If reporter was on Bridgegate jury, we'd be in deep doo-doo

This New York Post photo shows Bridgegate trial defendant Bridget Anne Kelly, right, and Governor Christie on Sept. 12, 2013, touring a fire scene in Seaside Heights. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

This email from Bridgegate defendant Bridget Anne Kelly, then Governor Christie's deputy chief of staff in Trenton, has long been considered the smoking gun in the September 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee.

Not so fast, says Columnist Mike Kelly, who devotes his entire column on Page 1 of The Record today to "the other side of the story," based on Bridget Anne Kelly's testimony in her own defense on Friday. 

The day before her testimony, the veteran reporter's glowing profile of the defendant also appeared on A-1, declaring:

"[Bridget] Kelly's expected testimony could be one of the most pivotal moments in the bizarre case ...."

Well, I'm glad Mike Kelly isn't on the federal jury or he'd certainly vote for her acquittal.

Bridget Kelly's testimony didn't change the narrative, as the column reports; she is the fourth or fifth witness who said Christie knew about the lane closures as they were happening, despite his denials.

But both Bridget Kelly and the second defendant, former Port Authority Executive Director Bill Baroni, said they were duped by Christie crony David Wildstein at the Port Authority about the reasons for the lane closures.

Wildstein pleaded guilty and testified that about a month after he received Bridget Kelly's email, he put the plot in motion to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing the governor's reelection.

She claimed before the jury the email wasn't an "order."

In a development you haven't seen in The Record, work on a 14-story residential-retail project at Main and Mercer streets in Hackensack was halted three months ago after a pile driver damaged the building next to the site, forcing the evacuation of a preschool and other tenants.

Rest of paper

There isn't much of interest in the rest of the paper, including the silly Page 1 feature comparing the sleepy Dingman's Ferry Bridge over the Delaware River to the GWB (A-1).

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski's "Black Hole" column on Silk City's pockmarked West Railway Avenue is just more of the irrelevant Paterson news the editors are shoving down Bergen readers' throats to save money on newsprint (L-1).

Opinion

Kelly, the columnist not the defendant, wrote another boring column for today's Opinion front (O-1).

Today's editorial on why The Record endorses candidates begins: "This has been a long election cycle" (O-2).

But Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin doesn't acknowledge the news media starts covering state and national contests years before Election Day, and are principally responsible for voter apathy.

As in the Nov. 8 presidential election, the vast majority of coverage is devoted to politics, not issues.

On O-3 today, Entertainment Editor Christina Joseph calls GOP nominee Donald J. Trump's "sweeping generalities about the black community ... an affront to all that my family and others like them embody."

Her column may be the first by a black staffer since The Record showed the door many years ago to the paper's only Hispanic and African-American columnists.

Also on O-3, a letter to the editor from Johnnie Najarian of River Edge says, "Television has given him [Trump] more than $3 billion worth of free advertising by broadcasting his rallies and his right-wing conspiracies."

Aching teeth

Check out the shameless promotion of Lolli and Pops, a candy purveyor at Garden State Plaza in Paramus (Better Living front).

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung reports the store excited her "voracious sweet tooth," sending thousands of diabetics who read the paper searching for their insulin. 

Trump's anti-women, anti-black rhetoric will never prevail

On Wednesday night in Las Vegas, GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump showed how truly ugly he is during the third and final debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton, who was the clear winner, above and below, though you won't see that reflected in The Record's Page 1 coverage today.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In anti-women and anti-black comments on Wednesday night, GOP White House hopeful Donald J. Trump again showed he is a truly ugly, unapologetic male chauvinist pig.

His attacks during the final presidential debate ranged from calling Democrat Hillary Clinton a "nasty women" to pledging to appoint right-to-life justices to the Supreme Court to denying reports from women that he groped and kissed them against their will.

In a parting shot designed to appeal to his racist supporters, the wacko billionaire claimed electing Clinton would be the same as returning our first black president to office. 

Today's coverage

Clinton said Trump "thinks belitlling women makes him bigger" (A-4).

"He goes after their dignity, their self-worth," she said.

His "trickle-down economics on steroids," as Clinton called it; his getting away with not paying federal taxes; his business losses of nearly a billion dollars in one year -- all show his economic plan is a sham.

