When Christie drops out, editors will push for a comeback

Sign pollution at an auto service center and gas station on Forest Avenue and Teaneck Road in Teaneck.

Editor's note: This post has been updated to include a Star-Ledger editorial that condemns Governor Christie for killing a bill that would have boosted the turnout of voters in New Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

There was little if any mention of Governor Christie this morning on such National Public Radio stations as WNYC-FM.

But his comments in the so-called Republican undercard debate on Tuesday night leads The Record's front page today.

Political columnist Charles Stile continues to bore readers to tears with his endless analysis of Christie's every word, burp and fart -- as if the reporter sees himself as a patron saint of lost causes (A-1).

Even calling the GOP bully "presidential candidate Chris Christie," as St. Charlie does, is a stretch, given he didn't even poll the 2.5% he needed to get on the main stage with Dr. Ben Carson and Donald Trump.

Readers can expect Stile, Editor Martin Gottlieb and other Christie apologists to push for a comeback after the governor goes down in flames at the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary in February.

Until then, it will be Christie on the campaign trail 24/7, and repeated backing of every veto in New Jersey.

Early voting

Shame on Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin for praising Christie's veto of early voting, automatic registration at Motor Vehicle Commission offices and other Democracy Act attempts to boost turnout (A-16).

Again, Doblin and other editors continue to politicize every issue by calling greater access to voting an exclusively Democratic concern.

"Voting is a responsibility," Doblin scolds readers turned off by the partisan politics that fill The Record's news columns. 

"A little effort is not asking too much of any citizen. Christie got this one right."

A little effort isn't asking too much of a so-called journalist like Doblin, either, especially in view of unprecedented voter apathy and low turnouts in state and local elections.

The Star-Ledger, on the other hand, wants to take voting laws out of Christie's greedy hands:

"New Jersey just had the lowest Election Day turnout in its history – with just one out of five voters bothering to show up – so the governor figures he might as well make it harder for people to vote.

"His veto of the Democracy Act Monday was another predictable strike in Gov. Christie's campaign for voter suppression, and he even dusted off some old chestnuts about unreasonable costs and how the bill failed to "ensure that every eligible citizen's vote counts and is not stolen by fraud."

"It's always amusing when politicians imply that voters cannot be trusted.

"And it's special when a politician who spent $12 million on a special election – in a shameless attempt to hide from the electorate – claims he's looking out for our wallets."

To read the full editorial, click on this link:

Take voting laws out of Christie's hands


In Hackensack

In a special nonpartisan election in Hackensack on Nov. 3, only 2,625 votes were cast for four council candidates -- this in a city with about 20,000 registered voters.

One 90-year-old resident did make the "effort, but complained the entrance to his polling place at Hackensack High School was poorly marked, and he had to circle the large building to find it.

Of course, The Record's lazy editors did their best to ignore local races in Hackensack and other towns, and the irresponsible Doblin didn't even issue any endorsements for those contests.

Deborah Keeling-Geddis, standing at right, was sworn in as a city councilwoman in Hackensack on Tuesday night. She replaces businessman Jason W. Some (Photo credit: Hackensack.org)

Local news?

Today's front page offers nothing to local readers in Bergen County, and if you turn to the local-news section, municipal reporting takes a holiday (L-1).

Crime and court news apparently crowed out any mention of Tuesday night's meeting in Hackensack, where teacher's assistant Deborah Keeling-Geddis, who is African-American, was sworn in as a city councilwoman.

Assemblyman Gordon Johnson of Englewood officiated at the swearing in.

The Bergen County clerk certified the election of Keeling-Geddis to an unexpired term on Monday night, giving her a total of 819 votes.

Incumbent Jason W. Some received a total of 784 votes, school board President Jason S. Nunnermacker got 756 votes and Richard L. Cerbo received 266 votes.

Those totals are of votes cast on machines, mail-in ballots and provisional or paper ballots.

The agenda of Tuesday night's meeting was posted on the city's Web site:

City Council Meeting Docket 

City Council spokesman is ripping off Hackensack

Another cluster of annoying potholes at Prospect and Euclid avenues in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The most shocking story in The Record today is buried in the Local section, and it took its lead from the Hackensack Scoop blog.

The blog reported that Bergen County pays Hackensack spokesman Thom Ammirato $35,000 a year as a "public participation specialist" -- a potential conflict of interest (L-3).

Ammirato, a former GOP consultant, is paid an outrageous $78,000 a year for his public relations services to Hackensack. 

He holds the same job in North Arlington, where he is paid $21,600 a year.

