Gannett deal has older newsroom staffers shitting in pants

The widely reported sale of the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, to the Gannett company raises many questions. Does the deal include 19.7 acres along River Street in Hackensack, which the city has designated for redevelopment? In recent years, the parking lots of NJMG's old headquarters have been leased to Bergen County and Hackensack University Medical Center, above.

Publisher Stephen A. Borg closed the 150 River St. headquarters of NJMG and The Record in 2009, and shifted operations to a nondescript office building in Woodland Park a few years after moving the printing of the company's daily and weekly newspapers to Rockaway Township.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The reported sale of family owned North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, likely sent shock waves through the Woodland Park newsroom on Thursday, especially among older staffers.

How readers will fare is less certain, because The Record's local-news operation has been on life support for several years.

"Gannett is famous for cutting the budget and staff of newspapers it buys; for replacing veteran journalists with younger, lower-paid employees; for doing cookie-cutter newspapers subject to tightly centralized corporate rules," a columnist for Urban Milwaukee.com wrote last October.

If Gannett replaces newsroom veterans in Woodland Park, the move would recall the major 2008 downsizing ordered by Publisher Stephen A. Borg -- several months after he obtained a $3.65 million mortgage from NJMG to buy a McMansion in Tenafly.

Then, staffers with 20 or more years of experience were shown the door or told to accept buyouts, including the director of photography, community editor and co-supervisor of the copy desk.

Before the downsizing, it was common newsroom practice for supervisors to favor younger employees for promotion, such as the replacement of the food editor with a man who was less than half her age and had none of her talent.

In 2011, Gannett was reported to have reduced editorial staffs at three of its New Jersey dailies -- Daily Record, Home News and Courier News -- to 53 from 99. 

Potential cuts in Woodland Park would include such veteran columnists as Mike Kelly, John Cichowski, Bill Ervolino and Charles Stile. 

Tabloid report

The New York Post broke the news on Thursday afternoon, reporting that Gannett "is getting ready to add to its stable of New Jersey newspapers by snapping up The Record and some weekly newspapers."

Media reporter Keith J. Kelly said:

"The news sent a jolt through the Record newsroom. Beleaguered staffers, who have survived recent rounds of belt-tightening without getting a raise in years, were stunned.

Many were said to be standing around in small groups talking after nypost.com broke the news of the impending sale Thursday."

A number of former Record reporters and editors who have been working at The Post for a decade or more may have been among the "sources" Kelly cited. 

Gannett in N.J.

Gannett already owns the Asbury Park Press and five other dailies in New Jersey, and they joined The Star-Ledger in calling for the resignation of Governor Christie after he endorsed wacko racist Donald J. Trump in the presidential race.

The Record is the only major daily in New Jersey that didn't do the same, leading many readers to question whether the Woodland Park daily still is part of a free and independent press.

The sale of The Record to Gannett has been rumored for years, especially in view of the two publishing companies' business and journalism ties.

Gannett's USA Today and other papers have been printed under contract at NJMG's Rockaway plant. 

Record history

NJ.com picked up the report from The Post, noting NJMG owns The Record and 49 community newspapers, one of which is the weekly Hackensack Chronicle. 

NJ.com is owned by The Star-Ledger, the state's largest newspaper.

The Record is second largest, but its average circulation of 170,163 on Sundays and 135,544 Mondays to Fridays probably includes copies of the Herald News, which was designated an "edition" of the larger paper years ago.

The paper has been owned by the Borg family since 1930.

The Bergen Evening Record was founded in 1895, and prospered for more than 110 years in Hackensack, where the Borgs once lived in mansions on Prospect Avenue and Summit Avenue, in the city's Fairmount section.

The younger Borg is president and publisher, and his father, Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg of Englewood, is chairman of NJMG.

Jennifer A. Borg, Stephen's big sister, is vice president and general counsel of NJMG.

The company also operates NorthJersey.com and Bergen.com, and publishes (201), a lifestyle magazine for Bergen County's wealthiest families.

