Trump denounced for endless con, but Christie is off hook

NBC fired GOP presidential hopeful Donald J. Trump after he called Mexicans rapists and drug runners.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A hard-hitting Page 1 story and headline in The Record today denounces Donald J. Trump for disavowing his "crackpot con" about President Obama's birthplace.

"Trump
gives up 
old con
for new"

"Peddling false
theories just part
of his reality show"

Reporter Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post said Trump "immediately peddled another false conspiracy and even went so far as to claim credit for rectifying the situation" (A-6).

"'Hilary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it,' Trump said, falsely .... 'President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period.'"

"Trump even claimed in 2011 to have sent a team of investigators to Hawaii, to discover whether Obama had really been born there, as he -- and all the public records -- attested."

Two GOP thugs

The Record of Woodland Park, acquired by Gannett on July 6, remains the only major daily in the state that hasn't called on Governor Christie to resign for endorsing Trump, the wacko racist who is the GOP presidential nominee.

Gannett owned five of the six dailies that issued that call early this year, after Christie dropped out of the presidential race.

The Woodland Park daily also has ignored how Christie's 500-plus vetoes have hurt New Jersey residents in so many areas, as well as caused gridlock in the state Legislature.

Frivolous suit

Even though I'm a loyal Costco Wholesale member, I cannot believe a Leonia couple is wasting the court's time with a suit "alleging they were illegally charged sales tax on toilet paper at the retailer's stores in Wayne and Hackensack," for a loss of only about $6 (L-1).

Let's see, I've been buying toilet paper at Costco for 20 years.

But the savings I've enjoyed on fresh fish, other high-quality food, tires and so much more -- plus thousands of dollars in cash rebates from Costco, gas stations, restaurants and other retailers -- make whatever sales tax I've paid on toilet paper insignificant.

The larger problem is that lawsuits like this one are clogging the courts, denying other plaintiffs speedy resolution of their complaints.

Lawsuits like this one mean plaintiffs, if they can afford the inflated fees most lawyers charge, wait two, three or more years before their cases go to trial or are settled.

Now, that's a real injustice.

Common error

In reporting the suit against the toilet-paper tax, Staff Writer Nicholas Pugliese commits an error I've seen so many times before in The Record.

He parrots the plaintiffs' attorney, who says she filed "a class-action complaint" against Costco.

Only a judge can certify a lawsuit as a class action.

Hackensack is paying new attorney as much as Christie

During a spirited discussion of tax breaks for downtown apartment developers on Monday night, Hackensack Board of Education Attorney Richard Salkin was uncharacteristically deferential when he addressed City Council members; City Manager David R. Troast, left front; and Alexander H. Carver III, right front, the new city attorney, a job Salkin once held.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Alexander H. Carver III, who is Hackensack's new city attorney, is being paid a flat rate of $175,000 a year -- or $10,000 more than his salary when he left the Superior Court bench in 2013.

He also is making as much as Governor Christie, who picked the last Hackensack city attorney, Thomas Scrivo, to be his chief counsel in Trenton.

In addition to the maximum of $175,000 a year, Carver and his firm, Harwood Lloyd, will be paid legal fees associated with litigation, according to The Record.

Three-quarters of The Record's story today is filled with Carver's exploits as a Superior Court judge "who pulled no punches," but doesn't mention the city will pay him and his firm at a rate of $150 an hour (L-1).

When Scrivo was city attorney in 2014, Hackensack removed two city managers and a public relations consultant, running up legal bills topping $200,000 in six months.

During the Zisa years, Hackensack routinely paid its city attorney more than $250,000 a year, one official said.

COW

Do you hear mooing?

Most of the discussion and debate on the appointment of Carver, as well as tax abatements for downtown apartment developers, occurred on Monday during the Committee of the Whole meeting, which started at 6:30 p.m.

When City Council members convened for the regular meeting at 8 p.m., they ran through more than two dozen resolutions read off in rapid-fire fashion by the city clerk before they were open to public discussion and then a council vote.

Members of the public, such as City Council candidate Richard Cerbo, were limited to 5 minutes each, but could have spoken longer at the COW session.