"We have undocumented immigrants paying more in taxes than a billionaire," Clinton said (A-1).

Kelly on Kelly

Columnist Mike Kelly appears to have set a record with his Page 1 profile of Bridget Anne Kelly, Governor Christie's former deputy chief of staff and a defendant in the Bridgegate trial.

This is not only more than he has written about any one person, but it certainly eclipses anything the editors have published about Clinton's long public service and her policy positions in the presidential campaign (A-1 and A-6).

Kelly's largely sympathetic portrait of the defendant, who grew up in Ramsey, clashes with her being portrayed as a central figure in the George Washington Bridge lane closures to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing the reelection of Christie.

No one knows how Bridget Kelly, who is scheduled to testify before a federal jury, will try to explain away her infamous email to Christie crony David Wildstein at the Port Authority:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Zisa editorial

An editorial claims Hackensack taxpayers will have to shoulder a $3 million payment to former Police Chief Ken Zisa because of the "mistakes of their city fathers" (A-10).

One so-called mistake was not having Zisa's back pay "accumulating in an account," but the editorial doesn't list any others.

Although all of the charges in a Bergen County grand injury indictment against Zisa have been dropped, the editorial neglects to mention no court or jury has ever said the former chief didn't commit a crime.

Stale news

The front page on Wednesday carried a stale headline.

"Hackensack plans

 $3M payment to Zisa" 

Eye on The Record already reported the payment on Oct. 5, and the Woodland Park daily's John Seasly followed with his own report two days later.

The news is that the City Council on Tuesday night proposed a $3 million appropriation raised through selling bonds "to fulfill a court-mandated payment" to Zisa (A-1 on Wednesday).

Seasly continues to ignore plans by Zisa and other members of his family's political dynasty, which ruled Hackensack for decades, to run a slate and try to regain power in next May's municipal election.

Zisa allies have long controlled the city's Board of Education.

Christie critic

Staff Writer John Cichowski is the latest staffer to pile on Christie since the fatal Hoboken train crash, revelations in the Bridgegate trial, and the biggest bugs up the veteran reporter's ass -- computer breakdowns and long lines at Motor Vehicle Commission offices.

His Road Warrior column on L-1 today breaks years of silent acquiescing to Christie's anti-mass transit policies, and refusal to raise the gas tax to pay for road and rail improvements.

Cichowski even blames Christie for rising traffic deaths this year "after three decades of decline" (L-2).

Columns such as Cichowski's ring hollow in view of The Record being the only major daily paper in the state that didn't call for the GOP thug to resign after he endorsed Trump.

Whole Foods

On Wednesday, retailing reporter Joan Verdon was incorrect in saying the new Closter Whole Foods "will have features not found in other stores, including a juice bar and coffee stand."

The Whole Foods in Paramus has both.

She also omitted mentioning that Costco Wholesale has expanded its organic and natural-food selection far more than the Whole Foods competitors she lists: Fairway, Trader Joe's, Walmart and Target.

Lies by mayor, PA official pale in comparison to Christie's

Solar-operated trash compactors and large recycling containers popped up this week at several locations inside and outside Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's coverage of the Bridgegate trial has deteriorated into describing the political pissing match between the governors of New York and New Jersey.

Defendants Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelley, former allies of Governor Christie, are accused of closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing reelection of the GOP bully that year.

But the charges against them don't include "playing politics."

The nine-count indictment charges them with conspiracy against civil rights, deprivation of civil rights,  wire fraud and other counts.

Today, Page 1 trial coverage is provided by the reporter who covers the Port Authority, which owns and operates the bridge; a Trenton reporter; and Charles Stile, whose political column often tries to burnish Christie's image.

What experience they have covering criminal trials isn't known.

Much of today's coverage focuses on Christie and two prosecution witnesses -- the mayor of Fort Lee, and the executive director of the Port Authority, none of whom are on trial.

Feared Christie

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich testified on Wednesday he lied when he denied in a letter to the editor of The Star-Ledger in November 2013 the lane closures were retaliatory (A-1).

"I was petrified of further retribution [from Christie]," the mayor told the jury.

And Patrick Foye, appointed executive director of the Port Authority by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, admitted that before he ordered the lanes reopened on the fifth day of gridlock he OK'd a press release that said the agency was conducting "a traffic study."

