Editors claim main Bridgegate defendant is angel, not devil

A splash of fall color on Passaic Street and Poplar Avenue in Maywood, where this tree was sculpted by passing buses and trucks.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A Record columnist has done more than anyone outside of her defense team to portray Bridget Anne Kelly as a victim instead of as the central Christie administration figure in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures.

Veteran reporter Mike Kelly was granted unprecedented access to the defendant's lawyers, close friends and former associates -- as readers saw last Thursday in his flattering Page 1 profile of Governor Christie's former deputy chief of staff.

As a result, much of his coverage of Kelly's role in the Bridgegate scandal sounds like it was written by a publicist, not a veteran reporter:

We've learned Bridget Kelly, 44, grew up in Ramsey and attended Catholic schools and a Catholic university; and that she is a divorced mother of four with joint custody.

On Tuesday's front page, the editors even ran a photo showing Bridget Kelly wearing a blouse that looked like it was part of a maternity outfit.

That photo ran under a banner headline:

"Kelly feared she was being set up"

Under the banner, a sub-headline over Charles Stile's column said:

"At trial, Christie portrayed as

 something worse than a bully" 

Shed tear in court

"She's a Catholic kind of orderly person," one of her friends told Mike Kelly for his Thursday profile. "That's why I've always found it absolutely incredible that she would have cooked up this scheme to cause traffic problems in Fort Lee."

The reporter even noted in his lead paragraph for the profile that as she listened to prosecution witnesses testify in the Newark courtroom, she shed a "solitary tear."

In his column today, the reporter says "the other day," Kelly's lawyer, Michael Critchley, "asked her if she knew what a 'scapegoat' was," and before she could answer prosecutors objected "and the judge agreed" (A-1).

That echoed what the columnist had been told by her friends for his extraordinarily long Thursday piece, which appeared a day before she took the stand in her own defense for the first time:

"Kelly's friends say she is the target for unfair punishment," and that star prosecution witness and former Port Authority official David Wildstein "had set her up as a scapegoat" (Thursday's A-6).

Cross-examination

Today, the editors run a front page news story on cross-examination of Bridget Kelly, and yet another Mike Kelly column boosting her defense and again portraying her as a victim (A-1).

The prosecutor challenged the defendant's portrayal of herself as "a bit player in the administration," and tried to show the jury she ordered two of three access lanes closed for five mornings to punish Mark Sokolich, the Democratic mayor, for not endorsing Christie's reelection (A-1).

Of course, what the columnist or The Record's editors believe won't mean anything when federal prosecutors sum up and the case goes to the jury.

Bridget Kelly still has not been able to explain away her email to Wildstein, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," which she sent about a month before he put the lane closures into motion as part of a so-called traffic study.  

She told the jury the email wasn't "an order."

Commuters, tree huggers applauding big gasoline-tax hike

North Dean Street in Englewood on a drizzly Friday afternoon. Drivers of hybrid and all-electric cars pay no attention to the price of gasoline, and won't flinch when the state's motor fuels tax goes up by 23 cents a gallon as early as next week.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie insisted on cutting taxes for the wealthy before he agreed to a 23-cents-per-gallon hike in the gas tax to fund road and rail improvements.

In the past few years, Christie has vetoed or threatened to veto raising the gas tax for the first time since 1988, as well as put the kibosh on a tax surcharge on millionaires.

It's no surprise that "most New Jersey residents oppose an increase in the gas tax," as The Record reports today, given the crushing burden of property taxes and Christie's failure to lower them (A-7).

But while most drivers are cursing the gas-tax hike, they reserve the right to sound off about the lousy roads they are stuck with and to offer no other solution.

Drivers of hybrid and all-electric cars just shrug at higher prices for gasoline, hoping the new tax will slow the sale of gas-guzzling SUVs and cut deaths from auto emissions. 

No compromise

The GOP thug dominates this week's other big stories:

The crash of an NJ Transit train in Hoboken, and continuing testimony by the government's star witness in the Bridgegate trial -- Christie crony and confidant David Wildstein (A-1, A-6, A-7, L-1 and L-6).

Today, The Record's bumbling editors finally publish two stories that should have been in the paper on Friday, the day after a Bergen County train failed to slow, crashed into the platform and nearly broke through the waiting-room wall at the historic Hoboken Terminal.

The first is a profile of Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34, a Hoboken wife and mother who was killed on a platform by falling debris (A-1).