Today's paper

Page 1 of The Record reports Democratic lawmakers have blocked Christie "from loosening one of New Jersey's toughest gun-control laws on Thursday, turning the tables for once on a governor known for his prolific use of the veto pen" (A-1).

In the court of public opinion, Christie was at the center of the George Washington Bridge lane closures a month before he was reelected in November 2013.

So, why is The Record again using precious space on the front page today to quote his continued stonewalling of an illegal political operation inside the Governor's Office that targeted Democrats, including the mayor of Fort Lee?

Taxpayers were forced to pay more than $10 million to Christie's lawyers for a complete whitewash of his involvement, yet Record editors, columnists and reporters long pointed to the so-called Mastro report as evidence the GOP bully had absolutely nothing to do with ordering the gridlock.

Pricey Italian

Today, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung recommends you fight traffic all the way to Ramsey, then fork over $25 for a small portion of potato dumplings at Bici, a pricey Italian restaurant where she makes the manager sound like a stalker (BL-16).

Ung complains manager Marcelo Gambarato "needs to become less intrusive," calling his five visits to her table "overkill, since most involved having full conversations."

She still managed to eat plenty of rich, artery clogging food topped off by a few gooey desserts.

"Gambarato was so over-hospitable that I was little worried he would follow us down the street and call us the next day," the reviewer notes at the end of her 2.5-star appraisal (Good to Excellent).

She doesn't mention whether he asked for her telephone number.

Week after blown forecast, hardly a peep about new storm

More snow fell on Hackensack overnight than a week ago, when the widely predicted Blizzard of 2015 fizzled, shaming The Record and other media after they indulged in hysterics that prompted people to panic shop for food and other supplies.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When this reader awoke today, there were two surprises -- more snow had fallen than a week ago, when a blizzard was widely predicted, and I found a copy of The Record in a bag on top of the white stuff in the driveway.

Go figure.

The Woodland Park daily's front page on Sunday carried only a few words in small type about today's storm, and even though more snow fell, North Jersey Media Group was able to deliver the print edition I never saw last Tuesday (see L-2 today). 

Boring page

Not there is much to read on Page 1 today, given all the space wasted on Super Bowl game coverage and an obituary for Anna Mara, "the matriarch of the New York Giants" (A-1).

We've all heard about elderly people falling and fatally injuring themselves, as the 85-year-old Mara did.

But instead of just mentioning the cause of her death in passing, how about a sidebar on the phenomena, and what seniors can do to prevent such misfortune?

Gone with the wind

And if Editor Marty Gottlieb expected to grab readers who didn't see the end of the game or who have little interest in the sport, the last writer he should put on Page 1 today is Columnist Tara Sullivan.

She sounds like she is writing a novel, not describing the dramatic end to a great contest (A-1).

Another surprise

Sending Staff Writer Melissa Hayes to cover Governor Christie's visit to London is a colossal waste of money, assuming NJMG paid for the trip and other expenses (A-3).

All she got was a no comment on Mitt Romney's withdrawal from the 2016 presidential race, and lots of nonsense about a trade mission, foreign policy and the GOP bully attending his first soccer game instead of the Super Bowl.

Big influence

Christie's expenses are being paid by Choose New Jersey, a non-profit formed at his behest in 2010 that has many big businesses on its board in return for a $450,000 contribution.

Most of them do businesses with the state, some have received tax breaks from the Christie administration and since last month, the non-profit's leader is Michele Brown, former head of the state Economic Development Authority and the governor's adviser and friend.

Brown, who was a federal prosecutor under Christie, when he was U.S. attorney for New Jersey, is getting a $450,000 salary, double what she earned with the EDA.

In Sunday's Page 1 story about Choose New Jersey, Brown's first name was incorrectly spelled with two l's and the EDA was incorrectly called an "agency."

Hackensack news?

Why is a story on a Hackensack apartment developer saving $1 million by using a "rotary carousel parking tower" the biggest element on the Local news front today (L-1)?

Such a rotary parking system was used in Manhattan in the 1960s.