Foye testified Baroni, his deputy, said the  lane closures were "important to Trenton," a veiled reference to Christie.

Christie's lies

Of course, the Christie administration has been one big, elaborate lie since he took office in early 2010.

And when you fast forward to September 2013, Christie also lied about what he knew about the lane closings and when he knew it, according to federal prosecutors.

The prosecution witness we are eager to hear is David Wildstein, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority who has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Baroni and Kelly, who was the governor's deputy chief of staff.

Kelly's email to Wildstein -- "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" -- set the political payback scheme into motion on Sept. 9, 2013, a Monday and the first day of school.

Hillary's biggest obstacle is media's love of controversy

The cellphone lot at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queen is where drivers of limos and black cars go to die. The other Port Authority airports, Newark and La Guardia, have nothing like it.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Now that Hillary Clinton is a candidate for president in 2016 the news media represent her biggest obstacle.

The media's obsession with controversy likely will mean an endless parade of stories like the nonsense from The Washington Post on The Record's front page today (A-1).

I laughed at a story The Record carried last week claiming Hillary will have trouble convincing voters she is "fresh and different."

Voters don't want "fresh and different" candidates like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul.

They want someone like Clinton who is experienced in leading -- she was the first to propose national health care -- not the parade of Republican candidates intent on stripping seniors of their entitlements.

The media are so bored with elections they portray every one as a horse race, and their reliance on the sound bite is irresponsible.

Lazy coverage

You just have to look at what has happened to election coverage at The Record in the last two decades.

Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, the lazy local assignment editors, stopped covering uncontested elections long ago, and school board contests are reduced to briefs.

In Hackensack, less than a sixth of registered voters turn out for council elections and even fewer bother with the April election for school board, ensuring the latter is filled with incompetents.

Herb Jackson and the paper's Trenton staff devote major coverage in statewide and congressional elections to the candidates who have raised the most special-interest money.

In a major front page story last year, Jackson even omitted conservative Republican Rep. Scott Garrett's initial opposition to federal aide for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Rare is a story discussing how the candidates stand on the issues, resulting in tremendous voter apathy, such as the record low voter turnout in the last gubernatorial election in New Jersey.

Think pieces

Three of the four major stories on Page 1 today are speculative "think" pieces that go on and on and on.

Let's hope U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman at leasts names Governor Christie as an unindicted co-conspirator, if he brings criminal charges in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal (A-1).

I know it's only a typo, but how did the editors on the assignment, news and copy desks misspell the name of Bridget Anne Kelly (A-6), the onetime Christie official who sent the infamous email to a Port Authority official, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee"?

The danger of long, speculative stories like this one is that it will put to sleep the underpaid, sleep-deprived copy editor (who also writes headlines and photo captions) long before he gets to its bitter end.

With a bimbo like Joe Giudice for a father, wouldn't his four daughters be better off living with relatives or even in an orphanage while their mother is in prison (A-1)?

Local news?

For the meaning of a "slow news day," see today's Local section.

Publisher's rich friend was first to complain on GWB jams

The first of two 47-story residential towers in the Hudson Lights project overlooks Fort Lee's local-access lanes to upper-level tollbooths on the George Washington Bridge, below. The building's Web site boasts of "convenient access" to the bridge, a shuttle service to and from "the express Manhattan subway" and 1-bedroom apartments from $2,500 a month.

Three lanes were merged into one on Sept. 9-13, 2013, in a plot among Governor Christie's aides and his cronies on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the world's busiest bridge, to retaliate against Fort Lee's Democratic mayor.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In today's anniversary coverage of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, The Record again claims to have broken the story (A-1 and L-1).

And the addled Road Warrior columnist even takes credit for ending the four day-plus traffic jam on Sept. 13, 2013 (L-6).

A year later, little has changed at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Governor Christie has managed to insulate himself from direct blame -- and stick the public with more than $9 million in legal bills.

The infamous "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" e-mail launched state and federal investigations, but they grind on.

And Bridget Anne Kelly, the Christie deputy chief of staff who sent it to crony David Wildstein at the bi-state agency, and others close to the governor fell on their swords.

Media failed us

The Record and other media have let us down.