The second details how Christie slashed state aid to NJ Transit, forcing fare hikes, service cuts and the cancellation of work on an automatic braking system that could have prevented Thursday morning's tragedy.

Minimum wage

In addition to repeatedly vetoing higher taxes on millionaires, Christie killed a bill that would have raised the minimum wage in New Jersey to $15 an hour by 2021.

Today, The Record reports the state minimum will rise to $8.44 and hour from $8.38, "based on a small uptick in the consumer price index" (A-8).

Local news?

Four reporters were assigned to cover the delays faced by NJ Transit commuters whose trains only went as far as Secaucus on Friday (L-1).

And on L-6, Road Warrior John Cichowski wastes commuters' time by covering a public-relations tour by Dennis Martin, the interim executive director of NJ Transit.  

In the 13 years Cichowski has written the Road Warrior column, he has largely ignored mass transit commuters in favor of drivers.

Christie's mouthpiece cursed probing Bridgegate reporters

Commuters on stretchers this morning after an NJ Transit train on the Pascack Valley Line failed to stop in the Hoboken Terminal and jumped the platform, below. TV stations reported at least one person died and more than 100 were injured in the crash, which brought down a canopy over the tracks. Witnesses reported seeing the engineer slumped over the controls. Both photos are from Getty Images.

The train was described as a "pusher" -- with a diesel engine being operated by an engineer at the rear of passenger cars.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Add another one of Governor Christie's closest aides to the list of those who knew a "partisan plot was behind the George Washington Bridge traffic jams" in Fort Lee, according to a Page 1 story in The Record today.

In Bridgegate trial testimony on Wednesday, star prosecution witness David Wildstein, the crony Christie appointed to a powerful post at the Port Authority, fingered Michael Drewniak, a former Star-Ledger reporter who served as the governor's chief spokesman.

Wildstein, who has pleaded guilty in the lane closures, testified he met with Drewniak on Dec. 4, 2013, and told him "specifically, this was political retaliation" against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich "for not endorsing Governor Christie's [re-election] campaign" (A-6).

Wildstein and Bill Baroni, another former Port Authority official who is one of the defendants, asked Drewniak to respond to a Star-Ledger reporter looking into the controversy.

The former reporter "used an expletive" [likely the F-word] and called the reporter a "mutt" [as in "F-ing mutt"], The Record reported on Jan. 16, 2014.

He used the same expletive in response to a request for comment from a Star-Ledger editorial writer:

"[Expletive] him and the S-L [Star-Ledger]," Drewniak wrote in an email.

In May 2014, Drewniak testified before a legislative panel investigating the lane closures, insisting Wildstein said he was responsible for the traffic gridlock, but that the cause was a "traffic study."   

For his loyalty to Christie, Drewniak was given a cushy $147,400-a-year job at NJ Transit on April 1, 2015 -- an April Fool's joke on taxpayers.

He was being paid $134,000 a year as the governor's press secretary.

Bridgegate trial testimony so far: Christie, Christie, Christie

The cover of today's New York Post sums up testimony by Bridgegate trial star witness David Wildstein, a crony Governor Christie appointed to a powerful position at the Port Authority, owner and operator of the George Washington Bridge.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Despite Governor Christie's denial -- repeated on Tuesday -- the weight of the evidence in the Bridgegate trial places him at the center of the plot to punish the mayor of Fort Lee in September 2013.

Christie wasn't indicted in the George Washington Bridge lane closures -- five mornings of gridlock designed to retaliate against a Democrat who refused to endorse the GOP thug's re-election.

Still, only his sworn testimony before a federal jury would effectively answer the accusations from prosecutors and David Wildstein, described by The Record today "as the admitted mastermind of the plot" (A-1).

Wildstein pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against two Christie allies who are on trial in Newark, but the judge will consider a reduced sentence only if the former Port official tells the truth.

On Tuesday, Wildstein said he and his boss, defendant Bill Baroni -- then deputy executive director of the Port Authority -- looked forward "to telling Christie of the traffic jam and unheeded pleas for help from their target," Mayor Mark Sokolich (A-1 and A-4).

They did so at the 9/11 ceremony on Sept. 11, 2013, as attested to by a photo of the trio that shows Christie laughing.

Two of three local access lanes to the bridge were shut down from Sept. 9, 2013, the first day of school; to Sept. 13, 2013.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes asked Wildstein if he and Baroni were bragging to the governor.