Ammirato was the campaign manager who guided Citizens for Change to a sweep of the City Council election last May.

His selection as city spokesman raised the same questions of favoritism and cronyism that hounded the Zisa family, which ruled Hackensack for decades. 

Hackensack lame-duckers offer weak congratulations

Hackensack Councilman John P. Labrosse, left, is the only incumbent who will return when the City Council is reorganized on July 1. 

Mayor Michael R. Melfi and two other lame-duck City Council members offered weak congratulations on Tuesday night to the slate of reformers who swept to victory on May 14.

Councilman John P. Labrosse, who led the Citizens for Change team, is the only incumbent returning on July 1.

Quack, quack

Melfi, Councilwoman Karen K. Sasso and Councilman Jorge E. Meneses each spoke briefly to congratulate Labrosse and three other members of his slate, Kathy Canestrino, Rose Greenman and David Sims, who were sitting in the audience.

Melfi, Sasso and Meneses are allies of the Zisa family political machine. They were elected to the council in 2005, and chose not to run this year. 

Deputy Mayor Marlin G. Townes is the fourth incumbent whose days are numbered.

Low turnout

Despite a low voter turnout -- only 3,513 out of more than 20,000 registered voters -- the Labrosse slate defeated a new Zisa team, which was composed of 5 mental lightweights who called themselves the Coalition for Open Government.

One of their vocal supporters was Jack Zisa, who served as mayor from 1989 to 2005.

None of those losers attended Tuesday night's council meeting, which lasted all of 35 minutes.

Final numbers

The final tabulation of votes in the 2013 municipal election, including absentee and provisional ballots, as released by City Clerk Debra Heck:

Labrosse, 2,024; Canestrino, 1,924; Sims, 1,929; Greenman, 1,804; and Leonardo Battaglia, 1,820.

Open Government candidates Kenneth Martin, 1,657; Jason S. Nunnermacker, 1,685; Joanne Mania Colon, 1,666; Joseph A. Barreto, 1,664; and Scott Young, 1,639.

Independent candidate Victor E. Sasson received 344 votes.

Christie's 'Jersey Comeback' is really 'Jersey Come'

A "YES WE CAN TAX THE RICH" bumper sticker on a Toyota Prius, photographed on May 13 in Hackensack, the day before a slate of reformers triumphed in the municipal election. The state's financial problems are caused in part by Governor Christie's refusal to impose a tax surcharge on millionaires that could raise as much as $1 billion in new revenue.

You'd think $132 million in desperate "budget cuts and other spending adjustments" to balance Governor Christie's budget plan would be front-page news in The Record.

No. The editors of the Woodland Park daily see their job as promoting his "Jersey Comeback" reelection campaign, so the story is on A-3, the page for routine state news.

Today's piece by Staff Writer John Reitmeyer is filled with politics -- the biggest reader turnoff, by far -- and doesn't even list the $132 million in new budget cuts and "adjustments," whatever those are.

But residents know the cuts likely will be more bad news for them, as Christie's "Jersey Come" administration continues to royally screw the middle and working classes.

One of the many empty storefronts on Main Street in Hackensack.

Hackensack surprise

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, left the River Street newsroom and Hackensack news behind in 2009, when North Jersey Media Group moved to Woodland Park and Rockaway Township.

Despite scores of stories about then-Police Chief Ken Zisa's legal problems, those editors largely ignored city life and the decline of Main Street.

So, the victory of a slate of reformers and defeat of the Zisa political machine in the election last Tuesday took the editors and the rest of the media by surprise.

On Monday, a front-page column by Mike Kelly played catch-up, reporting the reformers parlayed discontent over declining city services into victory at the polls.

If it wasn't for Kelly's outdated column photo, complete with shit-eating grin, the piece was indistinguishable from a news story or analysis.

And it's stale news:

On Feb. 15, the Hackensack Chronicle published a letter from independent City Council hopeful Victor E. Sasson, editor of Eye on The Record:

"I joke I am running for Hackensack City Council to get my street paved.

"But the sad truth is that as property taxes have risen, the quality of life in Hackensack has declined dramatically."

Sasson's platform to improve city services, including street paving, eventually was adopted by the other candidates, including the victorious Citizens for Change.

Burned-out columnist

Kelly is a burned-out word-pusher who thinks of himself as a columnist who parachutes in to provide context for readers.

It's been a little more than a year since he last visited Hackensack, and put in many hours of ass time at Zisa's trial, which ended when the ex-police chief and former state assemblyman was convicted of official misconduct and insurance fraud.