The rotary parking system doesn't benefit the public or property tax payers.

Real news would be city officials announcing they are getting $1 million in givebacks from such non-profits as Hackensack University Medical Center, which pays no taxes on more than $100 million in property.

The parking carousel was even promoted in a streamer at the top of Page 1 -- a sure sign of desperation from the local assignment editor who got stuck working on Sunday.

(201) magazine

A well-known Hackensack fast-food restaurant appears on the cover of (201) magazine's "The Best of Bergen" -- results of its 9th annual Readers Poll.

A strange choice, because White Manna on River Street serves not one of the best, but one of the lowest-quality beef "sliders" around.

No copy editor is listed among the magazine's editorial staff on Page 10, so it's no wonder that under Fine Dining, the Best Korean Restaurant, So Moon Nan Jip, is misspelled two out of three times (Page 93).

Under Specialty Food Shops, Peter's Fish Market in Midland Park is chosen best for the ninth time (Page 87), even though the Seafood counter at Whole Foods Market in Paramus puts it to shame.

And to show how little the magazine's well-heeled readers know, Seafood Gourmet doesn't even rate a mention.

The Maywood favorite goes small fish markets one better by having a great cook and a dining room where you can enjoy all of that fresh fish and other delights.

Why is Publisher Stephen A. Borg's hair turning gray?

Shuttered businesses in Englewood, above and below, cast doubt on the strategies of officials there and in Hackensack to revive their business districts by building more apartments downtown, as reported today and Monday in The Record.

Landlords charging high rents could be causing business failures in Englewood in Hackensack, not the lack of foot traffic.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Stephen A. Borg of Tenafly is president of North Jersey Media Group and publisher of The Record, the company's flagship daily newspaper.

He lives in a $3.65 million McMansion bought with a mortgage from NJMG, and he's sitting on a pot of gold -- the 19.7-acre parcel that has been empty since the paper left Hackensack in 2009, as reported today in The Record (A-7).

That property might not be as attractive once Costco Wholesale closes its 20-year-old Hackensack warehouse store nearby and opens a bigger one in Teterboro (A-1).

But that certainly shouldn't be turning his hair gray.

You can clearly see the transformation in a photo on Page 112 of the October 2014 issue of (201) magazine, which celebrates the Dwight-Englewood School's Anniversary Gala in Englewood under the heading, "Giving Back."

Borg is shown with his wife, Monica, who appears in another photo on Page 102 of the same issue, one of four women in the "Best Dressed of the Month" feature.

Same old, same old

If anything, the hair of readers should be turning gray over the sameness of the front page today -- more boring news about the Ebola epidemic that isn't, and yet another tedious political column on Governor Christie's image (A-1).

The Costco story is the only one on the front page that could pass for local news, and that has been rumored for more than a year.

A bigger Costco is under construction near Teterboro Airport, about 3 miles from the Hackensack warehouse.

Second look

Road Warrior John Cichowski counts on his readers having memories as bad as his, especially when he repeatedly screws up the age of the George Washington Bridge.

Last Friday, Cichowski finally got it right, reporting the bridge was 83 years old on that day (Oct. 24) after four previous columns as far back as last December had already declared its age as 83.

According to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers, the veteran reporter also messed up the name of the award bestowed on the subject of his column, Warren "Pops" Tashian, 99.

Cichowksi claims that in 2004, the Bergen County YMCA gave Tashian its "Man of the Year" award.

But the award has never been called that. The award is "Person of the Year," and Tashian didn't get that, either.

He was honored as "Most Inspirational Adult."

The Bergen County Y may add a "Most Incorrect Adult" award, and give it to Cichowski. 

See: Playing dumb and dumber again

Woodland Park special: Stale voices recalling stale events

At the state's nicest train station in Secaucus, some of the platforms are under the roadway of the New Jersey Turnpike, above.

The Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station at Secaucus Junction opened on Dec. 15, 2003.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Thirteen years after 9/11, nothing could be more powerful and emotional than this morning's live telecast of family members reading out loud the names of the victims.