"Yes," Wildstein testified, "... I was pleasing our one constituent. I was happy that he was happy" (A-4).

Other news?

Usually, Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi's gee-whiz photos of non-fatal accidents end up on L-3 to fill holes in the local-news report.

But today, his Page 1 photo captured the aftermath of a crash of a large SUV that rolled backward, hit a utility pole and pulled down electric wires -- all of this after a woman parked and got out of the vehicle on Van Schaik Lane in Wyckoff, leaving her 2-year-old son inside.

"The mother did not wish to be identified," the photo caption says of the seemingly irresponsible woman.

Clinton won debate

After not committing to either Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald J. Trump after their first TV debate, an editorial today says Clinton "commanded" the stage (A-8).

"One candidate prepared to talk about the issues, while the other was prepared to talk about himself."

"Hillary Clinton obviously won Monday's debate in a rout," said NYTimes.com Op-Ed Columnist David Leonhardt.

Local news

In a rare story about Hackensack, Staff Writer John Seasly reports that city officials celebrated the start of construction on a new Performing Arts Center (L-1).

Under that is the obituary of J. Herbert Leverette, 87, a Korean War veteran who was elected Hackensack's first black council member in 1965.

Time to poll Americans on who we trust in the news media

In his first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton, GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump didn't mention the wall he wants Mexico to build on the U.S. border. This cartoon is from Christo Komarnitski in Bulgaria.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"Clinton and Trump

come out swinging"

Is this trite, non-committal Page 1 headline the best The Record's editors can do today to describe the first presidential debate?

With the names changed, this same headline probably has run every time presidential candidates engaged in their first televised confrontation.

Democrat Hillary Clinton looked and sounded far more presidential than Trump, the wacko racist who didn't prepare for the debate and at times did a good imitation of a blithering idiot.

On NYTimes.com, David Leonhardt, an OpEd columnist, listed 26 lies Trump told during the debate -- from the loan his father once gave him to "birtherism" to calling women "pigs."

Then, Leonhardt asks, "So ... who won the debate?"

The Times has already endorsed Clinton for president, leaving readers of The Record wondering when the editorial board of the Woodland Park daily is finally going to take sides.

"Our endorsement is rooted in respect for her intellect, experience and courage," The Times said on Sunday.

A recent Record editorial claimed Americans don't trust either presidential candidate, but no one has polled readers on whether they trust the paper's editorial board, which didn't call on Christie to resign after endorsing Trump in February, as did seven other dailies.

A 'Cichowski'

A second blithering idiot appears on A-1 today --Road Warrior John Cichowski, who slams David Wildstein, the former Port Authority executive who pleaded guilty and is testifying as the chief prosecution witness in the Bridgegate trial.

Cichowski's column is one of two pieces that attack Wildstein's credibility (A-1 and A-4).

As usual, Cichowski's column is padded with so much nonsense you have to wonder why the editors ran it at all.

"The governor's childhood chum explained the makings of something so bizarre [conspiring with other officials to cause a traffic jam] that it might some day be called a 'Wildstein'" (A-1).

Well, there are a few 'Cichowskis' in the column -- stuff he completely makes up -- like reporting for the first time that closure of two upper-level access lanes to the George Washington Bridge from Sept. 9 to 13, 2013, "paralyzed Fort Lee and several other towns." 

A second "Cichowski" is noting "the world's busiest bridge ... links America's biggest city to New Jersey's biggest county."

Oh, that's why they built it.

Can readers trust anything they read in the Road Warrior column, which Cichowski has mishandled for all of the 13 years he's been doing it?

Shuber told?

On Monday, Wildstein testified he alerted Pat Shuber, a Port Authority commissioner, to the plan to create gridlock in Fort Lee in 2013 to punish the borough's Democratic mayor for not endorsing Governor Christie's reelection.

Wildstein said Shuber, who was appointed by Christie, "understood," but an attorney for the former Bergen County executive denies the conversation ever took place.

Abused seniors

Staff Writer Colleen Diskin, the closest thing the paper has to a reporter who covers the elderly, today describes a Bergen County nursing home with a free room for any abused senior -- "a temporary place to stay to get away from exploitative, neglectful or violent circumstances" (A-1).

What about the majority of Bergen seniors, who travel, dine out frequently, go to Broadway shows and subscribe to The Record?