City tax breaks

On Monday, the Hackensack City Council approved the introduction of two resolutions designating the redevelopers of 150-170 Main St. and 210 Main St.

Other resolutions were introduced to grant the apartment and retail developers tax abatements of 30 years and 25 years, respectively.

Cerbo, son of a former mayor, addressed the council, saying "10 years [of tax breaks] is plenty."

But Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino said the apartment and retail projects would never get built without the longer abatements, also referred to as payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT).

Canestrino noted the land and buildings at 150-170 Main St. are paying tax revenue of $228,277 a year, compared to the first-year payment of $802,605 after the project is completed.

Meanwhile, the city's annual street festival is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. t0 6 p.m., rain or shine.

Among the entertainment is Village People. 

Today's paper

Nearly six years after he took office, Christie says he is open to raising the gas tax and creating a stable source of funding for the Transportation Trust Fund (A-1).

His refusal to raise the second-lowest gas tax in the nation helped drivers, even though logically they should pay for repairing the roads and bridges they use.

But the GOP dictator moved decidedly against mass-transit users by killing the Hudson River rail tunnels, and stood by when the Port Authority refused to expand bus operations into Manhattan.

He also cut state subsidies to NJ Transit, forcing the agency to raise fares and cut service.

The Record's coverage of mass transit is so sophisticated a reporter today refers to NJ Transit's sleek, electrified light-rail system as "trolleys" (L-3).

And, like Christie, the Woodland Park daily has paid far more attention to drivers and driving, as evidenced by a dozen years of Road Warrior columns largely devoted to no other topics.

Hackensack Costco

The Record today is reporting Costco Wholesale is planning to convert its Hackensack warehouse to "a more specialized business center" after the store closes Oct. 13.

A bigger Costco is scheduled to open in Teterboro on Oct. 14.

In October 2014, the same reporter said the Hackensack Costco would be closing permanently, making the 14.8-acre parcel available for redevelopment.

So much for the reliability of The Record's business reporting.

Bah humbug to racial stereotypes, sloppy reporting

On Tuesday afternoon, parents and children waited on a long line at Bergen Town Center in Paramus to pose for photos with Santa Claus, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You can add the war of words to the war between police and hardened criminals, such as the crazed gunman who murdered two police officers in Brooklyn on Saturday.

If you managed to get past all of Mike Kelly's cliches on Page 1 of The Record on Wednesday, his column repeats shocking stereotyping of black neighborhoods by an ex-cop the reporter has called his friend.

Kelly didn't interview Bernard Kerik of Franklin Lakes, the former New York City police commissioner who served three years in federal prison for tax fraud -- a crooked cop Kelly often referred to as "Bernie."

He just lifted Kerik's shocking comments from a Time magazine essay:

"We have labeled our nation's police as racists who target minority communities. That's a complete lie. Cops go to minority communities because that is where the crime is.

"They don't target minorities. They target crime.... People say it was racist. It's not. It's a statistical statement," Kerik is quoted as saying on Wednesday's A-4.

Of course, Kelly doesn't challenge Kerik's racial stereotyping or point out that police in Paterson and other cities fail miserably to protect the residents of minority neighborhoods, such as the innocent Silk City girls killed by gunshots in July and September.

Kerik and the reporter also conveniently ignore the many years of racial profiling by New Jersey State Police, who were accused of pulling over minorities for Driving While Black (DWB). 

The state paid $12.95 million to settle a lawsuit filed by three men who were wounded in a 1998 turnpike shooting and a fourth man who was driving their van.

The plaintiffs, three blacks and a Hispanic, alleged they were pulled over by troopers who racially profiled them. 

Sloppy reporting

A front-page story on drivers who unwittingly fill up at the most expensive North Jersey gas stations could have been written any time in the last decade (A-1 on Wednesday).

But Staff Writer Christopher Maag holds up one woman driver to ridicule by reporting she paid "fully a dollar more [per gallon] than the Costco gas station just a half mile away" in Wayne.

A photo of Clarke appears on Wednesday's A-6, and the caption notes she paid $2.99 a gallon to fill up her thirsty Honda Pilot on credit. Horrors!