Instead of dogging the GOP bully at every public appearance to explain his innocence, they dutifully reported his dog-and-pony shows on Sandy and his purely political trips to Iowa and Mexico.

Meanwhile, tolls keep on going up, and Christie and his Port Authority appointees have refused to expand mass-transit alternatives to commuting by car.

You've seen little reporting about that.

"The Record's claim of a scoop is ringing hollow" is the heading for my Jan. 14, 2014, post, which can be read in its entirety by clicking on this link:

The Times was first with word of federal probe

Christie's latest broken promise breaks media backs

Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse, right, reads a proclamation at Tuesday night's City Council meeting, accepting an oil painting from Parisian-born artist Marius Sznajderman. The artist painted the winter scene of the old Masonic Temple from his apartment window at Atlantic and State streets in 1956. The building is slated to become the city's new Cultural Center. The artist was accompanied by his wife, Suzanne Messing, a onetime reporter for The Record.

 

 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

An editorial in The Record today condemns Governor Christie's plan to cut $900 million from this year's pension payments in a desperate bid to plug an enormous hole in the state budget (Page 1).

The anonymous editorial writer notes Christie is blaming federal tax policy, previous administrations and public employees, but calls that "a snow job" (A-10).

That should be "latest snow job," given all the lies the GOP bully has told about lowering property taxes, job creation, surging state revenue under his obstinate no-tax policies, Sandy aid and the George Washington Bridge scandal.

Christie's first term was all smoke and mirrors, but that didn't stop The Record's editors, reporters and columnists from falling all over themselves to be the first to promote the mean-spirited conservative for a White House run.

Knows nothing

The politically motivated lane closures at the Fort Lee end of the bridge last September exposed Christie's infamous Office of Governmental Affairs, which ruthlessly pursued endorsements from Democrats before his reelection last November.

Matt Mowers, who worked in that office, became the latest former or current Christie aide to tell investigators he knows nothing about the lane closures, which critics have blasted as an abuse of power (A-3).

But Mowers testified Bridget Anne Kelly, then deputy chief of staff for Christie, called him on Aug. 12 to ask if Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich was endorsing the governor, and he told her no.

Bully out of loop?

That was one day before Kelly sent the explosive e-mail, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," to Christie's Port Authority crony, David Wildstein, who has been blamed for carrying out the lane closures.

Wildstein, who has since resigned, claims he told Christie about the lane closures last Sept. 11, during the 9/11 memorial ceremony in Manhattan.


 

Lynne Hurwitz, the political muscle behind Zisa family allies defeated in last May's municipal election, returning to her seat after speaking at Tuesday night's City Council meeting in Hackensack. Hurwitz asked City Councilman David Sims if he had used the N-word to refer to himself, as alleged by a police officer. Sims would not comment.

Hackensack news

News of Hackensack shared the front page of The Record on Tuesday with a story about nasal strips for a racehorse.

Editor Marty Gottlieb ran an inspirational photo of Hackensack High School senior softball team manager Erin Kelly, who was paralyzed for two years by illness, but has recovered.

The story on L-1 doesn't say whether her "rare ailment," a virus, was connected in any way to the mediocre food at the high school, where the cafeteria and presumably the kitchen is infested with roaches.

This is 'news'?

At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, residents saw The Hackensack City News, an 8-page tabloid filled with upbeat stories on the accomplishments of the new administration.

The "newspaper" was written by Thom Ammirato, the former campaign official who was given the $78,000-a-year job as the city's chief spokesman.

Council officials said the tabloid will be distributed by The Record, but didn't give the cost of printing or distribution.

Ammirato's one-year contract expires in July.


 

Lawyers are getting much richer, taxpayers poorer

Euclid Avenue in Hackensack.Warning: One-lane road ahead.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The sensational charges in the Bridgegate scandal have devolved into the kind of ponderous process story The Record loves to tell.

Weeks after discovery of the explosive e-mail -- "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" -- the story now involves subpoenas, document production and pissing matches between high-priced lawyers, each one spouting another legal theory (A-1).

Flawed column

Today, on A-3, Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson doesn't do any heavy lifting in his NJ/DC column that purports to explore whether taxpayers will foot the bill for all of the lawyers involved on both sides of state and federal investigations.