And their personal messages to the dead can bring tears to your eyes.

In our TV age, The Record and other print media seem obsolete.

That's especially the case today with yet another 9/11 column by one of the Woodland Park newsroom's stale voices, Staff Writer Mike Kelly.

Never mind that his dated, unflattering thumbnail photo -- complete with shit-eating grin -- seems inappropriate on such a solemn occasion (A-1).

But why is he using the front page to call today "the anniversary of ... the unofficial start of the nation's war on terror [italics added]"?

What would make the war on terror "official" -- when the burned-out columnist says it is?

Writes ahead

His column was written ahead of today's ceremony at what was once known as Ground Zero.

But he's memorized such hackneyed details as bagpipes and the ringing of a bell, and presents them in his first paragraph, declaring another anniversary "has come."

Kelly also contributed nothing on Tuesday with his Page 1 anniversary column on the politically inspired George Washington Bridge lane closures in Fort Lee.

Here is one of his brilliant observations:

"In most New Jersey communities, traffic jams are viewed as the vehicular equivalent of cod liver oil."

Kelly then must be the journalism equivalent of strychnine. 

Two GOP morons

A photo on A-9 today shows Mitt Romney, the last conservative Republican who ran for president and was defeated by a compassionate Democrat, and Governor Christie, the next conservative Republican heading for defeat, in the unlikely event he even gets the party's nomination.

On the same page, why does The Record's story on Christie's 12 outright or conditional vetoes of legislation only discuss two of them?

Environmentalists called his veto of a smoking ban at parks and on beaches "shameful."

"The governor sided with the tobacco lobby over protecting public health and the environment," said Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club (A-9).

I'm still waiting for The Record's story on Christie vetoing more bills than any predecessor while portraying himself as a "compromiser" -- a fiction reporters like Charles Stile continue to peddle. 

Hackensack news

Since a reform Hackensack City Council took office in July 2013, The Record has specialized in reporting largely negative news -- fueled by complaints from those who lost the election or were fired.

Today, a story on L-1 reports city Prosecutor Frank Catania Jr. has been charged in a complaint by the state Office of Attorney Ethics with "knowingly misappropriating a client's money in his private practice."

Another stale voice

In his Road Warrior column on the lane-closure scandal in Fort Lee, Staff Writer John Cichowski finally admits he has ignored commuters who ride NJ Transit buses and trains for nearly all of the 11 years he has been posing as the commuting columnist (L-1 and L-6 on Tuesday).

Indeed, he lists the subjects of his Road Warrior columns -- road safety, potholes, litter, neglected highways, confusing signs, E-ZPass "injustices" and the theft of "aluminum guardrails."

Of course, he doesn't mention he has made so many errors he is likely the only reporter who has prompted a reader to set up a Facebook page for his "bloopers."

Cichowski also mentions "The Road Warrior's 24 years at The Record," but doesn't say the original Road Warrior was Jeff Page.

He has demonstrated time and again he is no Jeff Page.

(201) magazine

I don't doubt Editor Amelia Duggan and other staffers at (201) magazine are well-meaning, but they often promise more than they can deliver.

On the cover of the September 2014 Fall Fashion Issue, Don Watros and Benedetta Casamento are listed as "fashion dynamos."

Then, Duggan's column on Page 14 says the Englewood couple "have a real passion for fashion -- the retail fashion industry that is."

Still, after that build-up, what is the explanation for why the wealthy president of Hudson's Bay Co. is wearing a rumpled, ill-fitting, off-the-rack suit in photos on Pages 8 and 73?

Surely, with Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue in his Canadian company's portfolio, Watros can afford made-to-measure or custom-made clothing.

Indeed. His position demands it. Why settle for anything less?

The suit he is wearing on Page 74 is more like it.

Speed camera would have saved Waldwick officer

Speeding is a problem all over North Jersey, but not on Passaic Street and Summit Avenue in Hackensack, above, where traffic doesn't move even when the light is green. With no turn lanes on Passaic, drivers must cool their heels behind others waiting for a break in oncoming traffic.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record and other media love to write about conflict, such as the so-called debate over speed cameras that would prevent putting police officers like Christopher Goodell in harm's way.