This kind of sloppy reporting and editing continues to bewilder readers.

Dead man walking

The lazy local assignment editors have been using accident photos as fillers for years, but on Wednesday, the practice came back to bite them.

The photo over line declared, "Fatal accident in Elmwood Park."

But police wouldn't provide information, and the editors relied on UPS officials in reporting that "an unidentified driver was killed on Tuesday when his car collided with a UPS tractor-trailer."

Guess what? 

In what could only be called a Christmas miracle, the driver, Paul Massey of Saddle Brook, survived and was in critical condition on Wednesday, according to an A-2 correction today that quotes the Elmwood Park police chief, who appears to be no fan of freedom of information.

Is Massey a husband or father, employed or retired? How old is he? What does his family think of the report of his death?

Are you kidding? This was just filler. Nobody at the paper cares one way or another.

Christie arrogance

Once again, a letter to the editor today expresses what the editors refuse to recognize:

"I was a supporter of Governor Christie," says John Amicucci of Fair Lawn (A-20). "But as his time in office has grown, so has his arrogance toward his constituents."

Noting Christie's support for the Dallas Cowboys football team, Amicucci suggests the GOP bully run for governor of Texas.

A dry paper

Today's paper was delivered to my home in two plastic bags that were knotted closed.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, when rain was forecast, my papers arrived soaking wet. They also were in two bags, but they were left open.

I called for replacements both days.

Attorney Frank P. Lucianna marching in Englewood's Memorial Day Parade last May, as he does every year. The Record's Better Living section today carries a feature on Lucianna, 91, who has always felt a kinship with Louis Zamperini, the war hero and world-class runner who is the subject of the movie "Unbroken."

Reporters miss the bus on delays at Manhattan terminal

Summer 2013: The line to board NJ Transit buses at the midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan was so long that some North Jersey commuters had to wait on the level below the platforms, above. Despite the crowded conditions, one woman used an empty seat for her personal belongings, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The incoming Port Authority chairman took a bus to midtown Manhattan, rating the antiquated terminal "unacceptable," but why is the story on Page 1 of The Record today?

Really groundbreaking news would be the paper's transportation reporters routinely riding public transit, and rating the service, which has deteriorated in the past decade.

That way problems wouldn't sneak up and bite them on their lazy asses -- as did several angry letters to the editor from bus riders The Record published late last year.

$90 million in repairs?

In the interview with Port Authority Chairman John Degnan, Staff Writer Shawn Boburg reports:

"Under pressure from commuters and several North Jersey legislators, the Port Authority is expected to consider directing $90 million for stopgap repairs of the aging bus terminal, a move that has Degnan's support" (A-1).

Of course, both Boburg and his clueless assignment editor have until recently completely ignored the bi-state agency's involvement in public transit, including the PATH commuter rail line and the reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel.

Ditto goes for Road Warrior John Cichowski, who appears to be too infirm to board an NJ Transit bus or train, and prefers to field e-mail complaints from drivers about road-construction delays (L-1).

Officer Goodell

Staff Writers Allison Pries and Emily Masters covered the procession that carried the body of Waldwick Police Officer Christopher Goodell to St. Luke's Church in Ho-Ho-Kus on Monday, and reported on Tuesday's church service and burial (A-1 today and Tuesday).

The detail in those overlong stories doesn't make up for all of the unanswered questions on exactly what happened when a J.B. Hunt tractor-trailer loaded with produce slammed into Goodell's unmarked cruiser parked on the shoulder of Route 17 south early last Thursday.

The 32-year-old officer and Iraq war veteran, who was manning a radar checkpoint, was killed.

Press releases

Prosecutors say trucker Ryon Cumberbatch, who pleaded not guilty on Monday to second-degree vehicular homicide, crossed the shoulder and made no attempt to stop, but not whether he was speeding or asleep at 1:30 a.m. (L-1 on Tuesday).

The Record's reporters don't seem to have cultivated any law-enforcement news sources, forcing them to rely on press releases.

