Borgs are getting fatter on backs of low-wage workers

The warm, cozy interior of the restored train station in Ramsey, above and below. The ticket window was closed permanently this year, but commuters can wait for trains out of the weather, as well as borrow something to read from the public library. Hackensack, a far larger community with far more rail users, hasn't had anything like this for many years.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Today's Thanksgiving edition of The Record is stuffed with the fliers of retailers who will further exploit their low-wage workers by opening on the holiday.

The Borgs are growing fatter on the profits generated by all that glossy advertising from Walmart and other big chains.

Of course, an editorial today doesn't bite the mouth that feeds the greedy publishing family, and holiday store and mall openings don't even rate a mention (A-22).

No free lunch

The photo of a plump turkey under the headings "Taking stock" and "Thanksgiving comes to North Jersey" reminds veterans staffers that the Borgs -- many years ago -- ended the tradition of laying a free Thanksgiving buffet for employees who work on the holiday.

Where are the Borgs gathering for their bountiful holiday meal -- in Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg's East Hill mansion in Englewood or in son Stephen A. Borg's $3.65 million McMansion in neighboring Tenafly, where the publisher counts all his money?

Addicts on A-1

On Page 1 today, annual "giving thanks" coverage has Superstorm Sandy victims in Little Ferry playing second fiddle -- below the fold -- to recovering addicts in Paramus (A-1).

Meanwhile, the majority Democrats in the state Legislature have asked Governor Christie to suggest changes to a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to pay lower, in-state college tuition and qualify for state financial aid (A-1).

Otherwise, they are asking Christie to veto the measure he says he opposes, as he has with so much other progressive legislation, including a modest hike in the minimum wage.

"When he was running for governor, he supported it," said Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, referring to the tuition bill. "Now that he is running for president, he does not" (A-10).

More lies?

Does Christie's stance on the measure give a lie to all that promotion in The Record of the GOP bully as bipartisan and a compromiser who can get things done?

On A-3, a story notes that many of the so-called illegal students in New Jersey were brought to the United States at a young age by their parents, and have been living here for decades. 

Local yokels

Even with several holiday and Law & Order stories, as well as news about the police, Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza couldn't find enough local news to fill his section today.

For the three readers who know who Conrad Susa was, a long, wire-service obituary appears on L-5.

Check out the awkward headline on the Local front -- "Cop chief" -- for police chief (L-1).

What was wrong with the well-worn "Top cop"?

Busy front page is mostly filler

Image by jessamyn via Flickr

 The Saturday edition of The Record of Woodland Park is especially weak today, with only one breaking news story on Page 1 -- the paralysis of air travel. Those promos to inside stories fill the bottom of the front page; they come and go with no rhyme or reason.

"It's Google for cops" could have read: "It's filler for news editors." This is not front-page news, but just another one of those stories written by the police reporter, Marlene Naanes, designed to please the sheriff, cops and police chiefs, in the apparent hope they will be more forthcoming about crime, accidents and other mayhem.

No Hackensack news appears in the paper today, not even the school budget. (Photo: Hackensack hotel room.)


It's bad enough that head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes apparently has ordered Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado to ignore any news except the legal problems of Police Chief Ken Zisa. But is Alvarado -- at the behest of Sykes or any other editor -- deliberately distorting the news?

In a story inside Local on April 12, Alvarado reported the "official" opening of a police substation on Hudson Street with no mention of Zisa. Did she do the story by phone? Did Zisa refuse to speak with her?

A couple of days later, the Hackensack Chronicle, one of North Jersey Media Group's weeklies, quoted Zisa in a story about the outpost. Then, in the edition dated April 15, The County Seat had a Page 1 photo showing Zisa at the ribbon-cutting and it also quoted him in the story. 

The latter weekly is published by Gail Zisa and edited by Lauren Zisa. The back page of this weekly carries a full-page ad for the firm of Joseph C. Zisa Jr., the city attorney. (Hey, some people refer to the former home of The Record as Zisaville.)

So, has Sykes ordered Alvarado to investigate Zisa, who is being sued in state and federal courts by police officers? Let's hope this probe doesn't suck up the nearly three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in staff salaries that went into the Sykes-inspired vendetta against former Hackensack Chief of Detectives Michael Mordaga.

Can anyone say for certain whether the money squandered on the Mordaga probe -- and the $3.65 million mortgage NJMG gave Publisher Stephen A. Borg -- could have prevented the elimination of jobs held by dozens of experienced advertising and editorial workers, and the unilateral salary cuts for those who stayed?