Early Thursday, Goodell, 32, was on radar patrol in an unmarked Waldwick cruiser parked on the side of Route 17 south, a speeding and drunken-driving checkpoint he had manned many times before with much success.

Then, a tractor-trailer driven by Ryon Cumberbatch "crossed the shoulder and didn't try to stop in any way" before smashing into the cruiser and killing the officer, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli says.

Speeding truck?

Molinelli hasn't said whether the trucker was speeding. He is charged with second-degree vehicular homicide.

And The Record has made no attempt to find out from other sources if the radar device Goodell was using registered the vehicle's speed or if a device in the Freightliner 18-wheeler itself measured its speed before the crash.

Cumberbatch worked for J.B. Hunt Transportation Services Inc., which the paper describes as "an international trucking company" based in Lowell, Ark., with four fatal New Jersey crashes in 2011 and 2012.

Stupid editorial

Today, an editorial notes Waldwick's "radar patrol fatality" raises questions (A-13).

The writer appears to be measuring his or her words, seemingly afraid of stating flatly that a speed camera would have saved the life of a cop who survived the Iraq war only to die in a meaningless way on the side of a suburban highway.

Deep in the editorial, the unidentified writer raises a "third, though relative question [that] concerns the effectiveness of traffic cameras, and whether they might be a safer alternative to having law enforcement officers sit on the shoulder of a road, especially a well-traveled one notorious for speeders, like the area where Goodell was struck."

No study needed

If this kind of wishy-washy editorial writing isn't enough, the writer goes on to say the "issue of traffic cameras is one that should be discussed, community to community, and will no doubt vary depending on developing traffic patterns and a particular town's relative manpower."

What B.S.

The Woodland Park daily should urge Molinelli, the prosecutor, to use some of the money confiscated from criminals or fines from drivers convicted of driving drunk or speeding to purchase speed cameras for towns such was Waldwick that have to expose officers to the dangers of such patrols.

Page 1

The front-page today is two-dimensional: international crises (Gaza and Ukraine), and communities mourning dead police officers (Jersey City and Waldwick).

Columnist Mike Kelly is still using a dated, unflattering thumbnail photo complete with shit-eating grin (A-1).

If that doesn't stop you, be sure to read all the way through his overlong column on how the execution of Jersey City Police Officer Melvin Santiago reveals the "dilemma" of a city divided "between rich and poor" (A-6).

Food follies

On the Better Living cover, Staff Writer Sachi Fujimori falls into a trap when she asks in her lead paragraph on grilling:

"Who doesn't love a juicy burger with hatched grill marks or Jersey corn on the cob lightly buttered and sweetly charred?"

The answer: Tens of thousands of readers watching their cholesterol and intake of harmful animal antibiotics, and others who don't eat meat. 

(201) magazine

Being white and wealthy is good, (201) magazine tells us on nearly every page.

The cover of the July 2014 issue shows Demarest's Nicole Dickstein, who is celebrated for her "breezy bohemian style," presumably a reference to her being barefoot in the photo.

But if you bother to read the text inside, with photos of Dickstein and the many products she endorses, you find out she is a "self-proclaimed shoe addict" who would "like to live in heels" (Pages 78-79).

Hippie v. sexy

A pop-out quote on Page 78 notes: 

"I have an inner debate of being a hippie and wearing boho-style clothing versus wanting to dress modern with a sexy twist."

Sloppy editing

Another feature reports on the success of backup singer Cindy Mizelle, who was born in Englewood, one of the few African-Americans in the issue (Pages 56-58).

Did anyone edit the story, which is filled with problems?

For readers who can't do the arithmetic, the writer notes Mizelle has had a "flourishing decades-long professional career since the 1980s."

Opera legend Luciano Pavarotti is identified as one of the "musicians" her longtime colleague worked with.

"Strong work ethic" comes out "strong worth ethic," and the words "home home" appear in a photo caption.

