the hands of another enormous liar.

Christie and press

After a lull in a war of words, Governor Christie again lashed out at New Jersey newspapers for lobbying against a bill that would cut into their revenue (4A).

"Just another special interest feeding like pigs at the government trough" is how Christie described newspapers on his monthly radio show.

The GOP bully should know all about special interests, as Rizzo reported in a front-page story last Sunday.

"At a time when New Jersey lawmakers are rushing a bill to end what they call 'corporate welfare' for the news media, Gov. Chris Christie's administration this month surpassed $7.4 billion in tax subsides awarded to hand-picked businesses and nonprofits."

Who is right?

Still, isn't Christie on the right side of the issue?

A requirement that towns, banks, law firms and even homeowners facing foreclosure publish notices in newspapers amounts to a subsidy of millions of dollars to publishers who are supposed to remain independent.

The New Jersey Press Association portrayed the proposal to drop that requirement as a "free press issue."

But the legal notices, published in type so small few people read them, are in no stretch of the imagination a public service or a free-speech issue.

Anyway, the bill didn't come up for a vote, but isn't dead, and is expected to be proposed again in the new year. 

So, we can look forward to Christie once again bashing what he calls the "billionaire bosses" at Gannett, the payroll-slashing owner of The Record and six other dailies in New Jersey.

Where to eat

Better Living readers in search of a restaurant review find instead a list of restaurants, bars and even a dinner cruise that will serve "a sumptuous holiday repast" on New Year's Eve (12BL-13BL).

Freelancer Joanna Prisco, who also owns a "pop-up" culinary business, suggests spending up to $280 per person at venues in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties.

Her reporting sounds more like promotion or advertising. Here are examples:

"Ring in 2017 with style at Esty Street, "stay up late with the fun folks at Chakra," "the sexy, Asiatic restaurant will offer two seatings" and "the same Neapolitan-style pies that put Asbury Park back on the culinary map are being slung at ... Porta."

Gag me with a spoon.