On news we really need, the editors fail us time and again

Hackensack is being rocked again by partisan politics as Democrat Jason Nunnermacker seeks a vacant seat on the City Council in the Nov. 3 special election. Nunnermacker and four other allies of the Zisa family political dynasty ran unsuccessfully for council in 2013, when a reform slate of mostly Republicans swept into office. The Record has largely ignored the partisanship evident at City Council meetings, such as the Sept. 1 meeting shown below.

In a campaign mailing sent to residents last week, Nunnermacker, right, portrays himself as a fiscal conservative, but doesn't mention he is president of the Board of Education, which this year approved a runaway $106.88 million spending plan that exceeds the city's own.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Few readers of The Record outside Hackensack -- and thousands who live there -- know or care that four candidates are running for a vacant City Council seat in a special Nov. 3 election.

The Woodland Park daily has carried two stories about the candidates, but neither account explored the bitter partisan politics that exploded after a reform slate swept into office in 2013.

Nor has The Record examined the candidates' statements at an Oct. 15 debate at Temple Beth El that drew fewer than 20 city residents, whose written questions were subject to censorship by the event moderator.

Hackensack news?

You can search today's Sunday edition in vain for any news about Hackensack, Bergen County's most-populous community, or the county's biggest school district.

One of the candidates is Democrat Jason Nunnermacker, an attorney and an ally of the Zisa family political dynasty who ran unsuccessfully in 2013 with four others.

Nunnermacker is president of the city's free-spending Board of Education, yet he is running for council on a platform that stresses fiscal conservatism.

The Record also hasn't asked Nunnermacker how he can seek a seat on the very council he is suing on behalf of Debra Heck, the former city clerk.

Former City Clerk Debra Heck charges in a 2014 federal lawsuit City Council members illegally retaliated against her and drove her out of her job because of her romantic relationship with a political foe of the administration, Board of Education attorney Richard Salkin, shown at a Sept. 1 meeting.

Apathy galore

One thing Hackensack is famous for is voter apathy, whether it is in the April school board and school budget election or the May council election every four years.

The board's $106.88 million spending plan this year was approved by fewer than 1,000 of the city's 20,000 registered voters.

There is no way to tell how much of the apathy can be traced to the way The Record covers or doesn't cover elections, especially how the editors focus on politics and ignore issues. 

Today's paper

Once you get past the Sunday edition's ho-hum front page, there isn't much to interest local readers (A-1).

Animals lovers will be overjoyed to know there is an annual dogs and cats pre-Halloween fashion show in Manila (A-2), as well as an annual Halloween Dog Parade in Manhattan (A-3).

For more Halloween news, see the Local front on downtown Paterson's Fright Festival (L-1), as opposed to the festival of gun violence in some of Silk City's poorest neighborhoods.

Mike Hyman

A moving local obituary on 6-foot-4 Mike Hyman of Hackensack skirts the issue of why his loved ones and co-workers apparently did or said nothing as his waist ballooned to 53 inches (L-1).

He died of a heart attack "related to his diabetes" at 54, Staff Writer Jay Levin reports.

Business news

On the Business front today, Bree Fowler of The Associated Press argues the only successful car companies are profitable, even though some of the biggest have killed thousands of people with defective products or fouled the environment (B-1).

Fowler doesn't mention that General Motors Co. and the former Chrysler Corp. had to be bailed out by the Obama administration.

In her negative reporting on electric car maker Tesla, she emphasizes the company has never made a profit, but doesn't mention its cars are the world's safest and cleanest.

Nuisance?

Columnist Mike Kelly argues drones "have become like wild geese -- numerous and a nuisance, not to mention a potential danger" (O-1 and O-4).

Of course, you have to wonder why he hasn't written a column about a real nuisance and a huge potential danger -- all of those private business jets and small planes buzzing Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns on the way to and from Teterboro Airport.

Those planes impact the quality of life in North Jersey far more than drones and geese combined.

I guess all readers can hope for is more poop from Kelly.