Ridgewood News

A feature on the Ridgewood News, another North Jersey Media Group publication, shows front pages from 1892 to 1970, but two of them read:

"The Weekly Ridgewood Herald (1900) and Ridgewood Herald-News (1964), though I didn't see any mention in the text of the Herald name (Pages 60-63).

If you want a good laugh, read the awkwardly written "review" of Pier 115 Bar & Grill in Edgewater by Ryan Greene, who was dining editor/editorial assistant until June (Page 111).

In the court of public opinion, Christie is still guilty

Borough Hall in Fort Lee, where George Washington Bridge lane closures caused four days of traffic chaos in early September. The lane closures were ordered by Governor Christie's aides, allegedly to punish Mayor Mark Sokolich, one of the Democrats who refused to endorse the GOP bully for a second term.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On the Bridgegate scandal, the court of public opinion has been unwavering:

Governor Christie knew that members of his inner circle were lashing back at Democrats who refused to endorse the GOP bully for a second term in the election last November.

In Democratic Fort Lee, that political retribution took the form of lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, resulting in four days of traffic chaos.

Probe setback

Today's front-page news in The Record -- that a state judge won't force two former Christie aides to turn over documents (A-1) -- won't change the public's opinion about the governor.

A Charles Stile column on the future of the legislative panel investigating the lane closures uses a number of silly plays on words, such as saying the committee is "itself jammed at a crossroads" (A-1).

How awkward.

Subpoena Christie

The head of the panel, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, calls the lane closures a "threat to public safety and abuse of government power."

And nowhere in the column or the news story on Page 1 is there any mention of whether the legislative panel or a separate probe by the U.S. attorney in Newark will subpoena Christie.

Since the scandal exploded in January, the governor has never spoken under oath about what he knew and when he knew it.

Wouldn't it be rich to see the former corruption-busting federal prosecutor hiding behind the Fifth Amendment?

More bad news

The really bad news on today's front page is Standard & Poor's downgrading New Jersey's credit rating, while blasting Christie for lagging behind many states with "sizable budgetary surpluses" (A-1).

Three more corrections appear on A-2 today, testament to six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton's inattention to detail.

Christie's environmental record continues to take a hit with word he denied 5% raises to members of the Pinelands Commission, which split, 7-7, on a plan to build a natural gas pipeline through the protected reserve (A-4).

A lobbying firm hired to push the project was headed by David Samson, former chairman of the Port Authority and a Bridgegate character, who has been called a mentor and father figure to Christie.

Is there a public agency anywhere that hasn't been infected by Christie's politics and cronyism?

(201) magazine

Restaurant reviews are considered so important at (201) magazine they are entrusted to a low-paid editorial assistant, which is a publisher's title for "clerk" or guy/gal who answers the phone.

In a Bergen County Dining Guide in the April 2014 (201) family, Ryan Greene says ramen is "trendy as all heck in New York."

He also wanted to say the pork in Santouka Ramen's noodle soup melted in his mouth, but a word was dropped and it came out "melt-in-your-pork."

In the April 2014 (201) magazine, his review of Cafe Matisse in Rutherford ends this way, "Every dish is art. Every bite is beauty."

No prices appear in the review, and it isn't clear whether (201) magazine pays for Greene's meals, as The Record does for Staff Writer Elisa Ung.

Hackensack's school board appears to be incompetent

The Avalon Hackensack at Riverside luxury apartments, shown in February, potentially will add students to already crowded classrooms in Hackensack. Two-bedroom apartments are renting from $2,355 a month, and three-bedroom units start at $3,035 a month. Parking is extra: $100 a month for the first vehicle, $50 a month for the second. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Hackensack schools are experiencing an enrollment boomlet, and officials are scrambling to lease space in a Catholic school that is closing, The Record reports today.

The story, on the Local front, makes no reference to a Hackensack Avenue luxury apartment complex with two- and three-bedroom apartments that potentially will add more children to the overburdened schools.