When is Diskin going to pay any attention to them? 

Local news?

The Local front today reports on a major endorsement for Josh Gottheimer, the Democrat trying to unseat Rep. Scott Garrett in the 5th Congressional District (L-1).

Gottheimer has repeatedly attacked Garrett as a Tea Party radical, but that identification doesn't appear anywhere in the story on retired Gen. Wesley Clark's appearance at a campaign event for the former Microsoft executive.

A second story reports Teaneck Councilman Mark Schwartz, a Democrat who is Jewish, is endorsing Garrett, claiming the congressman is "one of the best friends Israel has" (L-1).

Four major stories about Paterson appear in a local-news section that has little news about the 70 towns in Bergen County.

Trial explores how Christie's politics turned into criminality

This Jan. 9, 2014, front page from a New York tabloid shows the kind of aggressive reporting that assumed Governor Christie had a central role in the George Washington Bridge lane closures -- a conclusion only now dawning on The Record's editors after a week of testimony in the Bridgegate trial.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

From the looks of The Record's front page today, the editors appear to be the last people on Earth to realize Governor Christie had a central role in the Bridgegate scandal.

Meanwhile, opinion Columnist Brigid Harrison says the state Legislature should consider articles of impeachment against the governor, if the evidence shows he knew all along about retaliating against a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse the GOP thug's reelection (O-3).

Harrison -- a professor at Montclair State University -- wrote the same column for The Star-Ledger three days ago.

What has Record Columnist Mike Kelly been saying about the criminal trial of Bill Baroni, who was at the Port Authority, and Bridget Anne Kelly, who was Christie's deputy chief of staff?

"Consider what we are learning about all of these public servants who took on tasks that were never part of their job descriptions," Kelly says.

"All this extra work. Truly amazing to behold" (O-1).

Harrison's impeachment column should have run on Page 1, and Kelly's sophomoric attempt at satire shouldn't have run at all.

Nail in coffin

One of the final nails in Christie's coffin was driven by David Wildstein, the crony he appointed to a powerful position at the Port Authority, owner and operator of the bridge.

Wildstein, the government's star witness, testified on Friday about what he called "the one constituent rule" at the massive bi-state transportation agency (A-1 on Saturday).

"The one constituent rule meant that the only person who mattered was Governor Christie," Wildstein told the federal jurors.

"He was the one constituent. If it was good for Governor Christie, it was good for us."

Wildstein referred to Kelly, one of the defendants, as one of his main contacts in the Governor's Office and his "boss" (A-8 on Saturday).

In fact, prosecutors allege Kelly's email to Wildstein, using their personal accounts -- "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" -- set into motion closure of GWB access lanes and five mornings of paralyzing gridlock in September 2013.

His testimony suggests that is when Christie's politics turned into criminal acts -- including  conspiracy to deny the civil rights of Fort Lee residents and others, as well as wire fraud.

Wildstein also testified the Port Authority had a "goody bag" to help Christie's reelection effort and presidential aspirations, including surplus vehicles sent to Washington Township's emergency squad.

Wasted space

As The Record has done many times in covering Christie, Saturday's front page carries a long, detailed news story on Wildstein's testimony in Newark federal court and a political column that basically rehashes what he said.

But Staff Writer Charles Stile's Political Stile column is a colossal waste of space, failing to add any insights or express any strong opinions about Christie's mean-spirited policies, reelection campaign or failed White House bid.

And in an editing oversight, Stile refers to the "Constituency of One Rule," and the news story calls it "the one constituent rule."

Local news?

S0-called commuting columnist John Cichowski could be writing about greater fuel efficiency, the transition to hybrid and purely electric vehicles, and the benefit to the environment.

He could advise his peers that even EVs with a range of 100 miles on a full charge suit the limited driving of most senior citizens.

Instead, Cichowski's Road Warrior column today revives the age-old debate over whether car engines really need premium gasoline (L-1).

On L-3, a story discusses added parking spaces at Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood instead of what the district is doing to improve graduation rates.

Mixed message

On Friday, Staff Writer Elisa Ung gave 2.5 stars out of 4 stars (Good to Excellent) to Brookside Bistro in Riverdale, a Morris County town far from the heart of the circulation area in Bergen County.

Yet, she also told readers the restaurant would be good for "a casual dinner, if you live in the neighborhood," but less appropriate for a "destination ... dinner." 