Nor has the Woodland Park daily urged police in Waldwick and other towns to start using traffic and speeding cameras to avoid putting officers like Goodell in harm's way.

Inconsistencies

Tuesday's front-page photo caption says Goodell "died Thursday morning," but just below that the text of the story notes the police officer died "early Thursday."

Tuesday's story predicted "roughly 6,000 mourners," but today's report says the ceremony was attended by "an estimated 3,500 people" (A-1).

And why in the lead paragraph today did the editors lump together Goodell with Jersey City Police Officer Melvin Santiago, 23, who died under completely different circumstances (A-1).

Lame food coverage

The Better Living cover today celebrates the avocado as one of nature's "superfoods." 

Then, freelancer Rita Cookson negates its health benefits by recommending a salad made with avocados and bacon, which is filled with harmful animal antibiotics and hormones, as well as preservatives linked to cancer (BL-1 and BL-3).

The FYI column promotes a $40 three-course dinner at Due in Ridgewood when hundreds of Manhattan restaurants are serving $38 price-fixed dinners during Summer Restaurant Week (BL-2).

On Monday's Better Living cover, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz asked restaurant executive Grant Halliday what makes Roots Steakhouse in Ridgewood "different from all other steakhouse restaurants."

Unfortunately, Halliday claimed "our side offerings" are "unique," apparently because he couldn't boast that Roots serves naturally raised beef (a 24-ounce T-bone is $42.95).

Costco Wholesale sells cold-smoked wild Alaskan sockeye salmon year-round for under $19 a pound, but Staff Writer Elisa Ung promoted the cold-smoked artificially colored farmed salmon from Moveable Feast in Moonachie, a major restaurant supplier (BL-1 on Sunday).

Second look

Members of North Jersey motorcycle clubs modify their Harley-Davidsons to make them as noisy as possible -- annoying their neighbors to no end -- then find gullible reporters to write about their charitable giving.

I suppose Staff Writer Christopher Maag believes all the money raised by the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club in Carlstadt excuses the violation of every anti-noise ordinance on the books, as well as the lack of enforcement (Sunday's Local front).

It's Christie's way or the highway -- not the bridge

Governor Christie is weathering a storm over closure of two of the three access lanes to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge, above. Haven't New Jersey's elected officials always used asphalt and traffic for political purposes? In some Hackensack neighborhoods, many streets have remained unpaved for years, even decades.

Are these the traffic cones Christie once joked he had set up to close Fort Lee's bridge access lanes? Why don't police dust them for his fingerprints?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The planning, execution, cover-up and public-apology phases of the Bridgegate lane blockages have passed.

After Governor Christie took a powder to Florida, his allies went on the attack, questioning the motives of the Democratic state lawmaker who has led the investigation (The Record's A-1).

For the first time in 12 days, the Woodland Park daily's front page is dominated by other news -- a column on the teams going to the Super Bowl and a woefully incomplete story on the tragic death of a young Hispanic couple whose bodies were found in a garaged car (A-1).

Come on!

I glanced at the main headline on the front of the Sports section today, and found use of the word "come" in the big headline to be suspect (S-1).

And readers continue to be astounded by how little information Record reporters get from law-enforcement sources investigating suspicious or accidental deaths (A-1 and A-6).

Both Jorge E. Rodriguez, 24, of Garfield and Melissa A. Pereira, 25, of Wayne lived with their parents, so isn't it plausible they used a car in the garage of the woman's home for privacy?

Was the garage open or closed when their bodies were found? Was the car running inside the garage?

Why didn't The Record ask these and other questions instead of basing the story on an e-mail from Passaic County's chief assistant prosecutor?

GOP on the attack

This morning, I heard former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, demanding the recusal of state Assemblyman John Wisniewski, chairman of the panel probing closure of two of three Fort Lee access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in early September (A-1).

Giuliani claims Wisniewski is not impartial and has already said he doesn't believe Christie's version of events, including that he was blindsided by a close aid and cronies on the Port Authority. 

But Wisniewski isn't a judge, Christie hasn't been accused of any crime and the GOP bully hasn't even been subpoenaed.