Now, instead of peddling old election news, he should be looking into whether Superior Court Judge Joseph S. Conte erred in allowing Zisa to remain free while he appeals his conviction and 5-year prison sentence.

Tea Party, Associated Press deserve what they get

A small parking lot and walkway on South River Street in Hackensack, above and below, will provide access to the Hackensack River.The new walkway, next to a large solar farm, was closed when I visited this past Monday.

I believe in the principle of certain groups being tax exempt, but not the Tea Party's radical, no-tax Republicans, who have sowed so much divisiveness in Washington (See Page 1 of The Record today).

Remember how the Tea Party compared President Obama's health care reform to the Holocaust?

The Associated Mess

I also believe in the principal of an unfettered press, but can't really get upset by the Justice Department issuing subpoenas for The Associated Press' telephone records (See Thursday's A-4).

The wire service's irresponsibly hysterical stories are used on the front page of The Record and hundreds of newspapers, and they form the basis of TV and radio news reports.

Look at Page 1 of The Record on Wednesday, when The AP reported "President Obama seemed to lose control of his second-term agenda."

Is that the same as losing control of your journalistic bowels?

On Thursday's A-1, the wire service reported the president "was hurrying to check a growing controversy."

Is it growing as fast as Governor Christie's waistline before he had lap-band surgery?

GOP plays The AP

All of these "scandals" and "controversies" are based on complaints from Republicans, who have set back America's middle class more than any other group.

Recall how bored wire service reporters caused panic among Obama supporters last year -- with daily reporting of polls and surveys that allegedly showed a real horse race in the presidential contest.

But the election wasn't close at all: Obama beat Mitt Romney handily in both the popular vote and in the Electoral College.

The story is politics

Yet, The AP continues to politicize every bill and every vote in Washington as a battle between Obama and Republicans, and rarely discusses issues -- just as The Record politicizes every story out of Trenton.

Today, political Columnist Charles Stile can't bring himself to criticize Christie for breaking his 2009 campaign promise to cut property taxes in New Jersey or to label re-election ads as deceptive (A-1).

Hackensack election

On the front of Local, Staff Writer Hannan Adely finally addresses voter apathy, which was a factor in the Hackensack City Council elections in 2009 and 2005 (L-1).

This week's historic victory of a reform slate, Citizens for Change, showed candidates were able to target discontent, despite low voter turnout.

The winning slate hopes to move the municipal election to November. It's about time.

Now, what about Hackensack's school board election in April, when turnout was less than half of the municipal election's?

Francis W. Albolino and two other candidates backed by the Zisa family political machine won.

That's a powerful argument for moving that election to November, as well.

Blogger's campaign helped change Hackensack

Limon Fine Food Marketplace on Main Street is a mere shell, symbolizing the failure of the Upper Main Alliance to revive the downtown shopping district in Hackensack. The public-private partnership was formed in 2004, when Jack Zisa was mayor of "Zisaville." Zisa served 16 years as mayor, a powerful argument for term limits.

The alliance does have a shiny pickup truck marked "SUPERVISOR." Of what? Around 2:30 on Monday afternoon, there was little foot traffic on Main Street, and some of the people were homeless or appeared deranged.

This morning, Victor E. Sasson drove over the same roughly patched streets he brought to the attention of voters during a 3-month campaign for City Council in Hackensack.

Sasson used potholes and the city's failure to pave his street since 1979 to dramatize how property taxes continue to rise and city services decline in "Zisaville."

When the campaign ended this week, street paving and most other quality of life issues in Sasson's platform had become part of the promises made to voters by the 10 other candidates in the race.

And city officials appeared to be making some of the changes Sasson sought on behalf of himself and other property tax payers.

Last, not least 

Sasson finished last on Tuesday, with 344 votes, but his consolation prize is the victory of the 5-member Citizens for Change slate, headed by incumbent John Labrosse.

Best of all, the Coalition for Open Government, a quintet of mental lightweights and Zisa allies, was defeated, signaling that decades of corrupt rule in Hackensack will soon end (see Page 1 of The Record today).

Although 344 seems like a small number, those vote could have swung the election to other candidates.
 

John Labrosse, right, speaking to supporters on Tuesday night at the Elks Lodge on Linden Street in Hackensack.

 
LTACH and you

The victory of the Labrosse slate also repudiated the strategy of the Prospect Avenue Coaltion to organize residents around a single issue, and to hell with the rest of Hackensack.

Hundreds of high-rise residents attended forums with the candidates, and grilled them on their positions regarding a 19-story Long-Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH) proposed for a small parcel between Prospect and Summit avenues, near Golf Place. 