Huh?

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.

Editors: America is under attack! America is under attack!

An image from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Facebook page shows the garbage pail torn apart by an explosive device that discharged before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity race on Saturday in Seaside Park to benefit Marines and sailors.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The potential for many injuries and deaths from weekend bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey can't be denied.

But the overwrought coverage in The Record since Sunday exaggerates the danger of the lone suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, and feeds into the demonization of Muslims by wacko racist Donald J. Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.

Today's front page is dominated by a photo of the bearded Elizabeth man, who "fought violently with a family member, had a court battle over child custody and support, and struggled with joblessness," according to the melodramatic lead paragraph.

That could also describe thousands of people living in the metropolitan area.

On Tuesday, Record Staff Writer Mike Kelly wrung his hands and gnashed his teeth over law enforcement being powerless to detect "the enemy disguised as neighbor and friend," as the headline over his column put it.

Kelly was too quick to compare the killing of 49 people in an Orlando, Fla., gay nightclub to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in which nearly 3,000 died. 

I haven't seen any Kelly columns on how, summer after summer, Paterson police have been powerless to stop the gang violence that results in the killing of innocent bystanders.

Fort Lee favors

In Bridgegate trial testimony on Tuesday, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, described many enticements from Republican Governor Christie, but testified he ultimately refused to endorse him for reelection in November 2013.

And the borough's police chief said that he recommended relatives of anyone who died as the result of the September 2013 traffic jams caused by closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge sue the bridge owner and operator, the Port Authority.

Two of the governor's former allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, are accused of causing the traffic jams for five days to punish Sokolich.

Local news?

The local editors' fascination with photos of cars that flip or roll over continues (L-3).

A rare story about Hackensack, the biggest community in Bergen County, appears on L-6 today.

Staff Writer John Seasly reports the city has dropped plans to privatize sanitation pickups, citing "minimal savings," according to a press release from Mayor John Labrosse, whose name is misspelled "Lacrosse" throughout the story.

The last name of City Manager David Troast is misspelled "Toast," and the last name of Chief Financial Officer James Mangin is misspelled "Margin."

Seasly, who was assigned to cover Hackensack in February, spells only one of the names correctly, that of Bergen County NAACP President Anthony Cureton, who denounced the plan because most of the sanitation workers are black and Hispanic.

Since Seasly took over the beat, he has covered only the City Council, Police Department and downtown redevelopment.

As far as readers know, he hasn't covered a single Board of Education meeting. Nor did he cover the campaign of nine candidates for three seats in the April school election.

The school budget, which was approved by a tiny minority of registered voters, accounts for 44% of the property tax bill in Hackensack.

Unhealthy recipes

If I didn't know better, I'd accuse Food Editor Esther Davidowitz and freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson of Upper Saddle River of trying to kill older readers with recipes that use sugar, butter or full-fat cheese, none of which is good for your heart (BL-2).

Today, the clueless Jackson promotes a Brown Sugar Poundcake with 2 whole sticks of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar and 4 whole eggs.

Yuck!

Editors bury the lead in trying to predict Bridgegate verdicts

This morning, in an annual municipal ritual, a pothole-patching crew proceeded slowly up Euclid Avenue, between Prospect and Summit avenues, in Hackensack -- a block that hasn't been paved in more than three decades, according to longtime residents.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Front and center on Page 1 of The Record today is a preview of the long-anticipated Bridgegate trial, but the biggest question in this political who-done-it isn't even addressed until deep into the continuation page.

Most readers likely won't ever see the paragraph that should have led all the rest:

"Although Christie is not on trial, the specter of the 55th governor of the state of New Jersey will loom over the courtroom" (A-4).

In the court of public opinion, Christie long ago was found guilty of orchestrating the September 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures to retaliate against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, who refused to support his reelection.

Fingering Christie

Staff Writer Paul Berger doesn't spend much time exploring the possibility of damaging testimony about Christie by his former aides, who will be on trial.

Nor does Berger know the testimony of ex-Port Authority official David Wildstein, a Christie crony who has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors who have jealously guarded the identity of several unindicted co-conspirators are expected to name them during the Newark trial.

Readers are losers

Readers lose when The Record and other media spend less time reporting what happened and more time trying to predict the future -- whether it's a national election or a sensational federal trial.