Finger pointing

Joseph Abate, the interim schools superintendent, blames the lack of long-range planning, and school board members blame "turnover in administration for the lack of a current plan."

So, what has eight-term school trustee Francis W. Albolino -- a political ally of the Zisa family -- and other longtime members of the board been doing?

They've been spending more money per pupil than Ridgewood, and getting little academic excellence in return.

Wrong story for A-1

Not only do the editors do their best to make today's major Page 1 story hard to follow, but readers who stick with it to the bitter end must wonder why it's on the front page in the first place.

"Wrong number goes

right for ailing woman"

The reporter does a good job with this much-ado-about-nothing occurrence, once you overlook the silly lead paragraph:

"Next time you dial a wrong number, think about this."

Bluenotes

The A-1 obituary of jazz pianist Mulgrew Miller is yet another attempt to avoid the most compelling question about his death at age 57:

Why are so many other African-American men dying in their 50s?

All news is local

On Friday, The Record did what a local newspaper can do best.

A front-page story revealed that James Comey -- President Obama's pick to be FBI director -- was himself a crime victim more than 35 years ago in Allendale.

Sadly, that kind of local perspective is missing from the national and international news stories Editor Marty Gottlieb likes to run on Page 1, as if The Record is a trans-Hudson version of The New York Times. 

Friday's A-1 also was notable for the absence of another Rutgers column by sports writer Tara Sullivan, the paper's own vagina monologue.

Seeing stars

Friday's restaurant review gives a good-to-excellent rating to Raymond's in Ridgewood, even though the only "flawless" dish was French toast (BL-18).

And the restaurant misses a heart-healthy rating by a country mile -- cooking leaves of Brussels sprouts in duck fat, and adding butter, cream and mascarpone to shrimp and grits.

Thai mystery

In the May 2013 issue of (201) magazine, Editorial Assistant Ryan Greene sounds knowledgeable in discussing the food he sampled at Pimaan Thai Restaurant in Emerson.

But then, his review says "the papaya salad" has "no actual papaya, for whatever reason."

I called the restaurant to confirm it serves "green papaya" salad, a staple of Thai cuisine.

Of course, it contains papaya, but it's just not the sweet, ripe fruit Greene or the (201) editors might be familiar with.

If that's not embarrassing enough, who wrote the amateurish headline?

"Thai Something New"

The Record misses biggest Christie story

How many of these will Governor Christie be able to down now that he has had surgery to stop him from overeating? They were served on Sunday during a fund-raiser in The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack.

The Record's rotund editors have ignored Governor Christie's weight problems -- lest they be forced to confront the uncomfortable truth about their own food obsessions.

The Woodland Park daily has never even reported what New Jersey and schools in Hackensack and many other communities are doing to fight the child-obesity epidemic.

Now, the New York Post is claiming an exclusive, reporting that Christie "secretly underwent lap-band stomach surgery to aggressively slim down for the sake of his wife and kids."

Here is the link to The Post's story on its Web site:


GOP fat cat has surgery 


Christie has refused to disclose his weight in interviews with both national and New Jersey media, but David Letterman has joked the governor hit a hefty 400 pounds.

Doughnut patrol

If you doubt police in Wyckoff and other wealthy Bergen towns have too much time on their hands and eat too many doughnuts, check out the big photo on the front of today's Local news section (L-1).

On L-2, Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports the school district and teachers union have reached a tentative contract agreement in Hackensack.

There is a lot of local news in today's section, making readers wonder whether the editors held a bunch of stories for publication today.

But head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes still needed a photo of a refrigerated produce truck the driver deliberately overturned to make fruit salad (L-3).
     
Unflattering

The cover photo of the May 2013 issue of (201) magazine shows a clearly overweight Lisa Oz standing in her Cliffside Park home in a most unflattering pose -- with her right hand on her hip and her right leg off to the side, as if it is permanently broken.

Of course, her multimillionaire husband is Mehmet Oz, a doctor who can't stop lecturing Americans on healthy eating, although he probably has never stepped foot in a supermarket or tried to make sense of food labels.