Food coverage

Better Living continues to cover celebrity chefs like Rachel Ray, TV personalities and cookbooks, while generally ignoring nutrition and a healthy lifestyle (BL-1).

For example, a promotional piece on chicken wings sold by A&S Foods in Wyckoff doesn't say whether they are organic or from birds that were raised without antibiotics (BL-2).

Tabloid news

Murder and mayhem were the order of the day on Saturday's front page.

Weren't the editors wrong to devote 90% or more of the lead A-1 story on Saturday to murder suspect Arthur Lomando's "troubled past," and so little to the victim, Suzanne Bardzell of Midland Park, a teacher and single mother of two?

How many more stories on the front page will falsely claim the seizure of heroin and cocaine will put a "major dent" in the region's street trade, as does Saturday's A-1 story from Paterson?

Governor Christie added to his anti-environment record with a lawsuit to block President Obama's Clean Power Plan (Saturday's A-2).

Saturday's Local section is dominated by sensational Law & Order news generated by the police reporter and staffers assigned to the courts (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Editors indulge in more Christie myth-making

A winter scene on the East Hill in Englewood.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, The Record continues to publish orgasmic descriptions of Governor Christie as the greatest politician on earth.

He's also the supposed "front-runner" in the desperate GOP scramble for a presidential contender in 2016.

On Page 1 today and Friday, a news story and column reprise the early September traffic delays caused when Port Authority officials closed two Fort Lee access lanes to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge.

Although drivers using Martha Washington, the lower level, and a fourth Fort Lee access lane experienced no delays, The Record continues to exaggerate the impact.

Columnist Charles Stile claimed on Friday's front page the lane closures "jeopardized the safety of one town."

What compromise?

In a long, poorly edited second paragraph, Stile described Christie in mythical terms as a "compromising, post-partisan leader of the new century who finds common ground with his political foes."

Where was the compromise when Christie vetoed numerous bills -- including a tax surcharge on millionaires -- during his first term or when he refused to approve a Democratic initiative giving financial aid to undocumented college students (A-3)?

That long-winded Stile paragraph and the first two tortured paragraphs of Friday's A-1 story on a security breach at Target are examples of how little editing occurs at The Record under Editor Marty Gottlieb, who came from The New York Times, where readers traditionally choke on overlong stories.

A correction on Friday's A-2 tried to fix two embarrassing errors in Thursday's front-page story on the closing of Farmland Dairies in Wallington.

Don't expect a correction of a production screw-up on today's Editorial Page, where a photo of the September GWB traffic jam in Fort Lee is used with a letter about two-hour upper-level delays on Tuesday (A-11).

Hackensack news

Debra Heck, the former city clerk in Hackensack, filed notice she may sue the city over her dismissal (L-1).

If she does, the suit will be another in a long line of litigation dating to the corrupt rule of Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa -- the former police chief and state assemblyman -- that has put a big dent in the city treasury and inflated property tax bills.

On Friday's L-1, city officials announced a developer plans to build apartments on the upper floors of 210 Main St., an 11-story former bank building that opened in 1927.

King Christie is going after minorities once again

What disability would allow someone to install tile and park legally in a handicapped space at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus? This seemingly able bodied driver was at the gym before 9 a.m. Tuesday, above and below. 

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

You could make a good case that Chris Christie is a racist, starting with his removal of the state Supreme Court's only African-American justice only a few months after the governor was inaugurated in 2010.

Are there any minorities in Governor Christie's Cabinet or did Christie appoint any to the Port Authority, the patronage mill that runs the region's bridges, tunnels, sea and airports?

Today, The Record reports that Latinos and blacks are complaining of a "disorganized system of processing applications [for federal housing grants to Superstorm Sandy victims] that in effect discriminated against" minorities (A-3).

Christie made storm recovery -- financed almost entirely by the Obama administration -- a centerpiece of his reelection campaign this year.

The governor also has refused to sign a bill passed in the state Senate that would grant in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities to some students who are living in New Jersey illegally (A-3).

Christie claims the bill grants more benefits than the federal program, and would make "us a magnet state for people."

At least he called illegal immigrants "people."