The Berger story is another blow to the credibility of the Woodland Park daily, which stands alone in not calling for Christie's resignation after he endorsed wacko racist Donald J. Trump.

Labor Day

The Local front today provides a fresh perspective on Labor Day today with a long story about low-wage workers who couldn't afford to take the day off (L-1).

A second story describes a Labor Day Mass for janitors held at a Paterson church.

These sympathetic accounts clash with The Record's editorial on Monday, when we celebrated Labor Day.

The editorial criticized Christie for pushing a formula for school aid that would favor rich districts over poor ones.

But the editorial doesn't mention the GOP bully's veto of a hike in the minimum wage to $15 by 2021, the second time he's turned his back on the working class.

News Media Alliance

On Wednesday, the Newspaper Association of America, "the trade group that has represented the interests of major newspaper publishers in one form or another since 1887, is going to drop from its name the very word that defined it: 'Newspaper'," The New York Times reports.

The group will be known as the News Media Alliance.

The Times says the number of newspapers has fallen to about 2,000 from 2,700 in 2008.

Editors acquit, condemn Christie in court of public opinion

No plans have been announced for this vacant land and shuttered business, above and below, across the street from the first residential project in Hackensack's ambitious downtown redevelopment. The 222-unit rental building is scheduled to open in the fall.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Depending on which page of The Record you read today, federal investigations are a minor annoyance to Governor Christie or they could eventually end his "presidential aspirations."

A news story leading the front page puts a positive spin on the resignation of United Airlines' CEO in an investigation of the Port Authority related to the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

The headline -- "Scandal still taking a toll" -- is clear enough, but the caption under Christie's photo says:

"Two years after the George Washington Bridge scandal, Governor Christie has never been accused of wrongdoing" (A-1).

A better, more accurate caption would have been that many questions remain about Christie's role in the scandal.

And those questions may finally be answered by the upcoming testimony of ally David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty to helping plot and cover up the Fort Lee lane closures two years ago (A-10).

Darker editorial

"This is not good news" for Christie, according to an editorial on the shake-up at United Airlines and questions surrounding a special flight for Christie mentor David Samson, when he was chairman of the Port Authority (A-20).

Christie nominated Samson, his former campaign counsel, to the board of the bi-state transportation agency, which runs the bridge and Newark Liberty International Airport.

"If Samson, known as 'The General,' is linked to a deal trading flavors for a non-stop fight to South Carolina [where he has a vacation home], the political damage to Christie will be monumental.

"Just the reemergence of the Port Authority narrative at this point in Christie's struggling presidential campaign inflicts damage."

How many years?

Editor Martin Gottlieb couldn't resist sensationalizing the front page today with a big photo of Monica Mogg, who was sentenced to consecutive life terms for the murder of her ex-lover and his new girlfriend in a bedroom.

The A-1 photo sends readers to the full story on the Local front, plus two more photos, but all of those elements contain so many different descriptions of the sentence readers can't be blamed for being confused.

The A-1 photo overline says, "Two life terms for double homicide."

But the big, black headline on L-1 says, "166 years for 2 murders," forcing readers to wonder how that number was arrived at.

Doesn't "life" in prison mean until you die? Apparently not.

Finally, the lead paragraph of the story contains this awkward, hard-to-read phrase:

"A former preschool teacher was sentenced Wednesday to two back-to-back life terms in prison .... [italics added]."

That's too many to's or two's.

Hackensack news

Also on the Local front, The Record announces that plans for North Jersey Media Group's 19.7 acres on River Street in Hackensack have received preliminary approval from the city Planning Board (L-1).

Publisher Stephen A. Borg is quoted as saying the hotel-residential-retail project includes a "connection" to downtown, but no details are provided.

In all the years The Record operated at 150 River St., employees were forced to take their chances with fast-moving traffic as they tried to cross River Street to reach Main Street restaurant and shops.

If a hotel and 700 apartments are built there, a footbridge over River Street would be the only way to guarantee pedestrian safety.

The Record prospered in Hackensack for more than 110 years and its departure in 2009 sped up the decline of Main Street. 

Ode to crap

On the Better Living front, chief restaurant critic Elisa Ung celebrates "North Jersey's most classic, old-time hot dogs," but doesn't tell readers they are full of harmful antibiotics, growth hormones and preservatives (BL-1).

Three of the photos show fried hot dogs from Rutt's Hut in Clifton, Hot Grill in Clifton and Hiram's in Fort Lee covered in what looks like vomit. 