Incredible claims

Of course, the lawmaker isn't the only one who doesn't find credible Christie's claim of being a victim.

The governor has been throwing his weight around since he took office in January 2010 -- from the racist dismissal of the state Supreme Court's only black justice to enacting his mean-spirited policies with intimidation, threats and vetoes.

Christie's "Reform Agenda," "Jersey Comeback" and "Partisan Compromise" have been thinly disguised battles in his war on the middle and working classes.

And critics can argue that Christie has ignored mass-transit improvements and used mounting traffic congestion as a way to suppress votes.

A recent study found people exhausted by their long commutes tend not to get involved in civic affairs or go to the polls.

In fact, the turnout in the Nov. 5 election that gave Christie a second term was the lowest of any gubernatorial election in state history.

Hits Democrats

So, isn't it plausible that during the campaign, Christie would retaliate against the Democratic mayors of Fort Lee -- home of the bridge -- Jersey City and Hoboken for not endorsing his reelection?

And that in Fort Lee, the natural way to do that was to cause gridlock in a borough that historically has co-existed uncomfortably with one of the world's busiest spans?

Cuckoo chefs

The Better Living cover features professional chefs urging home cooks to make chicken stock and basil pesto from scratch (BL-1 and BL-3).

If you make that a habit, when will you have time to earn a living? 

And with organic chicken stock and fragrant basil pesto available at Costco Wholesale, why would anyone in their right mind make them at home?
  

Readers want less shore coverage, more local news

A former Korean bakery at 479 Main St. in Hackensack, opposite the Sears parking lot, is being converted into Daheen Wang Mandoo, which would be a branch of a popular Korean dumpling restaurant in Manhattan and the Flushing section of Queens. The renovations are being slowed by the owners' inability to get permits from the city's Building Department, and it's unclear what assistance they are receiving from the Upper Main Alliance, a public-private partnership that promotes shopping and dining out on Hackensack's struggling Main Street.

With big headlines, photos and a map, The Record's front page today reports on the slow pace of recovery at the shore from Superstorm Sandy.

But that takeout gets a lot more play than another story on the impact on Hackensack and other towns of a proposed 55-acre retail development in Teterboro being fueled by a $19 million state tax break.

And a third story on Page 1 doesn't even mention Governor Christie might have revenue to pay for new tax cuts, if he wasn't giving away hundreds of millions of dollars in such breaks to wealthy retailers and other businesses. 

This kind of coverage just plays into Christie's hands.

After mismanaging the state's economy for more than 3 years, Christie is trying to revive the shore and throwing tax breaks around like confetti in a desperate bid for a second term.

Shore is expensive 

North Jersey residents love the shore, but high property taxes here and high rents there mean most can only afford an annual two-week vacation by the sea.

And second homes are out of reach for anyone but multimillionaires like the Borgs, with shacks at the shore going for $500,000 or more. 

Give us a break

Why did The Record omit mention of the $19 million state tax break in last Thursday's front-page story on Walmart and, possibly, Costco Wholesale opening stores in the Teterboro development?

Was North Jersey Media Group and the Borg family wooing Walmart for the 20 acres they own along River Street, the former headquarters of The Record, and did they lose out because no such state incentive was offered? 

Today's story is silent on the Walmart rumors that swirled around the Borgs' property, and doesn't differentiate between the low-wage jobs at the low-price retailer and the unionized labor at Costco.

Kids and salad

On the front of today's Local section, a story on a program "aimed at curbing obesity through organic gardening" caught my eye (L-1).

Students in a Teaneck middle school and members of the Hackensack Boys & Girls Club grew lettuce "and learned to make their own sugar-free salad dressing."

Imagine that. Young people eating salad and growing lettuce in a greenhouse, of all places, to escape the vagaries of the weather. 

Why doesn't every Hackensack school have such a program? 

And why isn't the tax-exempt Hackensack University Medical Center offering to help the schools serve healthy meals, in return for not having to pay taxes on $130 million in property?

Borg family remains mum on 20 acres in Hackensack

There are signs of renewal in Hackensack, but not at the old headquarters of North Jersey Media Group and The Record, above and below. In 2009, they abandoned the city where the newspaper prospered for more than 110 years, and the pullout of hundreds of employees hurt an already struggling Main Street.