Hasn't Christie noticed that the Garden State is one of the most diverse in the nation, and that with its seaport and international airport -- only miles from New York City -- that it is already a magnet for legal and illegal immigrants?

That damn PA

The Record continues to gush ink over the big, bad Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Today, an editorial (A-22), two Opinion pieces (A-23) and a Road Warrior column (L-1) expand on the brouhaha over the closure of some Fort Lee toll lanes to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge in September or a toll hike that kicks in on Sunday.

One of Christie's flunkies -- David Wildstein, a former columnist for a state political Web site -- is taking the heat for closing the lanes for a "traffic study."

On Tuesday, The Record identified Wildstein as a "former political consultant" and "Christie's No. 2 at the agency."

So, is he a former columnist who called himself "Wally Edge" or a former consultant or did The Record screw-up again?

More babbling

The Road Warrior column is usually difficult to fathom, but Staff Writer John Cichowski is just babbling on and on today about matters unrelated to Monday's legislative hearing on closure of the GWB toll lanes:

He refers to "people who make and remake New Jersey's transportation laws," "a plan to bring driverless vehicles to New Jersey" and "extending a Queens rail line to our shores" (L-1).

Cichowski also reports the lane closures occurred "11 weeks ago without bloodshed."

City Clerk is defiant

In Hackensack news, the new City Council is asking City Clerk Debra Heck to step down or it will remove her (L-1).

Heck has been city clerk since 2002.

"I am not resigning. I did not do anything wrong," Heck said, referring to charges she is not doing her job properly.

The council voted unanimously on Monday night to file a written complaint with the state, seeking her removal, but The Record either didn't cover the meeting or couldn't get the story into Tuesday's paper, because of its notoriously early deadlines.

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.
  
 

City employees get a free ride to the polls

Candidates from opposing slates chatting amiably this afternoon in front of Hackensack's Fairmount Elementary School on Grand Avenue, one of the polling places for today's school-board election. The Ford Crown Victoria parked at the curb carried a license plate with the letters "MG" (Municipal Government), and a man soon left the school, got in and drove away.

At least two Hackensack employees used city owned vehicles to drive to the Fairmount Elementary School to cast their votes in today's school-board election.

The polls opened at 2 p.m. and were to remain open until 9 tonight. 

Six candidates, including two incumbents, were vying for three vacancies on the Board of Education, which has been divided by politics.

Sasson campaign

Victor E. Sasson, an independent City Council candidate in next month's non-partisan election, voted in the school cafeteria, then returned about 15 minutes later with copies of his platform folded inside official applications for mail-in ballots.

Sasson was careful to stay at least 100 feet away from the school entrance, as the law requires, before approaching voters.

Still, a car pulled up and City Clerk Debra Heck got out and handed Sasson a copy of the law on "prohibited actions in polling place on election day."

Heck said she received a report that Sasson had approached voters within 100 feet of the polling place.

Mrs. Heck also was upset that in proposing a residency requirement for city employees, Sasson had mistakenly told voters at a recent forum for council candidates that she was one of the city officials who lived outside Hackensack.

The candidate apologized. 

Dissing Hackensack

The Record's coverage of the contested school-board election in Hackensack was weak, typical of its famously lazy assignment editors, who long ago developed a distaste for covering local contests.

Today's front page again shows that Editor Marty Gottlieb continues to ignore the needs of North Jersey readers.

Christie mismanagement

Why relegate to A-3 the latest version of Governor Christie's irresponsible tax-cut plan?

Three corrections run on A-2 today, including fixes to a misspelled name and an incorrect Page 1 map -- basics that a daily newspaper should be getting right.

Local yokels

In head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' thin Local news section, the only Hackensack news is a follow-up to charges against City Council candidate Kenneth Martin, a retired cop, who is accused of removing his opponents' campaign signs (L-3).

Victor E. Sasson gets a good ballot position

Part of the St. Patrick's Day display in the office of City Clerk Debra Heck.

A drawing was held this afternoon at Hackensack City Hall to determine the ballot positions of the 11 candidates vying for 5 City Council seats in the non-partisan election on May 14.