How appetizing.

Why are editors boosting defense cases of GWB figures?

Two of the three access lanes to the upper-level tollbooths of the George Washington Bridge, above, were closed in September 2013 in what federal prosecutors call a conspiracy to retaliate against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to endorse Governor Christie for reelection.

Christie denied any part in or even knowledge of the scheme, but joked that he personally placed the traffic cones, above, that caused gridlock in the borough for four days.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'm sure the owners of The Record intended no irony by wrapping today's follow-up coverage of the long-awaited George Washington Bridge indictments in an ad for hearing aids:

"Finally ...
The Clarity
You've Always
Wanted"

Of course, despite a guilty plea and two indictments, we don't know what Governor Christie knew about the lane closures ordered by his key allies in September 2013 and when he knew it (A-1 news stories and O-2 cartoon).

Who besides his wife and children believe Christie's claim that he first learned of the plot four months later, when the media uncovered his aide's infamous email:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." 

Today, though, the editors inexplicably start building a defense case for former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly and former Port Authority executive Bill Baroni, who were charged with nine counts of using the bridge to carry out a political vendetta and then covering it up (A-1).

Kelly and Baroni are in very deep doo-doo, likely at the behest of Christie.

Plea deal

Both called David Wildstein a liar after the former Port Authority official pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiring with them to cause the traffic jams, starting on the first day of school.

What else would their defense attorneys say in return for a hefty retainer and the many hundreds of dollars an hour they are being paid? 

How high are attorney Michael Critchley's fees? Poor Kelly, who is unemployed and may lose her house, has launched a Web site to ask the public for help in paying him.

I'm searching today's coverage for details of Wildstein's plea agreement with federal prosecutors and what he will get in return for testifying against Kelly, Baroni, Christie and others (A-1, A-8 and A-9).

Typically, such agreements promise defendants like Wildstein a non-custodial sentence, but only if they testify truthfully.

U.S. attorney

I'm betting U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman isn't relying on a "liar" to make his federal case against the defendants and unidentified "others" he says are involved.

Wildstein -- a high school classmate of Christie's who got a plum Port Authority job from the governor -- claimed as long ago as January 2014 that "evidence exists" that Christie knew of the lane closures as they were happening. 

Wildstein's attorney, Alan Zegas, repeated that claim after the guilty plea on Friday, and the federal trial of Kelly and Baroni couldn't come soon enough.

The scandal that has been dubbed Bridgegate may finally bring down the GOP bully who has his eyes set on the White House, not the Big House.

Horse's asses

Ahmed Zayat is a wealthy industrialist who owns race horses and has homes in Teaneck, New York, London and his native Egypt, according to Wikipedia.

But only newspaper and sports editors, among other horse's asses, could claim the victory of his American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby "is [a] win for Teaneck," as today's Page 1 photo over line claims.

City Greek

I guess Restaurant Reviewer and Sunday Columnist Elisa Ung should get some credit for writing about a rare restaurant owner who serves antibiotic-free chicken and pork,  grass-fed beef and organic greens.

But you won't be able to sample the Greek fare at Eons unless you schlep to Manhattan's East Side, and with the region's inadequate mass transit, we know what a hassle that is (BL-1).

Add the price of parking to the bill, if you can find a space.

Still, Ung spends so much time promoting restaurants, even in her reviews, she neglects all of the issues facing customers, making you wonder why her column is called The Corner Table.

Shore rentals

Here is more evidence Publisher Stephen A. Borg started the Real Estate section to serve greedy real estate agents, bankers, homeowners and landlords.

Today's upbeat cover story on a "rebound" of summer rentals at the Jersey Shore is bad news for anyone who had hoped to spend a couple of weeks or longer vacationing there.

Did the editors order Staff Writer Nancy Kearney to omit the cost of renting any of the places shown in the glamorous photos to avoid shocking readers?

Pension Plan

Late last month, North Jersey Media Group, owner of The Record, sent out the annual funding notice to participants in the publishing company's pension plan.

Depending on interest rates used, the "funding shortfall" in the 2014 plan year is given as $10,797,148 to $32,662,591.

The "minimum required contribution" is given as $5,113,025 to $8,429,229.

The "funding target attainment percentage" for the 2014 plan year is given as 87.27%, an improvement over the percentages in the 2013 and 2012 plan years.