The developer is appealing the city zoning board's 5-0 decision to reject the plan, and the coaltion wanted to make sure City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr. and former zoning board attorney Richard Malagiere would continue to fight against LTACH in Superior Court.

Key members of the coalition even urged Prospect Avenue residents to split their vote and elect a City Council with three Zisa allies and two members of Citizens for Change -- in other words, maintain the status quo.

Labrosse and his running mates had said they would cut loose Joe Zisa and Malagiere, as did Sasson.

Such a 3-2 council would be great for the coalition -- because the attorneys would be able to continue fighting LTACH and lining their pockets with legal fees at taxpayers' expense -- but terrible for the rest of the city. 

Inside the voting booth. Victor E. Sasson appeared to be hurt by his ballot position -- last. He was told it is state law to list candidates in one column, in contrast to from left to right as on ballots used in the general election. That law doesn't favor independents.

Taxing officials

Sasson and Citizens for Change didn't coordinate their campaigns, but their positions complemented each other as they made voters aware of a 65% hike in property taxes amid declining services.

Kathy Canestrino, the Labrosse running-mate elected on her second try, hammered away at the $6 million in legal fees the city paid in 3 years, all of it generated by the legal problems of Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa, the former state Assemblyman and convicted ex-police chief.

A select group of lawyers got rich suing or defending Zisa, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but who remains free pending the appeal of his conviction a year ago for official corruption and insurance fraud.

And Sasson told voters Hackensack is a tax-poor city, deprived of tens of millions of dollars, because of the tax-exempt status of Hackensack University Medical Center, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Bergen County.

Sasson urged HUMC and the others to give back to the city in lieu of property taxes.

Change has started

He didn't have to get elected to see that process begin.

Mike Mordaga took over on Feb. 4 as the city's first civilian police director, and went to work on problems ranging from street crime to moving violations by drivers to all the time his officers spend driving the homeless to the HUMC emergency room.

Mordaga paired county sheriff's officers with city cops in cruisers, and sent them out to stop crime and improve the quality of life by having residents feel safe walking the streets.

He's also asked the county police for assistance.

And Mordaga ordered a crackdown on such moving violations as speeding and blowing through stop signs.

Finally, he asked HUMC to staff a room at the county shelter on South River Street -- where three free meals a day keep the homeless in Hackensack -- to cut down on his officers' trips to the emergency room.

Sasson's lawn signs may come in handy in the next campaign.

Sasson's street will be paved in the fall, the city manager said recently.

And the city no longer sends a noisy truck to collect his garbage and recyclables before 6 a.m., giving his family and neighbors some sorely needed peace and quiet.

Reformers win Hackensack City Council election

Hackensack Councilman Jorge Meneses, left, chatting with Kenneth Martin, right, the Coalition for Open Government's lead candidate, this afternoon in front of the entrance to the polls at Hackensack High School.

 
Citizens for Change, the slate of Hackensack City Council reformers headed by incumbent John Labrosse, won today's non-partisan municipal election.

Official results show residents rejected the dirty campaign of the Hackensack Coalition for Open Government, also known as "the Zisa slate," which was backed and financed in part by Lynne Hurwitz, the city's Democratic boss.

Councilman John Labrosse, right, speaking to supporters as votes were tallied tonight at the Elks Lodge on Linden Street in Hackensack.

The first 5 columns represent votes for Citizens for Change.

The winners will be sworn in on July 1.

Since he was elected in 2009, Labrosse has been out-voted 4-1 on the council.

Labrosse and the other four members of his slate were the targets of a campaign of lies and distortions mounted by the Zisa family political dynasty, which has ruled Hackensack for decades.

This morning, former Mayor Jack Zisa blasted independent candidate Victor E. Sasson for a campaign flier that urged voters to end the Zisa family's corrupt rule.

Zisa seemed to be saying he was an honest mayor during his 16 years in office, ending in 2005.

But he didn't explain why he stood by and did nothing while his brother Ken, the city's police chief and a state Assemblyman, broke the law.

Jack Zisa is the city's broker for employee health insurance, and his cousin, Joseph C. Zisa Jr., is city attorney.

Sasson, whose name appeared at the bottom of a column of 10 other candidates, finished last with 344 votes, City Clerk Debra Heck said tonight.

Heck released the following vote totals:

Labrosse, 2,008; Kathy Canestrino, 1,908; David Sims, 1,911; Rose Greenman, 1,788; and Leo Battaglia, 1,804.

Kenneth Martin, a former cop who headed the Coalition for Open Government, received 1,651 votes, Heck said.