Victor E. Sasson, the retired reporter, copy editor and food writer who edits Eye on The Record, will appear at the bottom of a single column of candidates under "Vote for Peace and Quiet."

City Clerk Debra Heck, who is running the election, said Sasson did well to be at the bottom so he wouldn't get lost among all of the other names.

The top or bottom of the column is ideal for candidates who are running independently, she said.

The ballot in the presidential election last November displayed parties and candidates in rows, from left to right. 

The May 14 ballot will display two slates of candidates and Sasson in a single, verticle column.

Addresses of registered voters in Hackensack.

Heck placed pieces of paper with the names of the two slates and "Vote for Peace and Quiet" in small, green plastic eggs in recognition of St. Patrick's Day on Sunday.

Emil Canestrino, whose wife Katherine is a candidate, drew first, and came up with her 5-person slate, Hackensack Citizens for Change.

The campaign manager for the Hackensack Coalition for Open Government drew next, and came up with his 5-person group, which critics are calling the "Zisa Slate." 

So, Sasson didn't have to draw to get the last or bottom position in the column.

In view of the Irish-American holiday on Sunday, all he can say is, "Bottoms up!" 

See previous post:

Marty lets Francis and Sandy

 hog Page 1 

 

The sad state of democracy in Hackensack

This noble sentiment hangs next to the front door of a registered voter on Clinton Place in Hackensack. Unfortunately, he wasn't at home on Sunday when I came calling with a petition I wanted him to sign to help me get on the ballot for the City Council election.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

This afternoon, I filed 280 official nominating petitions that I hope will get me on the ballot for the May 14 election, when Hackensack voters will choose five at-large City Council members.

In the past 5 weeks, I have been ringing bells, knocking on doors and approaching people on the street and in coffee shops, markets and even in a bar.

I wore a large red name tag and carried petitions and a 1-page green platform with the goal of improving residents' quality of life while holding the line on property taxes.

The apathy level is high and in many cases, the intelligence level is low. And now that it's over, I'm exhausted.

Go away

People were "not interested" or said, "I don't get involved in that." 

A man who lives in the house on the corner opened his door around noon on Sunday, said he was busy and slammed the door in my face before I could get a word out.

Others said they didn't have time to look at my petition or platform. 

Even though it is a non-partisan election, many people wanted to know if I was a Democrat or a Republican. 

"I don't sign anything," "I never sign anything" and "I'm not signing anything" were frequent responses when I asked for a voter's street address, signature and printed name.

Others took my platform and said they wanted to study it before signing a petition, and that I should come back later.   

Shallow reporting

Even though I spent 29 years at The Record as a reporter, copy editor and food writer, I knew nothing about the process when I picked up the petitions from City Clerk Debra Heck.

She said I need a minimum of 210 individual petitions or 1% of the 21,000 registered voters in Hackensack at the last general election, but that I should gather at least 250, because people who sign may not be registered or be registered in another town. 

An official petition of nomination.

I'm not 'organized'

Under head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, The Record covers municipal and school elections reluctantly, boiling them down into so-called boxes of several paragraphs unless they are contested.

In recent years, The Record has never followed a candidate who was trying to get nominating petitions signed.

A few weeks ago, I e-mailed my platform to Staff Writer Hannan Adely.

Her byline had appeared over  9- and 10-paragraph stories about two groups of 5 candidates in the Hackensack election that were published on Jan. 25 and Feb. 3 -- before either slate had filed petitions.

But she said she wouldn't be writing a story about my candidacy before today's filing deadline, because I am not part of an "organized slate." 

She gave me the phone number of her assignment editor, Steve McCarthy, but he never returned my calls.  

I love Hackensack

I met a lot of nice people, and some of them took extra petitions and got them signed by other registered voters. 

Many voters signed my petition without hesitation, because, as one women said, "Everyone deserves a chance to run."

And I saw more of Hackensack and its quiet neighborhoods than in all the years I worked and lived here, including many beautiful, well-kept homes.