Jackson says Governor Christie has the public picking up the $650-an-hour tab for attorney Randy Mastro, and David Wildstein is trying to hit up his former employer, the Port Authority, which isn't supported by taxes. 

But that's it from Jackson, who doesn't mention eight other figures in the probe, including former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly, who sent that infamous e-mail, or whether taxpayers are on the hook for their private lawyers (A-10 on Sunday).

Marty defends Chris

On Sunday, The Record's front page was dominated by a story that seemed planted by Christie's public relations machine:

The alleged "bromance" between the GOP bully and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Staff Writer Stephanie Akin called Giuliani "his [Christie's] biggest advocate."

Half the story

But Akin's story failed to mention that Giuliani told a radio interviewer there is a "fifty-fifty" chance Christie was aware of the Kelly discussions that led to George Washington Bridge lane closures.

Geraldo Rivera's interview of Giuliani was reported on Jan. 30 by The Huffington Post.

The early September gridlock in Fort Lee may have been political payback for the refusal of the borough's Democratic mayor to endorse Christie for a second term.  

No editing

"Fifty-fifty" is far from The Record's portrayal of Giuliani in that Sunday takeout by one of its so-called stars:

The former mayor is Christie's "staunchest defender," "Giuliani's voice has been loudest" in Christie's defense, and "Giuliani's staunch advocacy."

In fact, the story is way too long and awfully repetitive, more evidence of the abysmal lack of editing and fact-checking at the Woodland Park daily, which has been run for the last two years by former Timesman Marty Gottlieb.

NJ Transit screws NFL fans and commuters alike

Hackensack's DPW did a fair job of clearing streets and intersections after the snow stopped falling on Monday, but left several inches of the white stuff on the block of Euclid Avenue between Main Street and the tracks, and an 18-inch barrier blocking driveways on other blocks of Euclid. Above, a Summit Avenue intersection this morning, when a snow-laden tree was a thing of beauty.

Hackensack schools do not provide those familiar yellow buses, forcing thousands of parents to drive their children to school, in a colossal waste of gasoline that aggravates air pollution and frays nerves. Thousands of other students walk both ways. Above, cars leaving the high school campus this morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Transportation reporter Karen Rouse and Dan Sforza, the supremely lazy head of The Record's assignment desk, have been screwing commuters forever.

In recent years, they've ignored such persistent service problems as antiquated local buses, long lines to board NJ Transit buses in Manhattan and the rush-hour stampede for seats on trains leaving Penn Station.

So, you should have heard me howl with laughter this morning when I saw the Page 1 photo of hordes of Super Bowl fans -- 33,000 in all -- waiting to board NJ Transit trains after the disappointing game on Sunday (A-1).

Suckers. Why wasn't this photo in Monday's paper?

Perfect storm

I'll bet Governors Christie and Cuomo, actors Michael Douglas and Kevin Costner, and all of the other VIPs at the game didn't have to take the train.

Then, the snow that began falling early Monday canceled 350 flights from Newark as of 9:40 a.m. -- a perfect Jersey transportation storm (A-6).

Today's big, black A-1 headline screams about fans' anger and their "'nightmare' ride home," but commuting in North Jersey by car or mass transit is a daily nightmare The Record won't touch.

An editorial on A-8 mentions "commuters who suffer every day on NJ Transit buses and trains" and "have no relief from the overcrowding in the Port Authority Bus Terminal," but no such problems have been reported by Rouse, Road Warrior John Cichowski or any other reporter.

Denver lows

Rouse came to the old Hackensack newsroom from the Denver Post, thanks to Francis "Frank" Scandale, one of The Record's worst editors, who also came from that paper.

In Denver, she was known for her education coverage, but some moron gave her the North Jersey transportation beat, and it's been all downhill from there.

A second front-page story today -- on reforming "political patronage, a culture of fear and conflicts of interest" at the Port Authority -- gives the bi-state agency a pass on extortionate tolls and its refusal to expand PATH rail and commuter bus service into Manhattan (A-1).

More Bridgegate

The NJ Transit and Port Authority stories overshadow new developments in the Bridgegate scandal, including the refusal of Governor Christie's former deputy chief of staff to turn over documents to investigators (A-1).