Today's Page 1 story on possible anchor stores for a 55-acre project in Teterboro appears to end speculation that the Borg family was courting Walmart for the 20 Hackensack acres once occupied by The Record.

Many residents of Hackensack reacted negatively to the Walmart rumors, fearing traffic jams.

But given the newspaper's low quality of local journalism in recent years, a retailer that offers low prices and low quality might be appropriate for the land on River Street.

Discussions with city

City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono has said officials have had discussions with the Borgs about their plans, but he wasn't at liberty to discuss them.

Today's story on Walmart and Costco Wholesale doesn't mention North Jersey Media Group's Hackensack property, which has become an eyesore.

The stores wouldn't open in Teterboro until October 2016, The Record reported.

How about a land swap? 

Many residents of Prospect Avenue would like to see the Borgs negotiate a land swap with the developer of a controversial, 19-story Long Term Acute Care Hospital proposed for a small parcel between Prospect and Summit avenues, near Golf Place.

Residents have been fighting the plan, which was rejected by the city's zoning board, 5-0, in 2012 after 3 years of hearings, but the developer has appealed the denial to Superior Court. 

Tonight, the Prospect Avenue Coalition is sponsoring a third forum for the 11 candidates in the May 14 City Council election, all of whom support the residents.

Well-traveled

On the front of Local, The Record's Hannan Adely  reports the Hackensack City Council on Tuesday voted to amend the city code to allow Class II police officers, "who have the power" of regular cops, "but make a fraction of the pay" (L-1).

The byline of Adely, who is assigned to cover Hackensack, also appears today on a front-page story about a walking tour of Paterson's Great Falls "that you can download to your smart phone" (A-1).

But I question the accuracy of the headline:

 "Historic tour goes high tech"

The tour, according to the story, is new, not "historic." 
 

PSE&G continues to keep us in the dark

Is this why Hackensack's Fairmount section lost its lights?

On the third day after Super Storm Sandy hit North Jersey hard, much of Hackensack remains in the dark.

I called the police this morning to ask two things:

When is a large tree that brought down power lines around the corner and snapped three utility poles going to be removed?

Doesn't an unusually loud generator being used by the man in the house behind me violate anti-noise ordinances when it is run all night?

The officer said Public Service Electric
and Gas Co. has its own tree-removal crews in the event wires are involved.

A PSE&G employee wouldn't address the mess at Euclid and Prospect avenues specifically, but said power may be restored by Monday.

As for the noisy generator, the officer said it is a state of emergency.

Last night, on returning from dinner out in Palisades Park, we found few working traffic lights, closed roads and much of Hackensack's Main Street eerily dark.

We saw about 75 people with gas cans lined up at the Liberty station in Bogota, and one man who said he needed gasoline for his generator but didn't want to wait that long to get it.

In Hackensack, Costco Wholesale and the Coach House Diner were closed, but drivers continued to line up on Hackensack Avenue to enter a Dunkin' Donuts at University Place.

On trips to and from Englewood and Palisades Park on Wednesday, I saw not a single PSE&G crew repairing downed wires or clearing fallen trees.

No one I asked had seen a repair crew, either.

Did all of those crews I saw on Monday at Garden State Plaza, in what amounted to a public relations ploy by the public utility, race down to repair damage on the shore?

Sandy is proving to be a rerun of PSE&G's miserable performance after the freak snowstorm a year ago.

That pre-Halloween storm also proved to be the undoing of Francis "Frank" Scandale, then editor of The Record.

Let's hope the presidential election isn't déjà vu all over again -- with a Mitt Romney victory bringing us a rerun of the Bush years.

Last year, my power was out for 57 hours, and I was relatively lucky. This year, as of 7:30 this morning, we will have been without power for 60 hours.

UPDATE: This afternoon, on the way home from Target, I saw that the big fallen tree on Prospect Avenue, near Euclid Avenue, finally had been removed. But the downed power lines and snapped utility poles remained, and our electricity still is out.