A 491-page list of voters by ward and district under a 30-page key that shows which streets are in which wards and districts. The registered-voters list is a confusing jumble of names, addresses and apartment numbers, with voters' names alphabetized by ward and district. But each side of a street can be in a different ward and district, and Prospect Avenue and many other streets also are divided. In Hackensack, there is a Poor Street and a Pink Street, and one voter's address is on Route 17. I know two people named Ross, but they don't live on Ross Avenue. 



I started gathering signatures in early February by going to the ShopRite in Hackensack, where I found only 7 city residents among 40 shoppers I approached.

At the Giant Farmers Market between Main and River streets, only one woman said she lived in Hackensack, and this was after approaching a couple of dozen other people.

At Lazy Lanigan's, a bar on Main Street, I couldn't find anyone from Hackensack a few hours before the Super Bowl began, and Bel Posto on Prospect Avenue wouldn't allow me to solicit signatures from its brunch customers that Sunday.

One morning, I got several signatures at the Dunkin' Donuts on University Place, but an employee asked me to leave, claiming customers said I was bothering them.

On Saturday, at the Dunkin' Donuts on Passaic Street, my petitions were signed by four people I later couldn't find on the registered-voters list, and one man who asked to read my platform before signing left while I was in the bathroom.

I saw him driving away in a large, black SUV With Texas plates.

 

   

The candidate in a reflective moment last Tuesday across the street from the Johnson Public Library on Main Street, where he couldn't find anyone to sign his petition.

 

I stopped at the Starbucks almost every day for coffee, and it beat the Dunkin' Donuts on two scores: better brews and more signatures from registered voters.

One day I called Starbucks headquarters from the Essex Street shop, and spoke to Joshua in customer service about getting a second Starbucks on Main Street, near the Bergen County Courthouse.

He mentioned his parents live on Hamilton Place in Hackensack, and are members of the Green Party, but wouldn't give me their last names or address, even when I told him I am running for office and needed their signatures.

Then, I found out there are only 6 Green Party members in Hackensack, and gave up the idea of tracking them down. 

Jews v. Jews   

I received a warmer welcome at a Baptist church and at two mosques than I did from my fellow Jews at Temple Beth El on Summit Avenue, an aging congregation that struggles to get enough people for Saturday morning services.

A painting at Temple Beth El in Hackensack.

Rabbi Robert Schumeister and President Mark Zettler wouldn't allow me to ask for signatures at a Purim celebration I attended one Saturday night.

Zettler said, "I don't know you."

At Mount Olive Baptist Church on Central Avenue, Pastor Gregory Jackson introduced me to the congregation at two Sunday services, but asked me to stand outside to get signatures.

The powerful choir at Mount Olive Baptist Church.

  

At Minhaj-ul-Quran on Vreeland Avenue and the Bergen County Islamic Education Center on Trinity Place, managers and members welcomed me and helped me gather signatures two Fridays in a row.

During a book fair at the Nellie K. Parker Elementary School, I drove over around noon, but two employees and a man who might have been the vice principal wouldn't sign petitions.

The man told me I couldn't stand on the sidewalk, but had to cross the street, even as he conceded that restriction probably wouldn't stand up in court.  

None of the condominium or co-op high-rises that line Prospect Avenue would allow me to solicit signatures, but my wife and teenage son found a rental building that did allow them to knock on tenants' doors.

Often, a husband or wife would sign, but most of the time, the spouse was in the shower, taking a nap, away on business or didn't want to sign.

And then there were people who just wouldn't open their door. 
 

I reach my goal 
 
But I finally got the process down to a science when I paid the county superintendent of elections 5 cents a page for a second list of registered voters, this one by street.

My request for the list was delayed by about a week when the office's computers broke down.

Then, when good weather finally arrived, I was able to stroll down a street and knock on the doors of only registered voters, and my count of good petitions increased steadily.

I was even able to concentrate on homes with 3, 4, 5 and even 7 registered voters, but at most I found only two at home at the same time.

A man who lives a few blocks away left me three signed petitions in this envelope.