Bridget Anne "Bridge" Kelly, who sent the infamous e-mail, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," is the latest member of Christie's inner circle to take the Fifth.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are demanding documents from Christie's office, the former U.S. attorney said during a radio interview Monday (A-1).

Give us a break

Editor Marty Gottlieb couldn't help putting the federal subpoenas in context. But did the first paragraph of the story really need this wordy explanation?

"... a development that puts him [Christie] at the opposite end from the kind of probe he once led as the state's hard-charging U.S. attorney"?

Jeez. "At the opposite end of the kind of probe he once led..."? That's embarrassing, especially for a former New York Times editor who was stationed in Paris.

Hey, Marty, your readers aren't as thick as some of your assignment editors and columnists, notably Cichowski, the so-called Road Warrior.

More drivel

In his drivel on A-6 today, that moron doesn't acknowledge that he blew it big time in his previous column by predicting traffic paralysis for people driving into or out of Manhattan on Sunday.

Nor does he admit today he was completely blindsided by the problems encountered by Super Bowl fans who used mass transit (A-6).   

On A-2, the editors correct star reporter Stephanie Akin's Sunday takeout on development near the Harrison PATH station.

Local yokels

Three of the five elements on the Local front today are Law & Order stories (L-1).

Almost 8 inches of snow fell, according to today's weather story, which runs with an inaccurate photo caption describing a Toyota that hit a utility pole as a "coupe."

Christie hires $1,000-an-hour lawyer at a discount

Thursday afternoon rush hour on River Road in Teaneck, as seen through a dirty windshield.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Taxpayers are beginning to learn how much they'll be paying for all of the high-priced legal talent flocking to the side of Bridgegate figures, including Governor Christie.

But don't expect The Record of Woodland Park to investigate a legal system with no ceiling on hourly rates that, in effect, restricts access to the courts.

Or discuss a system monitored by judges -- former lawyers -- who often reward the attorney far more than the client who has been injured or is a victim of discrimination.

How much?

Today's front page story on how much attorney Randy Mastro is charging Christie's office is so poorly reported and edited readers don't know his exact hourly rate.

Mastro is charging $650 an hour to represent the Governor's Office in a series of investigations into the George Washington Bridge lane closures in Democratic Fort Lee -- "a discount of more than 40 percent" (A-1 and A-6).

The story never gives Mastro's "normal rate," but says it is more than $1,000 an hour. And that doesn't include such expenses as postage, transcripts and other extras.

I don't know anything about this legal eagle -- or turkey -- but question the worth of a lawyer who charges around $35 for a 2-minute phone conversation with his client.

More lawyers

Another lawyer, Reid Schar, the former federal prosecutor advising the Legislature's probe, is charging $350 an hour, a fee first reported on Thursday by New Jersey Public Radio.

Also mentioned in today's story is Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff, who was fired after an e-mail showed she had plotted with the Port Authority:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

The Record hasn't reported the hourly rate of her lawyer, Michael Critchley Sr., or whether taxpayers will be footing his considerable bill.

Not so super

Another Page 1 story reports "the economic boost to the region from the Super Bowl figures to be considerably smaller than more rosy estimates" (A-1 and A-6).

But The Record's front page today is wrapped in another "Super Bowl Special," an upbeat, 8-page section designed to distract readers from all the negatives associated with pro football -- from a culture of inebriation to sexual slavery to a concussion crisis.

Sells her soul

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung gives 2 stars to the misnamed Recovery Room in Westwood, where the burger, topped with bacon, ham, cheese and mayo, is designed to send customers across the street to Hackensack University Medical Center at Pascack Valley (BL-16).

Ung doesn't explain why the "sole Veronique" ($19.95) is made with cheaper cod.

The real Riotto?

Today's Hackensack Chronicle reports one of four police officers, who sued the city and then-Police Chief Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa in 2009 and settled for $2 million, has been reinstated as a lieutenant.

The first paragraph identifies him as "Vincent Riotto" and the photo with the story is labeled "Anthony Riotto."

Christie speaks 'loudly' and acts like 'a big dick'

Cedar Lane and River Road in Teaneck on Thursday afternoon.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Governor Christie's insults, vetoes and mean-spirited budget cuts have earned him the title of "GOP bully" everywhere but at The Record.

In April 2011, Christie urged the media "to take the bat" to state Sen. Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck for collecting a taxpayer-funded pension while making $49,000 a year as a legislator -- even as one of the governor's Democratic allies was guilty of far greater abuse.

Today, the Woodland Park daily compares Christie's attacks on "shadow government" -- unelected authorities, boards and commissions -- to his exploitation of the patronage, lucrative employee perks and a lack of public accountability at the Port Authority (A-1).

For example, David Samson's law firm has seen its legal and lobbying work increase tremendously since Christie appointed the lawyer to the unsalaried position of Port Authority chairman, according to National Public Radio.

Christie regards Samson as "a father figure," WNYC-FM radio reported last week. They met when Christie was U.S. attorney and Samson was state attorney general.

Bridgegate, football

During the lull in the Bridgegate scandal, The Record is desperately trying to keep the story alive until the Legislature's investigation begins (A-1, L-1 and O-1).

At the same time, Editor Marty Gottlieb continues to squander space on the front page and inside the thin Local section to cover the upcoming Super Bowl (A-1, B-1 and L-3 today and Saturday).

The big game will attract drunks, perverts and gambling addicts, inconvenience hundreds of thousands of non-fans and line the pockets of wealthy team owners. 

Restaurants, caterers and hotel companies are among the few that will fight over the remaining scraps (B-1).

It's a real stretch

In Bridgegate coverage, Staff Writer John Cichowski makes a desperate attempt to compare a mobster's bribe to then-Fort Lee Mayor Burt Ross in the 1970s to Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer's allegation that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadano sought favors for a developer or risk losing Sandy aid (A-1).

The developer is represented by Samson's law firm, and investigators want to question Samson about e-mails regarding the politically inspired September closure of George Washington Bridge access lanes in Fort Lee. 

Also on A-1 today is a photo of Bridget Anne Kelly, the deputy chief of staff Christie fired after disclosure of her e-mail to the Port Authority: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Kelly, who lives in Ramsey, looks older than in previous photos, and she is accompanied by Michael Critchley Sr., a prominent criminal defense lawyer who probably is charging her $400 to $500 an hour.

The Record still has not reported whether Critchley and all of the other lawyers flocking to the sides of Bridgegate figures will be paid with taxpayer funds. 

Old news made new

Cichowski's Road Warrior column on L-1 today is filled with breaking news about decades of gridlock in Fort Lee caused by drivers who seek short cuts to the bridge through borough streets (L-1).

This is a variation of the story that runs every year or so when Paramus residents who oppose the end of Blue Laws complain they can't get out of their driveways because of mall traffic.

The Record and the greedy Borg publishing family hate these residents for denying the paper new revenue from full-page ads promoting Sunday sales.

Mall gunmen

On A-4, a story on a gunman who killed two at a Maryland mall is an ugly reminder of the lack of security at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus and the Mall at Short Hills (A-2) -- a story The Record won't touch.

The photo of heavily armed officers (A-4) -- like those taken at the Paramus mall on Nov. 4 -- brings home how much taxpayers spend on local police departments that always seem to show up too late to prevent random shooting or killing.

Saturday's paper

The headline over Saturday's Page 1 story on Christie's limited appearances since his State of the State address says:

"Christie takes quiet turn"

I can see  "stays out of sight," but "quiet turn"?

Similarly, a reader noted in a letter to the editor published on Saturday's A-13 that an editorial used "hone in on" instead of the correct "home in on."

More 9/11 news

Saturday's Page 1 is dominated by a Mike Kelly column on the price of admission to the long delayed 9/11 museum that should have run in Travel in view of its limited appeal to North Jersey readers. 

Why spend money to enter the museum when there is no admission charge to go and see the two reflecting pools in the footprints of the Twin Towers?

Travel Editor Jill Schensul piece on saving money during a European vacation would have been better, if she had mentioned credit cards that don't charge a foreign currency transaction fee of about 2% (T-1).

Last word

Comedian Bill Maher had lots to say on Friday night about how conservatives love bullying.

During the New Rules segment of his HBO show, Maher noted:

"Somehow, we've gone from Teddy Roosevelt's 'Speak softly and carry a big stick' to Chris Christie's speak loudly and be a big dick."